La Rentrée, from Anna Nicholson

Some people love Autumn, that time of year when we get the ‘must sign up for a new night-class’ feeling. The summer holidays have long faded from memory, and the sand has settled down between the cracks in the floorboards. The Edinburgh Festival is over and the leaflets and posters are blowing down the Cowgate. The pubs and restaurants are busy taking bookings for Christmas office parties.

Spare a thought for the publishers as they release their lead titles to the shops in the few months before the Christmas rush when the joke books and annuals fill the shelves once more. They have the laden halls of Frankfurt to negotiate at the world’s largest gathering of the book trade in October.

What have they provided for our delectation this September?

The Burry Man's Day by Catriona McPherson is the latest in the Dandy Gilver stories. It's the summer of 1923 and the village of South Queensferry, near Edinburgh, is preparing for the annual Ferry Fair and the walk of the Burry Man - a local man covered, as the tradition goes, in burrs, whose day consists of going from pub to pub for a nip of whisky. When the Burry Man drops dead in full view of everyone at the fair, Dandy has her work cut out to solve the mystery.

Nightingale is the debut novel by Peter Dorward from new publishing outfit, Two Ravens, in Ullapool. Dorward, a previous winner of the Canongate/Waterstone’s Short Story competition has written a thriller that will grip to the last page, according to the publishers.

Alasdair Gray's Lanark is described as a seminal title in the literature of Scotland; so much so that some critics talk of it as a watershed publication. First published in 1981, this new edition will ensure it finds another audience.

The latest Penguin Classic is by Robert Louis Stevenson, a writer whose popularity has sharply increased in the past few years. Set in England during the War of the Roses, this novel tells the story of a young man, betrayed by his treacherous and brutal guardian. Shades of Kidnapped, perhaps?

A new book by Debi Gliori is always an event. She’s one of the best children’s illustrators in the world and her winning combination of warm, appealing pictures and wise words have entertained at children’s bedtimes all over the country. This book on Baby Bat is no exception and will be huge.

And finally, my bodice-ripper recommendation of the month: Return To Me by Julia Templeton.