Tim Verity

Victor Green is 37, unmarried and the sort of man who irons his underpants. When pruning his tree, he falls from his ladder and kills the pedestrian below - the gangster Tommy 'Gruesome' Hewson. As word spreads of the gangster's demise, Victor is mistaken for Vincent Green, an international hitman, and swept into a turf war between two local gangs. The hapless Victor's life is turned upside down as he inherits Tommy's poodle, gets a girlfriend and is recruited to fight in both gangs, accidentally leaving a trail of bodies in his wake as he tries to figure out what seems to be a horrific misunderstanding.

Making his way through the seamy theatre world of 1970s New York, ambitious young actor Edward Day finds his life changed during a weekend at the Jersey Shore, where he seduces a beautiful woman and is saved from drowning by a mysterious man who eerily shares his physical appearance.

Aviation writer, Ernest K Gann, describes his years working as a pilot from the 1930s to 1950s, starting at American Airlines when civilian air transport was in its infancy. He's flown in both peace and war, and come close to death many times. Here he reveals the characters he's known and the dramas he's experienced, portraying fate as a hunter constantly in pursuit of pilots. This is a fabulous account of both the history of aviation and one man's life in the air.

Many books have extolled the exploits of the Gurkhas; In Gurkha Company brings to the subject a depth of experience and understanding that few authors can match. Colonel J.P Cross served for more than thirty years with these tough soldiers, hunting out communist terrorists in the rubber plantations of Malaya and fighting at their side in the jungles of Borneo. His perceptive account paints a portrait of the Gurkha battalions from the inside, enabling the reader to appreciate and understand the unique blend of martial qualities that has made these highland warriors so formidable on the battlefields of the world.

In London Parks, Hunter Davies illustrates their wonders by spending a year walking round his favourite parks. From his local haunt on Hampstead Heath to the capital's latest wonder, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, each one is chosen for its unique appeal. Informative and entertaining, he details their history, describes their layout and reveals hidden delights and new attractions that might otherwise be missed, such as the statue of a small brown dog in Battersea Park, a garden full of exotic plants and palm trees in south London's Burgess Park or, for something completely unique, Ian Dury's musical memorial bench in Richmond Park.

Fun, thought-provoking and uplifting, London Parks is an essential companion for anyone wishing to explore the ever-green beauty of Britain's capital city, whether it's spotting pelicans and politicians in St James's Park, the birds in the London Wetland Centre or the views from Greenwich Park.

Philadelphia in 1777 is a city at war - not just between American troops and the British army, but within itself. For an occupied city throws together loyalist and patriot, soldier and civilian, man and woman; divides families and breeds treachery.

Winner of the Stanford Dolman Lifetime Contribution to Travel Writing Award 2020

Paul Theroux left Victoria Station on a rainy Saturday in April thinking that taking eight trains across Europe, Eastern Europe, the USSR and Mongolia would be the easy way to get to the Chinese border - the relaxing way, even. He would read a little, take notes, eat regular meals and gaze contentedly out of windows. The reality, of course, was very different.

In fact, Theroux experienced a decidedly odd and unexpected trip to China that set the challenging tone for his epic year-long rail journey around that vast, inscrutable land - a journey which involved riding nearly every train in the country.

'Wry, humorful and occasionally querulous ... as Theroux makes excruciatingly clear, travelling alone in the Middle Kingdom is not for the faint of heart or stomach' Time.

Francis Pettigrew travels to Exmoor for a holiday with his wife - an area in which as a young boy he was traumatised by coming across a dead body on the moor. In an attempt to exorcise this trauma, Pettigrew walks across the moor to the place where the incident occurred - only to find another dead body. Moreover when he returns to the scene with the police, the body is gone. Did he really see a body - or is it a hallucination conjured up by his return to the scene of the crime that has haunted him since childhood? In Untimely Death, Cyril Hare conjures up an intriguing puzzle whose twists and turns will keep the reader turning the pages until the final surprising resolution.

Caroline Bryce came from the top of the social register in the tranquil town of Treen. So it was quite a scandal when her body was dragged from the bottom of the river. As Superintendent Wycliffe investigates, he begins to unravel an intricate tangle of love and hate, and he finds himself on the trail of a psychotic killer who feels no guilt - and will not hesitate to strike again...