Ian Rankin: ‘Musicians and writers – we’re both trying to send a message to the world’

Author Ian Rankin tells Jo Frost how music from all over the world inspires and enriches him, and in a Spotify playlist, picks five of his current favourite tracks

The 100 best novels: No 54 – The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1929)

Dashiell Hammett’s crime thriller and its hard-boiled hero Sam Spade influenced everyone from Chandler to Le Carré, writes Robert McCrum

Christine Andain obituary

Other lives: Liverpool teacher who went on to write successful crime novels

The Monogram Murders review – Sophie Hannah brings Poirot back to life

Crime writer Sophie Hannah has fun reviving Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian truffler, writes Ben East

An Event in Autumn review – Henning Mankell’s lugubrious detective Kurt Wallander is back, briefly

Published in English for the first time, Mankell’s delightful novella finds Wallander in typically dejected form, writes Alison Flood

The Girl Next Door review – Ruth Rendell’s acute investigation of old age

The veteran crime writer explores death from a different angle in her latest novel, writes Claire Hazelton

DVDs and downloads: The Two Faces of January, Only Lovers Left Alive, Frank and more

Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst are dressed to kill in a well-tailored Patricia Highsmith adaptation, writes Guy Lodge

Gore Vidal’s Thieves Fall Out should have died a quiet death

Jay Parini: This pulp novel, rushed out under a pseudonym in 1953 and picked up for rerelease in 2015, is a third-rate work that my friend Gore would have preferred to languish in obscurity

How to write the perfect crime story

Niall Leonard shares some chilling writer's tips for wannabe crime writers. The devil is in the detail…

Tana French: ‘I’ve always been interested in the intensity of friendship and the dangers that come with that’

The award-winning crime novelist talks to Stephanie Merritt about why she switched careers and what attracts her about murder mysteries

One Kick review – Chelsea Cain’s dark, dangerous journey into evil

Chelsea Cain's compelling new heroine Kick is complex and clever with a chilling back story, writes Alison Flood

A book for the beach: The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri

Tim Maby: Wily but decent, this detective is more concerned with the human characters around him than simple crime-solving

Peter James, the master of crime fiction

Site member Krazy Kesh met crime fiction aficionado Peter James – here's his take on the author and his books

A book for the beach: In the Woods by Tana French

A shocking tragedy in an otherwise idyllic childhood summer comes back to haunt its sole survivor in adulthood – all the ingredients for a tense thriller that's perfect holiday reading

A book for the beach: Beastly Things by Donna Leon

The 21st Commissario Brunetti mystery finds the series' characters and setting as vital as ever. An excellent holiday companion