The Return of Little Big Man by Thomas Berger (Harvill Press, £15.99 in UK)

Berger's Little Big Man read like one of the fictional classics of a few decades ago, but his subsequent novels - especially the Reinhart series - seemed an anti-climax when judged by the standards he had set himself. Here he picks up on the theme of Jack Crabb, who survived Custer's Last Stand and lived on through the era of Bat Masterson, Bill Cody ("Buffalo Bill") and other semi-mythical characters of the Wild West. Told in the first person, the result may not be quite a masterpiece, but it has plenty of vim and energy, and Berger has a genuine feeling for the era of which he writes and the ability to re-create it in full colour.