Catherine Aird
Hole In One

Berebury golf course in the county of Calleshire is an unlikely setting for a murder. Set in pleasant landscape and boasting a splendid view of the market town of Berebury, the golf course is more suited to fun and games than murder and mayhem. So when flirtatious golfing beginner Helen Ewell goes in search of her wayward golf ball in the dreaded 'Hell's Bells' bunker she is not prepared for the horrible surprise that lies buried beneath the soft sand.

• A gentle and finely constructed murder mystery set in the fictional county of Calleshire. The Sloan and Crosby series has been beloved by fans and lauded by critics for its wonderful comic touch, intricate plotting and literate charm.

Paulo Coelho
The Devil And Miss Prym

A community devoured by greed, cowardice and fear. A man persecuted by the ghosts of his painful past. A young woman searching for happiness. In one eventful week, each of them will face questions of life, death and power, and each of them will have to choose their own path. Will they choose good or evil? The remote village of Viscos is the setting for this extraordinary struggle. A stranger arrives, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. He comes in search of an answer: are human beings, in essence, good or evil?

• A story charged with emotion, in which the integrity of being human meets a terrifying test.

Kathy, Ruth and Tommy were pupils at Hailsham - an idyllic establishment situated deep in the English countryside. The children there were tenderly sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe they were special, and that their personal welfare was crucial. But for what reason were they really there? It is only years later that Kathy, now aged thirtyone, finally allows herself to yield to the pull of memory. What unfolds is the haunting story of how Kathy, Ruth and Tommy slowly come to face the truth about their childhoods - and their futures.

A clear front-runner to be the year's most extraordinary novel'- THE TIMES