Oh the thrill of being there at the very start of a new detective series! Can anything beat it? Perhaps picking up the first in a series, knowing there are 3 or 4 more books to come and experiencing the smug anticipation of bingeing them?

Take your pick from amateur sleuths such as the world weary part-time consul in the Venetian Game, deaf fraud investigator, Caleb in the outback noir, Resurrection Bay or Ruth Galloway a forensic archaeologist in The Crossing Places set in the eerie and majestic Norfolk landscape. 

Or perhaps you might prefer the edgy and darkly comic IQ set in the mean streets of LA. The eponymous IQ is an unlicensed PI and is a brilliant new series which wittily pays homage to Sherlock Holmes. Trevor Wood recently won the CWA New Blood Dagger for his thrilling, pacy and original The Man on the Street - Jimmy, the homeless ex-army sleuth is an engaging reluctant detective in a bold and brilliant debut. 

The Long Call is the first in a promising new Ann Cleeves series and The Stranger Diaries is the first in a new series by Elly Griffiths featuring detective Harbinder Kaur and is a gorgeously atmospheric and gripping autumn read. Do not even try to resist the hypnotic beckoning of the marvellous tale within a tale at the beginning: 

“Why not pass the hours with some storytelling?”