The Lady Vanishes, by Ethel Lina White; Vertigo, by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (Bloomsbury, £5.99 each in UK)

What these two almost forgotten thrillers have in common is that they were both turned into films by Alfred Hitchcock, and that the films have easily overshadowed the originals. The first book dates from the 1930s, the second from the 1950s, and neither is especially memorable in itself though those who like to hunt down the Book of the Film may want to add them to their collections. The Lady Vanishes, incidentally, was originally published under the title The Wheel Spins.