Wonderful . . . the whodunit plot takes in celebrity chefs, extraordinary cuisine, international diplomacy and and Victorian political shenanigans. The Devil's Feast proves to be a sumptuous treat.

The keynote to this third Blake & Avery outing is enjoyment - in the sharp, clever plot, the telling detail and the author's uncanny ability to summon up the inner sanctum of the Victorian male club, a debtor's prison or Soyer's extraordinary dishes.

Few sleuths are as idiosyncratic as Avery and Blake . . . Carter is still an irresistible conduit to crime in the past.

The Infidel Stain is a richly detailed and smartly plotted novel that firmly establishes Carter as an authentic voice in the world of historical crime.

Witty and unfailingly readable...its contemporary resonance [is] all the more effective for being implicit.

The Strangler Vine was a promising and enjoyable debut - plenty of action, rich in historical detail, all crowned with a very clever twist. Carter has proved with The Infidel Stain that it was not a one-off.

An entertaining stew of blackmail, murder, cross-dressing and incomprehensible slang ... like Dickens, Carter's righteous anger at Victorian hypocrisy does not prevent her from revelling in it with infectious glee.

While the relationship between the dynamic duo Blake and Avery evolves in a nuanced, tender way the real star of the show in this complex, clever novel is London itself.

If this series is not bought for film, it would be another mark of the corporate stupidity that lost the BBC Ripper Street. It is, however, far more pleasurable and impressive to read.

M.J. Carter is a slick storyteller who combines respect for a good murder with cool historical analysis . . . [The Infidel Stain] promises to be an equally pertinent comment, in the year of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, on the price of a free press.

After last year’s fantastic I Found You, Lisa Jewell is on a roll with another fast paced and cleverly plotted psychological thriller … If this sounds quite run of the mill, it’s not. Lisa Jewell writes with such a keen eye for detail, so much heart and yet deviousness that I can’t wait to read what she comes up with next

If you're looking for something darker and twistier Girl On The Train style, Lisa Jewell's new thriller, Then She Was Gone … is one to buy

Smart and engrossing, this deftly plotted thriller will tug at your heartstrings

This compulsive psychological read from one of our favourite authors will leave you breathless

pleasingly twisted… I gulped this in one long, thirsty session, sitting by the pool on holiday.

This book was simply perfect – easy to fall into, hard to escape, and with so much to figure out you barely wanted to leave anyway.

Chilling and heartbreaking

Jewell builds a gripping novel around a maze of dark secrets, a tautly wound psychological thriller in which the suspense builds slowly. Fully recommended

Jewell has always been a favourite writer. Seeing her fully embrace her dark side is a massive treat. A dark, sad and deeply disturbing exploration of the aftermath of the loss of a beloved child, Then She Was Gone deserves to be a huge hit.

an engrossing read

beautifully told… the reader is taken from heartbreak to hope via a series of twists and turns worthy of the best thrillers

highly entertaining

‘In this dark and captivating novel, the different strands slowly but surely come together, and the result is that rare thing – a thriller that will break your heart’

Taut psychological thriller that’s as sinister as it is thrilling. A real unputdownable effort that examines morality and privilege

Smart, seductive… A sophisticated page-turner

Osborne is a literary writer – and a brilliant one – and this sumptuously written superbly observed study of misplaced idealism and moral expediency reads a bit like a thriller penned by F Scott Fitzgerald

Malevolent, gripping… A compelling read, acutely observed and beautifully written. For all the character defects of the principal protagonists, the reader wants to find out what happens to them. It matters. And there can be no higher praise than that

This complex, thrilling novel focuses on Naomi Codrington, a young lawyer who befriends Samantha, a malleable American teenager, while summering with her father and stepmother on the Greek island of Hydra. When they find a Syrian refugee washed up on the shore, calamity comes rushes in.

Thrilling, chilling and contains the following subtext: best stay at home

Birdcage Walk offers a persuasively grimy period evocation of contemporary domestic peril facing women, not least in an agonising childbirth scene that has traumatic consequences

Gripping historical drama

A story of idealism and possessive love, with strong and memorable characters

Helen definitely has a deft touch when it comes to history but the vividness of Lizzie and Diner's relationship is what stands out in glorious literary 3D. Speaking as someone raised in Bristol, I'll never be able to gaze down into the Gorge again without seeing that rowing boat. Bleak can be hauntingly beautiful and between these covers Helen demonstrates how

She vividly brings to live the struggle of women’s lives in late 18th century Bristol, and I recommend the book for an insight into Bristol in another time

From the swish of a silk dress, to the whoosh of the guillotine, Dunmore uses words with economic precision to build up the detail and suspense of this novel. Which haunts the reader just as the characters in it are haunted by the dead.

Flawless final historical novel from the late, great Helen Dunmore

A lively and inventive voice … by all account as brilliant as her other books

Early feminism and a hint of Grand Designs: a great mix’