The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet – review

An accomplished, multilayered crime story set in France from the Booker-shortlisted Scottish author

Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively review – green fingers, silver trowels

Despite its strong focus on gardeners from the upper classes, Penelope Lively’s horticultural memoir is a book to treasure

Young Marx review – farce, family and finances but not quite the full Marx

London’s first commercial theatre for 80 years opens with a pugnacious comedy about the early days of the political visionary – and shameless sponger

Paddington 2 review – Hugh Grant steals the show in sweet-natured and funny sequel

Grant is on top form as a cravat-wearing villain who frames Paddington for theft in a follow-up that lives up to Michael Bond’s evergreen original

Mother Land by Paul Theroux review – vivid and vicious family vignettes

Hurt, rage and contempt … a novel captures the author’s experiences of family life

On Balance poetry review – an imagination that never closes

Sinead Morrissey’s Forward-winning collection is a breathtaking feat, blending fiction, memoir and history

Short story round-up: mystery, murder and virtuoso ventriloquism

Late crime queens Ruth Rendell and PD James serve up collections full of wit and ingenuity, while William Boyd and TC Boyle indulge a fascination with failure

Leonardo da Vinci: The Biography review – portrait of an easily distracted genius

Walter Isaacson’s illuminating study explains why the original Renaissance man left so many paintings unfinished…

The Princess Bride review – golden-age throwback glows brighter than ever

Rob Reiner’s salute to Hollywood’s old swashbuckling adventures is a poignant pastiche gloriously unencumbered by CGI visuals and gender cliches

The Gannet’s Gastronomic Miscellany review – the perfect foodie stocking filler

Killian Fox’s book of bite-size facts about food is hard to put down

Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli – review

These devastating essays document the terrifying experiences of unaccompanied children crossing from Mexico into the US

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell review – service with a scowl

The owner of Scotland’s largest secondhand bookshop has an entertainingly low opinion of customers

At the Strangers’ Gate: Arrivals in New York by Adam Gopnik – review

The New Yorker writer’s stylish memoir, via Häagen-Dazs, Nietzsche and craft beer, is generous in wit and wisdom

Islander: A Journey Around Our Archipelago review – beguiling

Nature writer Patrick Barkham finds a sense of salvation in this insightful tour of Britain’s sea-bound communities

Of Women: In the 21st Century by Shami Chakrabarti review – tell us something we don’t know

This essay on gender inequality professes to be the product of long rumination but feels like the opposite