Crime’s grand tour: European detective fiction

Crime fiction is a magnifying glass that reveals the fingerprints of history. From Holmes and Poirot to Montalbano and the rise of Scandi-noir, Mark Lawson investigates the long tradition of European super-sleuths and their role in turbulent times

Reader reviews roundup

This week: Attica Locke, Michael Connelly and the first verdicts on JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy

If you like books like these: crime fiction for teens

Tanya Byrne, author of Heart-Shaped Bruise, the only YA book to have been shortlisted for a Crime Writers Association award, explains the appeal of writing crime for teens and suggests some gripping, gruesome reads

The demented lighthouse of Yorkshire’s busiest writer

A well-deserved revival for the work of J.S.Fletcher, the journalist known as 'Son of the Soil' who polished off 230 books when his stint at the newspaper office was done

Open thread: best crime fiction

Tess Gerritsen and Peter May are among the crime writers recommended by our readers. Who are your favourites?

Bringing noir fiction out of the shadows

A host of vintage noir and crime thrillers are being reissued as ebooks. Can you give me some clues about which ones to read?

Every author should post at least one secret online review of their own book

Muriel Gray: Rather than castigate the likes of RJ Ellroy, let's encourage authors to stand up to 'A Customer' on Amazon

The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald – review

Into these mean LA mansions private eye Lew Archer goes, in the best tradition of Chandler and Hammett, writes Lucian Robinson

Why genre fiction is an e-reader’s best friend

Are thrillers and crime novels better suited to e-readers than more complex fiction? By Anna Baddeley

Deon Meyer: ‘South Africa just isn’t as sexy as Scandinavia’

The South African thriller writer talks to Alison Flood about storytelling, credibility and how crime fiction relates to society

Rebus revisited – Ian Rankin picks his favourite moments

Ian Rankin looks back over his Inspector Rebus novels and chooses some of his favourite moments

Watch out – Mosby’s carrying a blade

One Leeds writer, Mick McCann, praises another, Steve Mosby, who's very big overseas but still waiting for a breakthrough here - though the Guardian has given his work approving reviews

John Gordon Sinclair: ‘I’d never read a crime novel that made me emotional’

The actor turned novelist tells Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy what inspired him to write a crime thriller

Vengeance by John Banville writing as Benjamin Black – review

The reader is kept guessing about the author's intentions as much as the plot in this fifth outing for Dublin pathologist Quirke, writes Ben East

Agatha Christie memorial to be erected

Queen of crime fiction's contribution to the stage to be celebrated with statue in London's theatreland