YOU’D think detectives in long-running whodunnit series would have more sense than to go on holiday, but Echo Of The Dead by Alex Gray (Sphere, £14.99) begins with DSI William Lorimer of Glasgow walking up a minor Munro mountain near Glencoe.

Naturally, he happens upon a dead body. It appears to be that of another climbing enthusiast who has presumably met with an accident – but there are one or two things about the death that are slightly worrying. This quiet, rural area seems to have a surprising number of missing persons cases, and it’s not long before Lorimer is back, and this time in his official capacity.

Gray’s Lorimer sequence has thrived through 20 years and 19 books because it unfailingly delivers what its readers both want and expect; well-made mysteries in alluring settings that are populated with credible characters.