"Short stories are like a sniper's bullet. Fast and shocking," says crime writer Jeffrey Deaver.

And in Twisted (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99), Deaver has put together 16 brilliant "bullets" - many of them award-winning - for his ever-growing army of British fans.

The great thing about short story collections is that you can dip in and out. You don't have to follow a particular order.

Being a big fan of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme - the quadriplegic forensic expert who solves crimes from his bed - I skipped a few hundred pages, to the Rhyme short story, The Christmas Present.

Here, Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, are asked to find a woman who has gone missing on Christmas Eve. Her daughter and ex-husband fear the worst.

Using all their forensic expertise, Rhyme and Sachs do what they can to track her down, but the outcome is not what they expect.

In Beautiful, former model Kari's stalker follows her to her new home. The police are helpless and hopeless! The only thing that will end her nightmare is the stalker's death, or her own.

In the award-winning Without Jonathan, we meet Marissa, who is about to go on her first "date", since she married Jonathan. As she wonders whether she will ever love again, the man she is about to meet is brutally killing a woman in another part of town.

In Triangle, Pete uses information gleaned from a true crime book to commit a murder, while in The Weekender, Deaver tells of a drugstore robbery that goes wrong (echoes of Reservoir Dogs.)

Twisted is a superb crime collection from a man who does his best to keep you on your toes.

James Patterson is another writer who gives his fans great value for money. He loves to shock, and 3rd Degree (Headline, £17.99), his latest Women's Murder Club novel does just that. The cover teases: "One of his heroines is about to die - but which one?"

It starts with Detective Lindsay Boxer and Assistant District Attorney Jill Bernhardt enjoying a quiet afternoon in San Francisco when a townhouse across the street, owned by an Internet millionaire, explodes in flames.

Boxer rushes inside to search for survivors, but she finds three people dead. A baby, who lived in the house, cannot be traced and a mysterious message, signed by August Spies, is left at the scene.

Then a businessman is found murdered under bizarre circumstances, with another mysterious message left behind by the killers.

Boxer asks her friends Claire Washburn of the medical examiner's office, Jill Bernhardt, and reporter Cindy Thomas to help her track down the murderers. But the killer has also targeted one of the four friends. Which one will it be?

Like all Patterson's novels, 3rd Degree is fast and furious. And with his trademark punchy chapters, you can easily finish it in an afternoon.

From high-speed shocks to dull and dreary, and Caroline Graham's latest Midsomer Murders tale.

I've never read any stories featuring Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby, or seen the TV series with John Nettles in the leading role and, after reading A Ghost In The Machine (Headline, £10.99), I very much doubt I ever will.

In the sleepy village of Forbes Abbot, Mallory Lawson has inherited his rich aunt's beautiful house. Working on behalf of the estate is solicitor, and family friend, Dennis Mallory - a man with an unusual hobby, he collects replicas of medieval killing machines.

It's ironic, therefore, that one of those machines should "fall" on poor Dennis. But was it an accident, or murder?

The local medium - who contacts Dennis from beyond the grave - believes it was deliberate, but Barnaby is not convinced. Until someone else is murdered, that is.

This book has its moments, but frankly I was glad when it was all over.

A complete contrast is Anthony McGowan's brilliant debut novel Stag Hunt (Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99).

Invited to a friend's weekend stag party in an isolated Cornish house, civil servant Matthew Moriarty finds himself the outsider among a bunch of old public school chums.

While the rest of the dysfunctional group remember their school days, goading each other at every opportunity, Moriarty feels left out. He can't wait to leave.

Then one by one the friends are murdered - but who is the killer? And will Moriarty be his next victim?

It's a chilling tale of retribution - a story of love, hate, revenge and murder. All the ingredients for a terrific read.

Acclaimed British writer Stephen Leather introduces us to a new hero in Hard Landing (Hodder & Stoughton, £10.99).

Undercover detective Dan "Spider" Shepherd faces his most dangerous assignment - pretending to be an armed robber at a top security prison.

His mission is to find out how drugs baron and family man Gerry Carpenter - on remand for a string of offences - is managing to kill off and intimidate witnesses to his crimes.

But to do that he has to stay undercover 24 hours a day, surrounded by criminals and murderers who would kill him in an instant if they knew his true identity.

Although predictable at times, Hard Landing is a gritty and fast-paced thriller.

Updated: 12:01 Wednesday, April 21, 2004