Sight Unseen by Robert Goddard (Bantam Press, £16.99): WHEN PhD student David Umber witnesses the botched abduction of two-year-old Tamsin Hall, whose older sister is run over and killed as she tries to stop the kidnappers, he is pulled into a mystery which takes 23 years to unravel.

Umber meets the girls' nanny Sally at the subsequent inquiry and later marries her, but she, too, meets an untimely death, supposedly suicide because of her guilt at failing the girls. Add in an anonymous 18th century polemicist and a retired chief inspector and you have all the ingredients for another convoluted but fascinating mystery from the pen of a master. Just keep your eye on the ball... it's pretty complicated stuff.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Phoenix, £9.99; Orion audiobook, £13, read by James Wilby)

FROM the second you enter the Cemetery of Forgotten Books with ten-year-old Daniel and his bookseller, you are sucked into the dark world of post war Barcelona. Daniel is allowed to pick one book to treasure and picks The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, a choice which leads him into danger. Daniel becomes determined to find out why Carax fled Barcelona, and why some mysterious leather-faced stranger is determined to burn all copies of his books and erase all trace of his life. This is a novel of fantasy and Fascism, set in a city where people endure real fear and oppression, and the characters are unusual and wholly absorbing. Richard and Judy loved it, and so did I!

Jenny Needham

THE PROMISE OF HAPPINESS by Justin Cartwright (Bloomsbury, £7.99)

THE Promise of Happiness explores what happens to a middle class family who, on the surface, seem happy and just like any other until their most beloved daughter gets thrown into jail in New York State for art theft, a crime she committed almost unwittingly.

Her incarceration shatters her family, particularly the father who worships her. The novel describes how each family member fails to cope in their own particular way. It is a novel of immense power and deep humanity.

The Girl from Number 22 by Joan Jonker (Headline, £6.99)

There's trouble in the street when a new family moves into number 22 and the pretty daughter catches the eye of Danny Fenwick. But the girl's father is a drunkard and bully and the course of true love is anything but smooth. A touching tale to warm any heart.

Patricia Allen

Published: 03/05/2005