Anne Perry has cornered the market in feelgood literature for the festive season with her atmospheric whodunnits set in Victorian times.

This is arguably the best, and certainly the most vividly detailed, with the west coast of Ireland providing a picturesque, storm-tossed backcloth.

Her heroine is Emily Radley, a dutiful wife obliged to part from her family at Christmas to provide company for an ailing aunt in Connemara.

Emily senses dark secrets within the close-knit, isolated community. Then events take a dramatic turn with a spectacular shipwreck in the bay and the appearance on the scene of a young man whose presence seems to open up old wounds among the locals.

One to enjoy by the fire while the rain rattles on the windows.