John Gardner
The Liquidator

Hand-picked for his talents by Mostyn, the suave, sadistic Second-in-Command of British Special Security, Boysie Oakes's job is to quietly murder potential Top Secret security risks. But is Boysie the right man for the job? On the surface, he has all the right qualifications. And yet, behind that smooth surface, there are some strange discrepancies. Things begin to go wrong for Boysie when he takes Mostyn's secretary to the Cote d'Azur for a naughty weekend. What starts as a few days of seduction in the Mediterranean sun turns into a nightmare for Boysie as he becomes more and more embroiled in Operation Coronet.

Ruth Rendell
Live Flesh

Why? Why did he do it? Why had it happened? What sort of fiend was he? Why should he, Victor Jenner, the child of happily married, middleclass parents, succumb to such violent rages? Why should he have needed to make motiveless attacks on women? Victor didn't know. But Victor did know that the last ten years - the years in prison-had been a mistake. He had never intended to rape the girl. He had never intended to harm anyone. It had all been an accident. In fact, his life had been a series of accidents, one mistake leading to the next. Now, out of prison at last, Victor still isn't free. The past holds him so he can't go forward. So Victor goes back-and begins a new chain of accidents, a new string of tragic mistakes.

'This story's about greed, desire, love and death - in the world of antiques you get the lot.' Lovejoy knows what he's talking about, for he is an antiques dealer himself with an irreverent inside view of the trade. He'll handle anything and everything, but his speciality is flintlock pistols. When he is approached by a rich, but obviously naive, collector with the request to obtain for him a pair so rare that the trade even doubts their existence, Lovejoy can only laugh. 'But the Judas Pair do exist,' cries the client. 'I've seen them. They killed my brother.' As Lovejoy embarks on the trail of both a murderer and a uniquely valuable pair of pistols, it is the beginning of a duel to the death.

Jonathan Gash developed his knowledge of antiques as a student when he worked as a runner between traders in the London street markets. The Lovejoy books were made into a popular TV series.