The Cut by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown, £18.99) Millicent Spark is a world-weary septuagenarian newly released from prison after serving 25 years for murder. She may have her freedom yet feels far from free. Then, just when Millicent is ready to give up on life, she meets Jerome Kelly, a Glasgow film student with a chequered background. The chance sighting of a photograph from 1994 hanging in a hotel corridor sends them down a rabbit hole as the duo uncover startling new information about someone from Millicent s past and shed new light on a life-altering night. The Cut harks back to the razor wit and black humour of Brookmyre s novels All Fun And Games Until Somebody Loses An Eye and Attack Of The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks. Top marks too for the author s encyclopaedic knowledge of cult horror films and obscure death metal bands.