With reservations, RON JACOBS recommends a deep dive into the nature, history, and mindset of US intelligence
CHASED out of London by people traffickers, journalist Jenny returns to her native Guernsey in The Devil's Claw by Lara Dearman (Trapeze, £7.99) to take up a rather dull job on the island's daily paper.
When a woman's body washes up on a local beach, it's unclear whether the death was due to suicide or accident but, while researching for a background feature, Jenny finds other such deaths. They go back decades, with remarkably similar features in common.

MAT COWARD presents a peculiar cabbage that will only do its bodybuilding once the summer dies down

A heatwave, a crimewave, and weird bollocks in Aberdeen, Indiana horror, and the end of the American Dream

A corrupted chemist, a Hampstead homosexual and finely observed class-conflict at The Bohemia

Beet likes warmth, who doesn’t, so attention to detail is required if you’re to succeed, writes MAT COWARD