These philosophical, sometimes grumpy journals, unearthed after the doyenne of suspense fiction’s death, shine a light on her dual identities, the contempt she felt for other people and her erotic misadventures
From her carefree 20s and countless affairs, to literary success and later-life bigotry and rancour, the author’s extraordinary diaries reveal a woman determined to chart her own course
Adding an intense layer of meaning to well-known facts, authors including Truman Capote, Kate Summerscale and Gordon Burn raise this genre far above its grubby reputation
Andrea Camilleri was determined that his crime series could not be continued by another writer, leaving concluding novel with his publisher long before his death in 2019
Novelist Mark Billingham advises readers to angrily launch a book across the room after 20 non-gripping pages – but almost 40% of people will keep going right to the end
The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin; Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty; Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden; The Whistleblower by Robert Peston; and The Wrong Goodbye by Toshihiko Yahagi