Another in the 'marriage thriller' genre, I guess, and another very good one. George Foss's college sweetheart had gone home to Florida for the holidays twenty years ago, and never returned. George learns that she has committed suicide. Devastated, his life drifts meaninglessly for the next twenty years, until he meets a woman in a local bar claiming to be her. She asks for a favour, which leads to a twisting and thrilling series of events which leaves the reader riveted.

A rather lovely and authoritative illustrated history of the Appian Way. This book describes the history and construction of the road, with beautiful photographs of the key sights to be found along the way. The text is a little dry, but that may be partly due to the translation from Italian. The authors are all experts in their particular fields, and there are good maps and diagrams. It would be an excellent companion on any expedition, or a souvenir following one.

I was lucky enough to be able to walk a section of the Appian Way out of Rome last year, and this has inspired some reading on the subject. This is a delightful little hardback of just 120 pages, which describes the history of that great road from Rome to Brindisi, and describes the journey along it. The author is a professor of classics at Princeton, and he knows his Roman history, but, although authoritative, this book is also charming and accessible, beautifully packaged, and essential reading for any fan of Roman history.

The success of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl seems to have spawned a new genre of marriage thriller. This is another one - but it's a really, really good one! Personally, I thought Gone Girl started well and ended badly, but this one maintains believability right to the end, and does it at pace. Hannah has been a successful businesswoman who has avoided commitment, but since meeting Mark, her life has changed. The book opens with her, 8 months happily married, heading to Heathrow to meet her husband due to return from business in New York.

Another in this terrific series - this time on Nick Drake's third album Pink Moon, the last recorded before his tragic and untimely death in 1974. Nick Drake was almost completely ignored by the music industry and the public until well after his death. This book traces his career, his depression, likely suicide (some still maintain his death was accidental); and the subsequent, almost miraculous growth in his reputation and album sales.

Having just seen Television play at The Powerstation late last year, and also read Patti Smith's Just Kids in which Tom Verlaine appears, I was keen to read more on the background of the recording of this legendary album. The 33 1/3 books, now numbering 86 titles, is an amazing series of cute little paperbacks describing the creation of key rock and pop albums. They describe the social and historical context of the period in which the album was made, and reveal insights into the artists creative influences.