New Zealand

As they rounded the corner of the shed, Bridget saw Odysseus. He was sitting on the low wall above the beach, gaing out to sea; bright hair and beard, golden body; numinous. He turned his head and smiled at them. "Hi" he said.

Hamish Nicholls, hill country farmer, loses his precious huntaway dog down one of the lethal potholes that reach deep below his pastures on Limestone Hills. He ventures down after the dog to rescue him and encounters "a grisly discovery. The events which follow plunge Hamish into a nightmarish encounter with violence and lawlessness. Suddenly all that he holds most dear and most certain is under threat".

Christine Chamberlain doesn't want much from life: a steady job, a baby and a Fields Medal. Her boss, however, wants money and he is willing to do anything to get his way, even if it means getting Christine involved in a project that not only jeopardises her dreams, but might also put her in danger.

When Christine complains to her colleagues, they joke about killing the boss to solve the problem. They discuss the murder by email. Almost everybody has an obvious motive to get rid of the boss from hell... and a few hidden ones they don't share.

'Eric', said Larry Davenport.'Come round to the flat, will you? As quickly as possible. It's Catia. She's been murdered. Here. In my flat.'

For Detective Sergeant Eric Walden, this phone call has serious repercussions. Not only is Larry a friend, he's also another cop, and the main suspect. As the case unfolds Eric finds it increasingly difficult to maintain an objective view. Has he misjudged Larry? What about Catia's mother? Why is she acting so strangely? And where do the two Brazilian musicians fit in?

Alex Hanson is a respected Anglican vicar caught up in events surrounding the rape and murder of a small child. Joe Bailey is a career criminal with an interest in meditation and a gift for violence. Their lives, and the life of Tessa Bromley, a young girl who loves rabbits and dreams of flying, are about to be changed in ways that can never be recovered.

No details yet sorry.

Heaven was written in 1994. I'd just finished Pack of Lies which was narrated by a woman who lies: it occurred to me that she might reveal at the end of the narrative that she wasn't even a woman. That doesn't happen, but it did start me thinking. The eponymous central character of Heaven is a transvestite, and flicks between different worlds: male / female, night / day, past / present. That's pretty much the story.

Reinventing himself after a life-threatening crash, data expert Samuel Usher embraces the self-destructive genius of Jules Way and Candy Strange. As their relationship deepens, all three descend into a drugged, twilight world. When a mysterious attack leaves Jules comatose, the city begins to black out and disappear, leaving Sam alone to discover what is real - and what truly matters.