IT’S 1943 in THE LAZARUS SOLUTION by Kjell Ola Dahl (Orenda, £9.99) and technically neutral Sweden hosts refugees from occupied Norway. The Norwegian Legation is responsible for their welfare, a purpose undermined by the fact that loyalties to left or right count in exile much as they did at home. 

Now the Legation has lost one of its couriers, who was taking money and documents to resistance fighters across the border. They need to know who killed him and why, and hire a boozy, ageing writer, with a background in leftist politics, to find out. 

As mind-bendingly twisty and as playfully philosophical as espionage fiction must always be, the novel also benefits from the peculiar atmosphere of a neutral zone, where a hidden war rages even as the combatants politely tip their hats to each other when passing in the street. 

And as a special bonus: how many spy novels are there in which a character explains the theory of surplus value? 

James Wolff's unique sequence of espionage novels continues with THE MAN IN THE CORDUROY SUIT (Bitter Lemon Press, £9.99), and this one has an even more unusual premise than its predecessors. Leonard Flood is viewed by his colleagues as an unclubbable oddity, though he is extraordinarily good at identifying traitors. But his latest case is a puzzling one, forcing him to face an uncomfortable question: could Leonard himself be the double agent he’s looking for? 

With a precision in his use of language suggestive of a poet who sidelines as a surgeon, Wolff manages to create books that appeal to those who love spy stories and to those who loathe them. 

Lucy returns to the rural seaside town in South Australia where she once spent an eventful teenage summer, in THE SUMMER PARTY by Rebecca Heath (Head of Zeus, £9.99). She’s come to sort out the house of her late grandmother, who worked as a servant for Queen’s Point’s richest and most influential family. Teenage Lucy’s entanglement with the Whitlams was complicated by class, love and lust. Turns out, it still is. 

When a human body part is found on the beach, meticulously hidden secrets are gradually revealed. A solid serving of heroine-in-jeopardy thrills makes good use of a claustrophobic setting. 

A cheerful 15-year-old, with a happy foster home in the Highlands and a promising career in amateur athletics, goes missing during a training run, in BLOOD RUNS COLD by Neil Lancaster (HQ, £14.99). Alarm bells ring louder than usual, because Affi was a trafficked slave until she escaped three years ago. 

If her former captors have found her, it can only be because of an unprecedented leak at a high level. DS Max Craigie, DC Janie Calder and their colleagues specialise in destroying corrupt officials, police or otherwise, but they’ll have to work quickly as many innocent lives could be at risk. 

When so many police thrillers feature maverick loners or odd-couple pairings, it’s a real delight to see this series use a more lifelike ensemble cast.