Christopher Brookmyre The Sacred Art of Stealing Published October 2002 by Little Brown at £16.99 ISBN: 0316859516

He is an art thief; she is a connoisseur of crooks. Her job is to hunt him to extinction; his is to avoid being caught. He also has a secret agenda more valuable than anything he might steal. What he can't afford is to let her get too close: he could could end up in jail or, more scary, in love.
Their eyes met across a crowded room. She was just a poor servant girl and he was the son of a rich industrialist. Er, no, this is a Christopher Brookmyre novel, although the eyes meeting across a crowded room part is true. Where it differs from the fairy tales is that the room in question was crowded with hostages and armed bank-robbers, and his eyes were the only part of him she could see behind the mask. He is an art-thief par excellence and she is a connoisseur of crooks. Her job is to hunt him to extinction; his is to avoid being caught and he also has a secret agenda more valuable than anything he might steal. There are risks he can take without jeopardising his plans. He can afford to play cat-and-mouse with the female cop who's on his tail; it might even arguably be necessary. What he can't afford is to let her get too close: he could could end up in jail or, even more scary, he could end up in love .

Patricia Cornwell Third Scarpetta Omnibus Pbk published December 2002 by Little Brown at £12.99 ISBN: 0316724726

Third collection in the series
CAUSE OF DEATH - New year's Eve & the final murder scene of Virginia's bloodiest year takes Scarpetta 30 feet below the icy surface of the Elizabeth River. A diver is dead, an investigative reporter, a favourite at the Medical Examiner's office, but was he on the scent of a story or merely diving for sunken trinkets? And why did Scarpetta receive a phone call from someone reporting the death before the police were notified?
UNNATURAL EXPOSURE - Scarpetta is on the trail of a serial killer, but the discovery of a 10th corpse shows vital discrepancies & make her wonder if this is a copycat killing. Ghoulish, but not unusual. Then the eleventh body broadcasts a clear and horrifying message: the killer is armed with the most lethal weapon on Earth - smallpox.
POINT OF ORIGIN - Scarpetta is called to a burned-out farmhouse where someone has been viciously murdered, but she has another more incendiary horror to face - Carrie Grethen, the killer who nearly destroyed her, has escaped from a secure hospital. Her whereabouts are unknown, but her ultimate destination is not, because she has already told Scarpetta of her deadly plans for revenge.

Martin Stephen The Desperate Remedy Published October 2002 by Little Brown at £16.99 ISBN: 0316859702

See Review by Bernard Knight ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series