Susanna Gregory has written a fine yarn in her latest in the 14th-century Matthew Bartholomew series: A Vein of Deceit (Sphere, £18.99). Michaelhouse is the Cambridge college of the story, whose finances have become somewhat irregular.

Unfortunately, before Bartholomew can confront the college treasurer with evidence of fraud, the Fellow unexpectedly dies.

Therein starts a series of investigations, and a few deaths, some of which are connected with the disappearance of medicines from Bartholomew’s herbarium, and most of which are connected with inheritance of property. There’s mystery aplenty as the truth is unravelled, and an intriguing story unfolds along the way.

Another mystery, this time set in modern-day Italy, is The Salati Case (Faber, £12.99) by Tobias Jones – the first in a series involving his detective Castagnetti – ‘Casta’.

The plot here too is tangled up in property rights: an old lady has died, and the terms of her will reflect her desire to be sure that her younger son, ‘missing’ for 14 years, is actually ‘presumed dead’.

Funnily enough, there was an announcement in the newspaper, allegedly from the missing son, on his mother’s death. Obviously someone is trying to throw the cat among the pigeons.

It is Casta’s job to find out the facts, so that the inheritance goes to the right people, uncomfortable though the process of discovery may be for the heirs. It’s a plot that makes entertaining reading.