If you are amused by cruel humour, then a word to the wise – don’t read this book on the bus or the train, as you will be reduced to fits of giggles. Main character Dyson Devereux is an acerbic and savage commentator on the foibles and failings of the people he works with – at the Burials and Cemeteries Department of the local council. As you read page after page of comic imaginings (with one or two very vivid sex scenes thrown in for good measure) you may start to wonder if you are holding a crime novel at all. Stay with it. The sarcastic Mr Devereux is not all he seems to be, and the climax of the novel is guaranteed to shock. Our full review is here.