The Long Isle by Andrew Raymond (Vinci Books £9.99, 336pp)

The archipelago off the north-west coast of Scotland is known officially as the Outer Hebrides, but it also goes by other names, including The Long Isle.

This is the atmospheric backdrop to the first of what is to be a series featuring DC Mairead Maclean, who was born there, but left for the mainland two decades ago.

Now she is forced back by the killing of a young priest, who is found nailed to a railway sleeper on the shore in what looks like a form of crucifixion. The island’s only other priest is also attacked.

Maclean and a team from Glasgow have to find the killer, and need her local knowledge to help, but the islands keep their secrets, including Mairead’s own. Raymond’s series could come to rival Ann Cleeves’ Jimmy Perez – the first is that good.

A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper (Faber £9.99, 480pp)

The stark ugliness of modern Los Angeles, beneath the glamour, is brought to life in this magnetic story from Hollywood screenwriter and award-winning novelist Harper.

Jake Deal is a videographer who roams the streets capturing murders and assaults for subscribers to his live feed, Creepy Crawl.

Doug Gibson is a street lawyer trying, and often failing, to bring justice to the City of Angels, and Kara Delgado works for a discreet secret concierge company that offers its uber-rich clients anything they might privately desire – no matter how perverse. But she is also mourning the disappearance of her mentor, Phoebe.

Their three worlds coalesce. This is the realm of LA Confidential and Harper carries it off with panache and a clear nod to his inspiration, James Ellroy.

The Aristocracy by Patrick Worrall (Bantam £18.99, 352pp)

In Britain’s prisons, armed robbers and contract killers are the aristocracy, a breed apart – and when one of them, Darren Sinfield, escapes from a maximum security jail, the official reaction is horror.

Not only are the prison officers and police furious, so too are the intelligence services. Their suspicion is that Sinfield has returned to his home town of Avonford in the Midlands, where one of their officers, Declan Rennard, knew him when they were growing up.

Who better to track him down? But his escape is not the only issue. Sinfield’s small daughter is alleged to have been abused as a child, and has been taken into care, while two police officers are killed.

An absorbing mixture of crime thriller and spy story, Worrall’s third novel is a gritty tour de force, where no one is really a hero.