How Chilean arsenic eaters vindicated a classic work of crime fiction
I thought Dorothy L Sayers’ 1930 novel Strong Poison wouldn’t stand up to modern science – but modern genetic research has just proved me wrong
See What I Have Done review – the Lizzie Borden case brilliantly realised
Sarah Schmidt’s meticulously researched debut novel recreates one of America’s most notorious crimes with verve
Adam Diment, the superstar spy novelist who vanished for four decades
Once a million-selling man about town, he has cultivated obscurity for many years. But that may be set to change as his books are readied for republication
How Colin Dexter changed the face of crime fiction
Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels began a boomtime in crime fiction on television and in bookshops – and we are still feeling its effects
Colin Dexter: the writer who brought novel ideas to television
TV took the Inspector Morse stories of the late Colin Dexter into the homes of millions – and he wasn’t the only novelist to bathe in the glow of the small screen
Ariel Levy, Krissy Kneen, Cat Marnell – literary highlights for Australia in March
Shadowy cults, Paul Robeson-inspired travelogues, stories of rape and reconciliation, and a Booker prize winner are coming to bookstores this month
Nicolás Obregón: ‘Tokyo is a million cities … and it’s full of secrets’
A city that can be ‘Blade Runner and old Japan all at once’ inspired Blue Light Yokohama novelist Nicolás Obregón – who is in thrall to Tokyo’s towers, street food and quiet corners
The Long Drop by Denise Mina review – meet Scotland’s worst serial killer
This true crime story about Peter Manuel, ‘the Beast of Birkenshaw’, alternates between a bizarre pub crawl with a relative of the victims and his trial for murder in 1958
The Crime Writer by Jill Dawson review – suspense in 60s Suffolk
Patricia Highsmith is involved with a married woman in this fascinating fictional biography of the late writer
Is reading a murder mystery somehow better than watching one on TV?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts
Vanguard of Brexit fiction set to appear in 2017
Mark Billingham, Amanda Craig and Douglas Board will be among the first novelists to tackle the EU referendum and its wider implications
The best Australian beach reads: 10 sharply written page-turners
Summer holiday books don’t need to be light and frothy but you must want to read them non-stop
Top 10 slangy crime novels
As well as masterful exercises in suspense and social realism, the best fiction in this genre is also a rich repository of slang. And that’s no Archbishop Laud
JK Rowling reveals she’s working on two new novels
The Harry Potter author revealed to fans on Twitter that she has two books in the pipeline, one under her own name and one as Robert Galbraith
Hidden gems of 2016: the best books you may have missed
From AJ Lees’s extraordinary memoir Mentored By a Madman to Fiona Melrose’s Midwinter and Julie Myerson’s chiller The Stopped Heart, our critics recommend the reads that slipped under the radar