Essential Authors, Addictive Reading, DMMT741B

Every great crime series has a first book, and the first book is always worth hunting down. Knots & Crosses introduced a young Edinburgh detective named John Rebus and set in motion one of British crime fiction's most decorated careers. The Crossing Places planted Ruth Galloway on the Norfolk coast, where the archaeology runs as dark as the tides, whilst Roy Grace investigates the disturbing disappearance of a groom just three days before his wedding in Brighton. The Lincoln Lawyer put Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller in the back of a car and unleashed him on the Los Angeles legal system. Four novels that changed what came after them and weeks of exceptional reading waiting on the other side of each.

Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer - Mickey Haller suspects his wealthy client is guilty, and that an innocent man is already serving the sentence for it.

Peter James, Dead Simple - A stag-night prank leaves Michael Harrison buried alive, but the friends who hid him don't survive to tell the tale.

Ian Rankin, Knots & Crosses - As girls vanish across Edinburgh, detective Rebus finds the cryptic notes he's receiving point back to his military past.

Elly Griffiths, The Crossing Places - Ancient bones surface in the Norfolk marshes and draw forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway into a desperate hunt for a missing child.