The best brainteasing Classic Crime books of the month

CABARET MACABRE By Tom Mead (Head of Zeus £20, 320pp) 

A RELIC from the Golden Age, the locked room mystery is enjoying a welcome revival.

Leading the way is Tom Mead whose intriguing plots challenge us to beat the author at his own game.

In Cabaret Macabre, the magician turned detective Joseph Spector brings his talents to bear on two apparently inexplicable murders.

The first has a body discovered in the middle of a frozen lake (how did he get there?), the second a victim shot dead in a closed room with no trace of an assailant.

The setting is a dark and dismal country house, home to a High Court judge who is receiving death threats.

Given that the judge is surrounded by a family of unremitting nastiness, Spector has his work cut out protecting his client while nailing the perpetrator. The upshot is a classic brain teaser. 

THE UNDERGROUND MAN By Ross Macdonald (Penguin Modern Classics £9.99, 288pp) 

THERE are two sides to private investigator Lew Archer; a veneer of cynicism masks a streak of idealism.

Idealism wins out when Archer is called to trace an abducted ten-year-old boy. A wild fire that is devastating the hills of southern California is the backdrop to a story of family relationships built on deceit and deception.

And what a ghastly bunch of misfits they turn out to be. When Archer tracks the boy's father to a shallow grave it is just the start of a string of revelations. Macdonald's laconic style, with never a word out of place, conjures up indelible images of high and low life. The Underground Man is one of those rare books that once read you will want to read again. 

MURDER AT LORD'S STATION By Jim Eldridge (Allison & Busby £19.99, 384pp) 

THERE is no hanging about with Jim Eldridge. Once the story is underway, the action is fast and furious. The year is 1941, with London enduring nightly bombing raids.

But for Inspector Coburg the priority is to track down the murderer of a famous cricketer whose savagely beaten body has been found near Lord's cricket ground.

Critical to the inquiry is the disused tube station where the killing took place. Somehow, the tightly secured access has been breached.

The plot gathers pace with match fixing and police corruption. With Coburg's wife as an ambulance driver and his sergeant having problems with a crooked love rival, the challenges of a wartime society are vividly portrayed.

Nail biting excitement can be guaranteed.