Best crime and thrillers of 2019
Middle-aged women took charge, Jackson Brodie returned and new novels from John le Carré, Tana French and Don Winslow: Laura Wilson picks the best of a bumper year
The best recent crime novels – review roundup
The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell, Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver, The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis, Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee, The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
Top 10 golden age detective novels
For some, ‘cosy crime’ of the 1920s and 30s is class-ridden and formulaic – but classic authors such as Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey paved the way for modern fiction as we know it
Diaries expose ‘strong brew’ of Ripley novelist Patricia Highsmith’s dark thoughts
Controversial views of the late American writer to be revealed by publication of her private notebooks
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre; The Choke by Sofie Laguna; This Little Dark Place by AS Hatch; The Long Call by Ann Cleeves; and Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen
Anna Krien, Charlotte Wood, Chris Hammer and others on what they’re reading in October
Plus, Elliot Perlman’s tour through dark humour, Kate McClymont’s jaw-dropping true crime and Heather Rose’s alarming visions of the future
Bodies in left luggage: Peter James on Brighton’s grisly past
The crime writer on his love for the city by the sea that was known as ‘the murder capital of Europe’
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Burning Land by George Alagiah, Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay, Through the Wall by Caroline Corcoran, Joshilyn Jackson’s Never Have I Ever, The Family by Louise Jensen and A Shadow on the Lens by Sam Hurcom
Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke review – compelling Texas noir
A black Texas Ranger questions his loyalties when he probes the disappearance of a white supremacist’s son
Lynne Truss on Petersham: ‘I consider moving back, but Richmond is too posh for me’
The author and broadcaster recalls borrowing adult books from Ham library as a child, and walks in Richmond Park
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz; The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell; Take It Back by Kia Abdullah; The Sinner by Martyn Waites; Call Him Mine by Tim MacGabhann and The Case of the Wandering Scholar by Kate Saunders
In brief: The Wichita Lineman; How It Was; Breathe – reviews
Dylan Jones offers a vivid study of a timeless ballad
Not the Booker prize 2019: the first three books on our shortlist are …
After a lively week of voting, three novels have made it to the final stage – where your opinions will remain crucial
Marcel Berlins obituary
Legal journalist, broadcaster, crime fiction critic and proud French citizen
Prose and cons: Boris Johnson’s long history of fictional cameos
The new PM saw literary potential in his career – as did his own father and a string of other writers. So how does he come across?