REX Kathy is a forensic anthropologist and bestselling crime novelist

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams Macmillan, £8.99 The ideas are very clever: Earth is a computer, designed to come up with the question to which the answer is number 42 but it is destroyed, leaving the main character, Arthur Dent, travelling through the universe. A laugh-out-loud book.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving Black Swan, £8.99 This follows Garp through his whole life. I love the combination of humour and very dark topics and the idea of the strong, independent single mother. There are separate framed narratives within the book and I admired that as a way of revealing the character.

[PH]

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen Vintage Classics, £7.99 This looks at the landed gentry’s mores and manners and how the Bennets are going to get their daughters married off. Then it’s almost a soap operetta plot of how Elizabeth and Darcy don’t get along. I loved the interplay between characters and the subtle commentary on class attitudes.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by Thomas Harris Arrow, £7.99 A young FBI agent is asked to interview the serial killer Hannibal Lecter in order to get information to solve a current serial murder case. It’s a great thriller and influenced my decision to write fiction. I liked the use of cryptic clues and forensic science.

[PH]

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee Arrow, £7.99 I read this in high school. It addresses issues such as rape and racial injustice but in a light-handed way with humour and warmth from the point of view of a child. The father, Atticus Finch, is a low-key endearing character but a kind of hero.