The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Honey by Imani Thompson; Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre; The Final Chapter by CB Everett; The Hollow Boys by Tariq Ashkanani; Shrink Solves Murder by Philippa Perry
Sherlock Holmes review – the game is afoot, a stone’s throw from Baker Street
The detective and his sidekick return for a new case by Joel Horwood in an alfresco setting that playfully refers to nearby attractions
Double Indemnity review – leaden drama turns crime classic into a very cold case
James M Cain’s hard-bitten novella gained bleak power on screen but this version, giving Mischa Barton her UK stage debut, loses its flinty edge
All Them Dogs by Djamel White review – murderous desires in the badlands of Dublin
Sparks fly in this homoerotic dance of desire and betrayal, from a powerful new voice in Irish literature
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Whidbey by T Kira Madden; Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan; Killing Me Softly by Christie Watson; The Dangerous Stranger by Simon Mason; Astronaut! by Oana Aristide
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Barbecue at No 9 by Jennie Godfrey; A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver; A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford; Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo; A Stranger in Corfu by Alex Preston
Allan Massie obituary
Acclaimed novelist and literary critic who was a staunch opponent of Scottish devolution
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Cut Up by Louise Welsh; The Persian by David McCloskey; The 10:12 by Anna Maloney; Very Slowly All at Once by Lauren Schott; Vivian Dies Again by CE Hulse
I’m a crime writer. Here’s why we make the best Traitors contestants
Barrister turned novelist Harriet Tyce is playing a blinder in the fourth series of the show. As a thriller writer myself, I recognise the traits that make her such a formidable Faithful
Australian books to look forward to in 2026: from a 278-page sentence to a memoir about a ‘cursed vagina’
It promises to be a marvellous year ahead for OzLit, with new books from the likes of Kate Grenville, Siang Lu, Antoinette Lattouf, Shaun Micallef, Judith Lucy and more
The 25 best Australian books of 2025
Just in time for last-minute gifts: Guardian Australia critics and staff pick out the best books of the year, featuring Helen Garner, Dominic Amerena, Evelyn Araluen and more
Daniel Woodrell obituary
Author of ‘country noir’ novels, such as Winter’s Bone, set in the rural communities of the Ozark mountains
Ms Holmes and Ms Watson – Apt 2B review: mysterious case of the joke-cracking Sherlock
This riff on Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories has flashes of promise but its comedy and purpose never land
The best crime and thrillers of 2025
Mick Herron’s Slow Horses, Belinda Bauer’s obsessive world of bird egg collectors, Uketsu’s innovative Japanese detective mystery – and more
The Hiding Place by Kate Mildenhall review – an edge-of-your-seat thriller that skewers the middle class
A group of friends buy an abandoned mining town in this satisfying crime novel with a satirical twist