Also published this week...
NON-FICTION Empire Of The IndusAlice Albinia, John Murray, £20
Following the Indus river 2,000 miles upstream and five millennia back in time, this imaginatively structured book shows the river's importance
to Sikhism, Alexander the Great, the Silk Road, the Sufis and the Raj.
A Voyage Long And StrangeTony Horwitz, John Murray, £25
Although Columbus landed in America in 1492 (and the Vikings perhaps beforehand), it only impinges on our consciousness with the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620. This enthralling book fills in those blanks.
FICTION The Sun And Moon CorruptedPhilip Ball, Portobello, £10.99
First novel from an award-winning science writer, Ball's hero – a young physicist who discovers unlimited energy and no supporters – flees to the edge of the former USSR, while a reporter seeks to prise him from his obscurity.
The Lighted RoomsRichard Mason, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99
An epic family saga about memory loss and the tricks age plays on the mind, this novel from the best-selling author of The Drowning People moves between a care home in Britain and secrets buried in South Africa.
CRIME
The ReapersJohn Connolly, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99
Fans of Connolly's work will be aware of Angel and Louis, two shadowy assassins, and this new Charlie Parker novel explores their back-story, set against their encounter with Bliss, the killer of killers.
The First FingerprintXavier-Marie Bonnot, Maclehose Press, £16.99
Michel de Palma, otherwise known as 'The Baron' is Marseilles' "most ruthless detective". Murders signed by a three-fingered handprint prove bafflingly difficult to solve – and may stretch back to the Ice Age.
The full article contains 277 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.