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The Man Who Came Uptown by George Pelecanos​

(Orion, £20), buy it here.

Armed robber Michael Hudson is released from jail — or, in con-speak, goes uptown — earlier than expected thanks to Phil Ornazian, an Armenian lawyer.

The street Hudson’s mother lives on in Washington DC has been gentrified while he’s been inside. This chimes with his desire for a fresh start. A prison librarian has turned him on to the joy of reading but before he can fill the bookshelf in his bedroom with Elmore Leonards, Ornazian asks for a favour in return. He needs him to drive a getaway car.

Pelecanos, best known as a screenwriter on such series as The Wire and The Deuce, is first and foremost a novelist. If you haven’t read any of his work, this is an excellent place to start.

The Cold Summer by Gianrico Carofiglio

(Bitter Lemon, £8.99), buy it here.

Those who have read Carofiglio’s outstanding quintet featuring lawyer Guido Guerrieri will be familiar with “the incomprehensible violence of life”. The Cold Summer, the first in a new series of Italian jobs, introduces us to Pietro Fenoglio, a Carabinieri marshal in the Adriatic port of Bari.

A 10-year-old boy is kidnapped and, thanks to an anonymous tip-off, is soon found dead at the bottom of a well. His father, who just happens to be a big shot in Puglian organised crime, promises to eat the heart of the man responsible.

He suspects Vito Lopez, one of his disaffected deputies, who has gone Awol with a consignment of cocaine. When Lopez hears this he seeks refuge with the boys in blue by becoming a supergrass.

The Reckoning by John Grisham

(Hodder, £20), buy it here.

One morning in 1946 Pete Banning, war hero and cotton farmer, shoots dead a Methodist preacher then refuses to say why. This being Mississippi, it’s not long before he’s in the electric chair.

This is a slice of Southern Gothic that’s heavy on the horror: not only Pete’s death but his experiences during the Second World War that leave him physically and mentally scarred. Segregation and capital punishment are heavy subjects and The Reckoning turns out to be a real downer. If it’s thrills you’re after, try Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s identically titled novel published in May.