Reading group: Which James Ellroy novel should we read in May?
With a new volume due in his second LA Quartet, it’s a good time to read this justly self-declared master of fiction. But which book?
Denise Mina: ‘I don’t think there’s any such thing as an apolitical writer’
Thrillers, plays, comic books and now a true crime project ... the writer on Glasgow’s dark side and why Brexit is the least of our worries
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The King’s Evil by Andrew Taylor; Mrs Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa; Sleep by CL Taylor; Stone Mothers by Erin Kelly; Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre and Call Me Evie by JP Pomare
Throw Me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness review – memory and murder
Based on the story of Christopher Jefferies, hounded by the press for a crime he didn’t commit, this is an elegiac exploration of trauma
The Language of Birds by Jill Dawson review – a novel based on an unsolved crime
A fictional account of the murder of Sandra Rivett, nanny of Lord Lucan’s children
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd review – high-camp crime
A pipe-smokin’, crypt-crashin’ heroine brings originality and freshness to this Victorian detective drama
JK Rowling backs crime writing scheme for BAME and working-class women
The author is supporting the Killer Women mentoring programme saying she knows how hard it is to be unknown
The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag review – gruesome Swedish thriller
A debut vividly depicts acts of cruelty in lawless 18th-century Stockholm – but are its shocks gratuitous?
Metropolis by Philip Kerr review – the last outing for Bernie Gunther
This posthumously published novel sees the world-weary Berlin cop join the murder squad on the eve of the Nazi rise to power
In brief: Untitled: The Real Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor; The King’s Evil; Circe – reviews
A sympathetic biography of Edward VIII’s American wife, an enthralling Restoration crime thriller and Madeline Miller’s excellent retelling of The Odyssey
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Kill [redacted] by Anthony Good; The Guilty Party by Mel McGrath; The Mobster’s Lament by Ray Celestin; Casanova and the Faceless Woman by Olivier Borde-Cabuçon; Cruel Acts by Jane Casey; and A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself by William Boyle
The Plotters by Un-su Kim review – a sniper in Seoul
A contract killer finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy in a dreamlike alternative Korea
Muscle by Alan Trotter review – meta pulp fiction
This debut novel from a young Scottish writer takes an oblique approach to a pulp detective yarn
Crime writer Don Winslow challenges Trump to border wall debate
Stephen King seconds call for Fox News head-to-head, offering $10,000 to make it happen
The Wych Elm by Tana French review – a portrait of privilege
A twisty pageturner that considers the bruised relationship between the world and the self