Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh

So where do you fancy going this summer? The destination of choice for armchair travellers should be Norway, and in particular Oslo, the stamping ground of Harry Hole, an "alcoholic, obstreperous, stubborn bastard" who just happens to be a very good thief-catcher. In Nemesis (Harvill Secker, £12.99), the third of Jo Nesbo's thrillers translated into English, he is after the frighteningly clever killer of an old flame who frames him for her murder. It is a brilliant novel that leaves you looking forward to next year's Headhunters.
Somewhere warmer, perhaps? Commissario Guido Brunetti makes an excellent guide to Venice. In The Girl of His Dreams (Heinemann, £16.99), spring has sprung in La Serenissima and an 11-year-old gypsy girl, who turns out to have gonorrhoea, is fished out of the Grand Canal. A gold ring and a gold watch are hidden about her body. Brunetti's investigations are complicated by political correctness and prompt him to consider family ties of all kinds. He may deal with horrors in office hours but he generally has time to pop into one of the city's many churches to admire, for example, a Tintoretto Crucifixion. The good cop "had always been struck by the helplessness of the dead".

Then, of course, there is the US, although Colorado, where Jack Reacher fetches up — between two small towns called Hope and Despair — doesn't exactly welcome strangers. Nothing To Lose (Bantam, £17.99) is Lee Child's 12th Reacher adventure: his very tall, very fit mythical hero is on fine form even if the thriller — in which the plot resorts to the nuclear option — is not one of Child's best.

New Orleans isn't exactly the place to be either as Hurricane Katrina swamps the tourist-trap in James Lee Burke's The Tin Roof Blowdown (Phoenix, £7.99). The complex story centres on a cache of stolen diamonds and features a cast that includes a mafia boss, a junkie priest, various thugs and a truly sadistic psychopath. The result is an apocalyptic tale in which Burke's love for the Big Easy and rage at its fate — and the shameful treatment of its citizens — shimmer through the darkness.

Tinseltown is always good for getting away from reality, although Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Crows (Quercus, £14.99), a superior sequel to last year's Hollywood Station, mixes tragedy with the comedy. The birds (and boys) in question are community relations officers who deal with quality-of-life issues in central LA. Two become fatally involved in a battle for divorce between the owner of a titty-bar and his stunning, soon-to-be-ex-wife. Wambaugh doesn't let you forget that "far more cops murder themselves than are murdered by criminals" but the book is full of zany interludes, many of them featuring the hilarious Flotsam and Jetsam, a pair of officers who spend all their downtime surfing.

Surfing also lies at the heart of Don Winslow's The Dawn Patrol (Heinemann, £12.99), set in the resort of Pacific Beach, Southern California. Each morning Boone Daniels, a part-time PI and full-time good guy, High Tide, a mountainous Samoan, Dave The Love God, a gorgeous lifeguard, Johnny Banzai, a San Diego detective, and Sunny, Boone's former squeeze and the best surfer of the five, meet up on the ocean waves. All become embroiled in the murder of a stripper that leads to the unearthing of a vile business. The escalating tension is laced with romance and humour that leaves you on a high: ideal R&R.

Synopsis from Foyles.co.uk

The cops of Hollywood Station are still over-worked, under-staffed, bound by red tape, hobbled by political correctness, and constantly amazed by what the boulevards can throw at them. Scratch the surface of the 'reel' Hollywood and you'll discover the 'real' Hollywood. Here, Mickey Mouse is a crack addict, Marilyn Monroe is a man and when the moon is full, the neighborhood gets even weirder. When the legendary Oracle is replaced by Sgt. Jason 'Chickenlips' Treakle - a politically correct, paper shuffling putz with a shiny shoe fetish - Nate 'Hollywood' Weiss leaves the mid-watch to become a Crow, or Community Relations Officer (C.R.O.). These are the guys dealing with domestic disputes, busting stalkers, bouncing paparazzi and calming chronic complainers, wannabe cops and loons of all varieties. It should be easy duty - to the other cops it's 'the sissie beat' - but being Hollywood, the loons are not in short supply and not everything is at is seems.So when Hollywood Nate and fellow crow Bix Rumstead find themselves caught up with bombshell Margot Aziz, they think they're just having some fun. To them, Margot is a harmless hill bunny, stuck in the middle of an ugly divorce from a nefarious strip-club-owner. But Margot's no helpless victim: the femme fatale is setting them up so she can pull off the perfect murder and walk away with her ex-husband's ill-won fortune. But Margot isn't the only one with a deadly plan.