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Alison Bruce's Cambridge Blue is a singularly gripping debut novel, with some interesting spins on familar formulae.

DC Gary Goodhew is bright, intuitive and the youngest detective at Cambridge's Parkside Station. He is the first on the scene when the body of a young woman is discovered on Midsummer Common and for the first time in his career is given the chance to work on a murder investigation. Soon there is an identity for the victim: Lorna Spence. Richard Moran, her boyfriend and employer, has reported her missing and is distraught to discover that she has been killed. He claims she was loved by his staff and his sisters, reserved Alice and vulnerable Jackie. He says she had no enemies but it isn't long before Goodhew discovers plenty, including her high maintenance colleague Victoria and Goodhew's reckless former classmate Bryn.

R J Ellory has already trumpeted the virtues of this novel ('You are pulled relentlessly in as Bruce racks up the tension. Menacing and insidious, this is a great novel.') and it's clear that this will be the first of many encomiums.

Cambridge Blue is published by Constable Robinson