The Scouse Christmas Carol review – knockabout comedy with a potty mouth

Paul Duckworth’s sweary Scrooge has romantic history with Marley’s widow in a pun-heavy festive show

The Thing With Feathers review – well-intentioned adaptation of Max Porter novella about grief

Benedict Cumberbatch gives an honest performance, but this is too self-conscious to challenge or work through loss with same power as the book

Jeeves Again review – new Jeeves and Wooster stories by celebrity fans

This collection of new short stories about Bertie and his valet pays homage to the genius of PG Wodehouse – just in time for Christmas

The Dinner Party by Viola van de Sandt review – a formidable debut

An intimate soiree builds to a horrific climax in this visceral novel about a young woman tasked with hosting a meal for her fiance

The Once and Future Riot by Joe Sacco review – a masterclass in visual reportage

The author of Palestine turns his attention to the legacies of Indian partition in this brilliant portrait of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn review – a visceral tale of witchcraft

The author of The Employees goes back to 17th-century Denmark for an intensely poetic portrait of everyday sorcery and female solidarity

Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu review – life with borderline personality disorder

A student navigates troubled relationships at age 19 and 25, as he comes to terms with mental health difficulties

John Updike: A Life in Letters review – the man incapable of writing a bad sentence

Friends, enemies and lovers animate more than 60 years of the author’s remarkable correspondence

Summerwater review – back out of the room slowly and carefully … this bleak drama is a mess

This six-part adaptation of Sarah Moss’s novel is deeply confused. The acting is melodramatic, the tone bewildering and the plot is full of cartoonishly grim situations that go nowhere

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Murder at World’s End by Ross Montgomery; The Confessions by Paul Bradley Carr; The Good Nazi by Samir Machado de Machado; Bluff by Francine Toon; The Token by Sharon Bolton

Future Boy by Michael J Fox review – secrets from the set of a definitive 80s movie

The actor’s account of his big Hollywood break – and how it almost never happened

Feminist History for Every Day of the Year by Kate Mosse review – the women who helped change the world

The bestselling author champions female trailblazers in an enjoyable anthology for all ages

Murder in the Cathedral by Kerry Greenwood review – an imperfect end to an extraordinary era

The 23rd and final Phryne Fisher mystery will be treasured by fans of the long-running series, but a single fumbled sentence derails this otherwise enjoyable book

Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution review – spectacular if baffling anime is out to thrill and bewilder

Remix of old and new material from TV series includes tremendous battle sequences but there’s an awful lot of lore for new viewers to catch up with

The Silver Book by Olivia Laing review – a thin line of beauty

The world of 1970s Italian cinema is the glossy backdrop for an elegantly wrought but shallow novel