Jonathan Coe
What a Carve Up!

Michael is a lonely, rather pathetic writer, obsessed by the film, What a Carve Up!, in which a mad knifeman cuts his way through the inhabitants of a decrepit stately pile as the thunder rages. Inexplicably he is commissioned to write the family history of the Winshaws, an upper class Yorkshire clan whose members have a finger in every establishment pie, from arms dealing to art dealing, from politics and banking to the popular press. During his researches Michael realises that the Winshaws have cast a blight on his life, as they have on Britain. In a climax set in the Winshaw’s family seat the novel turns into the film What a Carve Up! as a murderous maniac stalks the family and Michael discovers the significance of Shirley Eaton’s lingere.

Nick Drake
Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows

It is 1324BC and for Rahotep, chief detective, life is about to get very complicated. The cryptically mutilated bodies of several young people are discovered in Thebes. These brutal acts are destabilising a ruthless regime already made precarious by corruption, dissent, the strain of distant wars and the appalling divide between rich and poor. Meanwhile, Tutankhamun has inherited an empire that should be at the height of power and glory. But the King, just 18, faces only the political conspiracies of the Court, and a bitter struggle for ascendancy. And when his own security is threatened by an intruder in the palace, he needs an outsider he can trust to track down the traitor.

G. M. Ford
The Deader the Better

Leo isn’t looking for trouble when he and Rebecca, his forensic pathologist girlfriend, escape from Seattle for a few days of relaxation– it just finds him. An old friend has purchased some choice property in North America’s only rainforest, and his posting of No Trespassing signs has incurred the wrath of every boater, hunter and fisherman for miles around. What starts as irksome harassment by the offended locals escalates quickly into the realm of the lethal. And it’s just Waterman’s luck to be in the epicentre of this murderous mess at the very moment it bursts into flames.