On Trial For Murder, by Douglas Wynn (Pan, £6.99 in UK)

A pocket dictionary of famous murder trials? Just what everyone's pocket has been waiting for, I'd say: a handy alphabetical reference guide to cases like that of the dastardly Diane Downs, who shot her three children, mad Arfinn Messet, who murdered a whole nursing home for the elderly, and horrible Sadamichi Hirasawa, who poisoned an entire bank. I don't know which is grimmer that people do these things, or that other people want to read about them.