Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham was chosen as the number one crime book of 2012 by our contributor David Prestidge. “This was so far ahead of the field in my estimation that had it been in an under-12s rugby game, they would have stopped it at half-time,” he wrote. “Bingham defies logic and procedure by creating a heroine so credible and so heart-warming that the reader is prepared to put up with all manner of improbable plot twists. Cambridge graduate DC Fiona Griffiths is drawn away from her paperwork to investigate the death of a prostitute and her young daughter. Griffiths develops a chilling but revealing rapport with the dead child and, despite the scepticism of her boss, she uncovers a sinister web of organised crime. Fiona is difficult, dangerous and unpredictable, but her pursuit of the bad guys is energetic and relentless. I have to confess that the final scene where she achieves some kind of redemption with her family had me in tears.”

Read his full review here.