Heartstone, by CJ Sansom (Mantle, £18.99)

Sansom continues to mine the rich seam of Tudor history in his fifth Matthew Shardlake novel. This time the action takes place in 1545, with England fearing invasion from across the channel, thanks to Henry VIII's continuing obsession with the glory of a French conquest. Against a vivid backdrop of pressganged men, chaotic preparations and soaring inflation, the crook-backed, sharp-minded lawyer is tasked with uncovering financial and possibly sexual corruption in the Court of Wards. He also has a personal mission to investigate the mysterious, traumatic past of Ellen Fettiplace, a Bedlam inmate. After a slow beginning with a lot of exposition, the pace and tension hot up splendidly as Shardlake's inquiries take him to the Hampshire home of a family with a great deal to hide. A wholly unexpected twist takes us to a superb denouement aboard the doomed warship Mary Rose  terrific stuff, for both fans and newcomers to the series.

Trick of the Dark, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown, £18.99)

Oxford has been so comprehensively annexed by Inspector Morse that it takes a brave writer to encroach on the territory. McDermid is a brave as well as a groundbreaking writer, and her treatment of the academic milieu  here, St Scholastica's women's college  is a world away from the male-dominated dreaming spires of Colin Dexter but no less riven by rivalry and conflict. Disgraced psychiatrist Charlie Flint receives a parcel of press cuttings, sent anonymously, and finds herself drawn into investigating the murder of a bridegroom at a wedding reception in the grounds of her alma mater. Sensitive and insightful, with a mainly lesbian cast, it's as much a novel about rites of passage, formative influences, relationships and the contradictory nature of celebrity self-revelation as it is a murder mystery.

River of Shadows, by Valerio Varesi, translated by Joseph Farrell (Maclehose Press, £16.99)

Varesi is well known in his native Italy, where his series featuring Commissario Soneri has been televised, but this is the first of his novels to be translated into English. It's set in northern Italy's Po valley and opens with a gripping, Dickensian description of relentless rainfall as the river bursts its banks. In an atmosphere sodden with age-old hatred and distrust as well as water, Soneri is investigating the disappearance of elderly bargeman Tonna when Tonna's brother is defenestrated from the top storey of the local hospital. Both men served in the fascist militia during the second world war, a fact their communist neighbours have neither forgotten nor forgiven. A good line in wry humour and Soneri's wonderful battleaxe of a girlfriend, who has a taste for sex in alarming locations, provide a nice counterpoint to the generally sombre tone.

Evil in Return, by Elena Forbes (Quercus, £12.99)

The London canals in Forbes's third DI Tartaglia novel may be gentle in comparison to the roiling waters of Varesi's Po valley, but this book, which also features long-buried secrets, is just as compelling. As Tartaglia begins to investigate the brutal killing and mutilation of reclusive bestselling novelist Joe Logan, another man is discovered murdered in exactly the same way. As the links between the two begin to emerge, it becomes clear that others may be in danger. This is no ordinary serial killer story, but a novel in the vein of The Secret History, with the consequences of a drunken student party resurfacing to haunt the participants. It's tautly written, with the race against time expertly handled.

Laura Wilson's A Capital Crime is published by Quercus.