Jane Gardam
The Queen of the Tambourine

Eliza Peabody is a dangerous - if blameless - do-gooder. She is too enthusiastic and she talks too much. Her concern for the welfare of the inhabitants of her south ,London road extends to annoying. albeit well­meaning. notes of unsolicited advice under their doors. One letter heralds Eliza's undoing. Did her letter have something to do with her neighbour's abrupt disappearance? Will no one else speak of her? And why the watchful. pitying looks that now greet the still beautiful Eliza on her errands of mercy? Dark surprises await as black comedy transforms into psychological thriller.

• Winner of the Whitbread Novel of the Year.

Susan Hill
The Vows of Silence

Gunmen are terrorising young women in the Cathedral town of Lafferton. What - if anything - links the apparently random murders? Is the marksman with a rifle the same person as the killer with a handgun? Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler falls back on well-tried police methods such as questioning neighbours and house-to-house searches. Simon has been promoted and is now with the Serious Incident Flying Taskforce. but he is still at heart a loner and these chilly murders are on his home territory.

'Susan Hill's crime novels are getting better and better ... an unexpected but entirely convincing ending' - THE SPECTATOR

Having watched the murder of his own parents, Daniel X has been forced to make his own way in a dark and unforgiving world with a heavy task handed to him. Daniel's father was an alien hunter, working his way through a fearsome 'wanted' list of aliens intent on seeking control and wreaking devastation. But as he planned his next target, his own time was running out. Daniel faced an uncertain future: he knew little about his family nor where he came from - but he has inherited the list from his father.