A book isn't just for Christmas

Twitter has opened a whole new world of contemporary writers to me this year and I've read some amazing books I'd like to share with you – they all make great Christmas presents or put them on your own wish list.

If you like strong heroines leading an epic narrative and an enthralling love story, with an authentic setting during the early part of 20th century then two books by Judith Kingdom are perfect: The Last Summer and The Memory of Lost Senses. I found both these books compelling and really couldn't put the books down until finished.

If you've ever had problems with neighbours, then a psychological thriller by Mark Edwards, The Magpies, may make you think lfe with "them next door" wasn't so bad after all.

If crime books are your bag, then take a look at Mari Hannah's four police procedurals featuring DCI Kate Daniels. I just love this author's books: The Murder Wall (Kate Daniels), Settled Blood (Kate Daniels) and Deadly Deceit. Her latest book Monument to Murder (Kate Daniels 4) is just out in hardback. I haven't read it yet but it's on my Christmas wish list.

Marianne Wheelagham introduced me to a new detective:DS Louisa Townsend, a new country, Kiribati, in Food of Ghosts, an excellent, page-turning read.

Nearer to home are a few set in London. In The Third Estate: A Police Procedural Crime Thriller (The Women Sleuths Series)Eva Hudson has set the action just up the road to where I live and I shall certainly look out for more of her books. Similarly with Anya Lipska's Where the Devil Can't Go – I loved the East End setting and the Polish immigrant influences.

The Circus (An Inspector Carlyle Novel) is the fourth in James Craig's series but it's certainly also powerfully written a "stand-alone" read which has a very current theme of media moguls and phone tapping!

The action moves north for Steven Dunne's The Unquiet Grave when ex-Met DI Damen Brook is faced with a cold case dating back 50 years. Another ex-Met officer moves away from the capital misguidedly thinking life would be much quieter in Dave Sivers' compelling The Scars Beneath the Soul (Archer and Baines)

You may know of Cath Staincliffe's work in other media as she writes for TV and radio as well as novels. Her premise in Blink of an Eye: In a Heartbreat, Life Changes is how a random act, once witnessed, can have far-reaching repercussions.

Everyone Lies is the first book by an new writing partnership A. D. Garrett and certainly one to get your teeth into as is Eleven Days: A Carrigan and Miller Novel by Stav Sherez, aptly set just before Christmas.

The protagonist in Human Remains isn't an officer but a civilian worker at the Police Station who becomes embroiled in an investigation that threatens her very existence in Elizabeth Haynes' spine-chiller. Mel Sheratt's sexy, gritty "who dunnit" Taunting the Dead is another where you find yourself almost screaming, "don't do it/go there" to DS Allie Shenton. 

The First Time I Saw Your Face by Hazel Osmond is a heart-wrenching story of love and betrayal and secrets that have to be kept – I loved it.

The last two books in my round-up will bring a chill to any parent's heart. Helen Fitzgerald with The Cry and Rebecca Muddiman with Stolen create two very different scenarios about the loss of a child. You have been warned: tissues at the ready.