EVER wondered what happened to Tiny Tim Cratchit, the angelic little boy with crutches from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol?

Well, in Louis Bayard's brilliant Victorian thriller, Mr Timothy (John Murray, £12.99), Tim has grown up and he's not so tiny.

After the death of his father, Tim severs his financial ties to his Uncle Ebenezer Scrooge (or Uncle N as he calls him) and buries himself in London's seedy underbelly.

He lives in a brothel (room and board provided by the madam, Mrs Sharpe, so long as he teaches her to read and write), and he spends his nights in the company of an old sailor, Captain Gully, dredging the River Thames for dead bodies to sell to the coroner.

But his life takes a fateful turn when he stumbles across the bodies of murdered young girls, each branded mysteriously with a letter G.

Then he finds a homeless urchin, Philomela, also branded, but alive and he takes it on himself to protect her, and find the killer or killers of the other girls.

He is helped by a fast-talking homeless boy called Colin The Melodious (similar to another Dickens creation, the Artful Dodger). But soon they realise that they are up against no ordinary killer.

With a cast of unforgettable characters and a compelling plot, which twists and turns through a Victorian London landscape complete with Hansom cabs and fog, Mr Timothy is a triumph. Mr Dickens would be proud.

Moving to the 21st century, James Patterson has brought back two of his most evil creations, the Weasel and the Wolf, for his latest Detective Alex Cross caper, London Bridges (Headline, £17.99). A US city has been annihilated and the Russian super-criminal known as the Wolf is claiming responsibility. Major cities around the globe, including London, Paris and New York, are also threatened with destruction.

Surveillance footage of the blast reveals the presence of the Weasel, one of Cross's most feared adversaries.

Determined to catch the Weasel once and for all, Cross - now with the FBI - flies to London to join forces with Scotland Yard and Interpol. But is Cross one step ahead of the Weasel, or is it just part of the game masterminded by the elusive Wolf?

Like all Patterson novels, London Bridges moves at great speed, but unlike his previous works this one peters out towards the end, leaving an abrupt and disappointing climax.

Ed McBain may be 78 now, but he's still one of the best crime writers around.

In his latest 87th Precinct tale, Hark (Orion, £12.99), Detective Steve Carella and co are called to investigate the murder of Gloria Stanford. She had been shot twice in the heart. All her credit cards were gone, but apart from that there seemed no motive at all.

When Carella starts to receive bizarre cryptic notes in the post, he realises something strange is going on. It seems his great nemesis, the Deaf Man, a killer fascinated by puzzles and anagrams, is back.

The Deaf Man's notes contain quotations from Shakespeare which tell the detectives of his plans; but can they work them out in time? Full of black humour, banter and brilliance, Hark is McBain at his best.

Harlan Coben's thrillers just get better and better and Just One Look (Orion, £6.99) is no exception. Grace Lawson is living a happy life in the suburbs with her husband, Jack, and two young children. But that security is about to end. When she picks up a set of holiday pictures, among them is one photo that doesn't fit: a faded image of her husband as she never knew him.

Within 12 hours, Jack has disappeared, a hitman is stalking her family and the safe world she knows has been turned upside down. A superb shocker with twists and turns galore, and an ending which will blow your mind.

Updated: 08:29 Wednesday, November 03, 2004