John Tagholm has hit on a most unusual story in Parallel Lives (Quartet, £10). The book opens with the unexpected death of psychotherapist Marjorie Nielson. Her death has a profound effect on three of her clients, who come together at her funeral and seem strangely bound to one another, anonymous no longer.

All three have their traumas, hang-ups and fears to confront. But a far larger mystery now is the manner of Marjorie’s death, and the secrets of her own life. The story of how the therapist’s death forces them to work out the answers for themselves, and the shocking nature of the answers they discover, makes for a most engaging read.

The art world, forgery and deception are the subjects of Playing the Game, by Barbara Taylor Bradford (HarperCollins, £17.99). It’s not quite so thrilling as other novels I have read recently, but Bradford tells a moderately good story of an art dealer and the wife whom he allegedly saved from a dark past. What I found amusing in this book was the frequently stilted nature of the characters’ conversations, especially when they are reporting past events that it would seem more natural to summarise. But perhaps it’s just me.