LJ Ross’s long series of crime thrillers featuring her urbane CSI Ryan are always great value.

One of the bonuses of a series is that you as the reader or listener become familiar with the main characters and their lives.

This is certainly the case with Ryan and crew whose lives, loves, successes and failures all add excellent value to the stories.

All the CSI Ryan books are well narrated by Jonathan Keeble, whose lively Geordie accent for the local characters in and around Newcastle, particularly the dry, old-fashioned DS Frank Philips, add another dimension to the stories.

I suppose, ideally, the books should be read in order, but it’s not essential since the author reprises enough background information in each book to keep the reader up-to-date.

Both of us have passed many happy hours forcing back the jungle our garden would like to become with these tales.

One particular favourite was #9, The Hermitage, probably because much of the action took place in Tuscany.