POLICE start panicking when murder victim Elizabeth walks up to a cop in Cumbria and declares herself alive in Black Summer by MW Craven (Constable, £7.99). The man convicted of her killing, an egomaniacal celebrity chef, has already spent six years inside.

DS Washington Poe of the Serious Crimes Analysis Section is horrified, and not just because he might have been involved in a miscarriage of justice. His greater worry is his absolute certainty that chef Keaton is a ruthless, intelligent killer.

The DNA test doesn’t leave any room for doubt that Elizabeth is who she claims to be. But, whatever the lab says, Poe knows that Keaton is up to something. An impossible crime has taken place and, unless Poe and his colleagues can prove it within a few days, the evidence will be gone forever.