DORSET-based scribes have been even busier than usual in the run-up to Christmas, so we thought we’d round up the fruits of their labours...

David Edelstein – Last Dorset Diaries (Halsgrove, £12.99).

The third – and apparently final – instalment of David’s much-loved Dorset Diaries focuses largly on the parts played by the horses Dandelion and Bluebell in family life. It all makes for a compelling, often touching, read.

James Edwards – Emma and her Friends (James Edwards, £6.99).

The story of one man and his dog in and around Bournemouth. Actually there’s more than one dog, but Emma is very much the star. It’s all very descriptive and packed with tales played out in local settings.

Dr H John Powell – Into Africa With Scalpel and Spanner (Arbentin Books, £9.95). In which the author recounts his many and varied experiences as a missionary in Nigeria during the 1940s and early 1950s.

Øivind Hovland – Trial and Error (Tabella, £11.99). Graphic novel chronicling the life and times of a fictional 19th century aviator and his pursuit of powered flight. The monochrome illustrations convey plenty of atmosphere and a dry humour.

Mary Bloom – Summer Joy (York Publishing Services). Illuminating family history that draws on a wealth of 20th century stories from the Edwardian childhood of the author’s mother and her father’s First World War service to her own 80th birthday in 2007.

FS Winstanley – Number Eighteen (Blenheim Press, £6.95). The first of three Victorian maritime dramas featuring Poole boy George Eefamy who runs away from his tyrannical family to pursue a life on the ocean wave.

Sweet Magnolias – James O’Donald Mays (NFL, £22.99). Sprawling true-life love story about a cotton farmer’s son from the American Deep South and the Land Army true-love he met while stationed as a GI in Southampton during Second World War. After he joined the State Department and they embarked upon a lifetime of globetrotting, the couple settled in the calm of the New Forest.

Sean Cockwell – Scenes From Behind the Sofa (lulu.com, £14.50). Text-only time from the erstwhile Echo film reviewer outlining the 50 films he considers to be the scariest of all time. Along the way he meets a true king of the horror world, director John Carpenter.