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Welsh women's publisher Honno has weighed in with the fourth in its popular crime series featuring forensic psychologist Megan Rhys. Written by former BBC radio journalist Lindsay Ashford, the style is as compellingly readable as her previous entry, Strange Blood. Set largely in the confines of two sprawling Victorian prisons, this time the main character is joined by long-term prisoner Dominic Wilde, who has been trained by the Samaritans to counsel other inmates. They are both extremely alarmed by the number of alleged suicides occurring in the crumbling inner city Birmingham prison of HMP Balsall Gate - ten in six months. Helped by TV reporter Delva Lobelo, Megan uncovers a systematic and institutionalised cover-up stretching back for years. You won't be surprised to hear that the tone of The Killer Inside is unremittingly bleak - when you're not inside the stone walls of a prison, you're following Megan as she conducts an autopsy or disinters a rotting corpse from a local graveyard. But despite the grim nature of the plot, Megan and Dominic are likeable characters and the book skips along briskly to a memorable ending that provides enough of a jolt to shock even the most jaded reader. Cosy crime this ain't.

The Killer Inside

Lindsay Ashford

Honno, £6.99, 9781870206921