A controversial book by the former detective in charge of the Madeleine McCann investigation will be translated into English, it was reported today.

Goncalo Amaral maintains the young girl died in her family's holiday flat in the work, called A Verdade da Mentira (The Truth Of The Lie), which was published in Portugal today.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are consulting their lawyers over the book, which contains allegations against them.

Mr Amaral, who was removed from the case in October after reportedly criticising British police, argues in his book that investigators made the "mistake" of treating the McCanns "with tweezers".

Detectives named the couple as "arguidos", or formal suspects, in the child's disappearance four months after she went missing.

But this week prosecutors announced they were shelving the case and lifting the McCanns' arguido status because there was no evidence they had committed any crime.

Mr Amaral's book also criticises British officers, claiming they held back a potentially important lead for six months and questioning their relationship with the McCanns.

An English translation of the book will be made but there is no firm date or distribution deal yet, the publishers Guerra e Paz told the Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Noticias today.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said Mr Amaral would face "immediate and swift legal action" if he implied the couple were involved in the disappearance or harming of Madeleine.

He added that the McCanns' lawyers were studying the book "as a matter of some urgency".

Leicestershire Police did not want to comment on Mr Amaral's allegations.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year as her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a huge police investigation and massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, she has not been found.