Prince of Panto to King of Crime: Julian Clary's Crime novel's out now

CURTAIN CALL TO MURDER by Julian Clary (Orion £20, 336pp) 

A prince of panto, not to mention an award-winning comedian and children’s novelist, Clary has now turned his hand to crime fiction with delightful results. 

His debut is a charming, funny, striking mystery, but it is far from conventional. The murder itself does not take place until after halfway as the cast of a new play, Leopard Spots, tour the country before arriving at the London Palladium for a West End run. 

The cast includes an ageing lothario and an amateur psychic – all watched carefully by dresser Jayne. 

As Clary notes: ‘It’s not so much a whodunnit as a “who is gonna do it and to whom”.’ He carries that off with aplomb in this engaging tale. 

THE GREY WOLF by Louise Penny (Hodder & Stoughton £20, 432pp) 

Penny's detective Chief Inspector Gamache, head of homicide for the Surete in Quebec, Canada, is her finest creation. 

Now in his late 50s, he is suddenly faced with a threat that could end the lives of thousands of innocent people as the result of a plan to poison the water supply to millions of homes. 

As the story unfolds, told in Penny’s atmospheric prose, so it emerges that the tentacles of the threat extend deep into the highest echelons of Canada’s political life. 

Subtle, compelling storytelling at its elegant best. 

WHITE CITY by Dominic Nolan (Headline £20, 464pp) 

IN THE early hours of May 21, 1952, a Post Office van carrying mail bags packed with cash from Paddington Station was hijacked by seven men in two cars. 

The van was driven away with £287,000 in cash, making it the biggest heist in British history – and it remained so until the Great Train Robbery 11 years later. 

No one was ever charged with the crime and the proceeds were never recovered. This is the starting point for Nolan’s epic story of the aftermath of the robbery and its impact on two gangster families – set against the backdrop of a bleak London still recovering from the Second World War. 

It’s a tale of robbery, race and the Notting Hill riots, as sweeping as anything by James Ellroy. Dark, threatening and at times violent, it depicts brutal times of Teddy Boys, flick knives and slums. Quite breathtaking.