Likely to Die, by Linda Fairstein (Warner, £5.99 in UK)

This marks the second appearance of Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan's top sex crimes prosecutor, after her introduction in Final Jeopardy. As author Fairstein is herself the real-life image of her fictional creation, the technical background has to be authentic. This time Cooper is helping her friend, Detective Mike Chapman, to investigate the rape and murder of Gemma Dogen, a leading neurosurgeon in a New York medical centre. Dogen was not exactly liked by her colleagues, so there is no shortage of suspects in the case. Also, the police discover that scores of homeless men and women inhabit a maze of tunnels beneath the complex and that there are no checks on deliverymen, patients or visitors. It is up to Cooper to trawl through the evidence, a procedure that leads to her putting herself in danger, but like all good sleuths she wins out in the end.