The Prague Cemetery, By Umberto Eco

Back on the tricksy and mystery-spinning form of The Name of the Rose, Eco revisits conspiracies and their deadly madness in this novel of imaginary plots and all-too-real anti-Semitism in the Paris –

and the Europe – of the 1890s. Aided by a translation (from Richard Dixon) that tucks into Eco's rich period pastiche with relish, the story weaves a fictional master of mischief – devilishly clever Simonini – into actual events as the faked Protocols of the Elders of Zion plant the seeds of genocide. Highly enjoyable in its cunning twists, Eco's tale carries a warning from history: beware of political paranoia.