A Cure for all Diseases by Reginald Hill
HarperCollins, £17.99; 400pp

Blood from Stone by Frances Fyfield
Sphere, £19.99; 336pp

Nemesis translated by Don Bartlett
Harvill Secker £12.99

Day of the Dandelion by Peter Pringle
Max Press £6.99; 320pp

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR Andy Dalziel, slowly and irascibly recovering from the coma that formed the centrepiece of Reginald Hill's previous novel, is not officially back in his job, but that doesn't stop him from interfering when there is a murder in the quiet resort where he is convalescing. A Cure for All Diseases does not get off to a good start. Too much of the early information is conveyed by way of long e-mails written in the irritating language of that mode of communication. My strong advice is to persevere.

The e-mails tail off and we are left with a terrific virtuoso performance by Dalziel, with Peter Pascoe playing a minor role. The victim is Lady Denham, the local tyrant, known for her passion for wealth, status and sex. Suspects are many, from possible beneficiaries of her will to many with grudges against her. A clever plot, beautifully written, but what's memorable is Dalziel's spectacular return.

Frances Fyfield's Blood from Stone opens with the successful barrister Marianne Shearer, QC, achieving one of her most striking successes, persuading a jury to acquit her client of unspeakable acts of cruelty, against all the evidence. Soon afterwards, wearing a stunning skirt of exotic colours and style, she jumps to her death from a sixth-floor balcony. Why did she do it, and why dressed like that? There are other bizarre deaths.

The story unfolds, subtly and absorbingly, in typically Fyfieldian manner, with a cast of disturbing and disturbed characters jostling to make sense of Shearer's final act - and perhaps profit from it. Interwoven throughout are extracts from the transcript of her last trial, gradually combining with the rest of the story to reveal the shocking motives behind the suicide. As always, Fyfield leaves her readers with shivers that take a long time to go away.

In Nemesis, Oslo's Inspector Harry Hole, the most troubled cop in Scandinavia - which is saying something - spends the night with an old flame, who, the following morning, is found shot dead in bed. A bank robber lays down a deadline of 25 seconds for the spoils to be put into a bag. He gets the money, but a few seconds late; he kills a teller anyway. Hole, hiding his own role, investigates the two crimes with his usual mix of insubordination, disdain for the rules and acute insights. Jo Nesbo is not just a good Norwegian author; he's very near the top of the Nordic crime writers' league.

Peter Pringle's crime debut, Day of the Dandelion, introduces a botanical sleuth, Dr Arthur Hemmings, Kew Gardens' expert on seeds. There is skulduggery and murder in his world, connected to the patenting of a hugely valuable seed gene crucial to the future of agriculture, and therefore sought by several unscrupulous interests. An intelligent, convincing theme, skilfully executed.

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