Populist prejudice
Crime books easier to write than 'serious' novels? That attitude is, frankly, cobblers, says Mark Lawson
‘If you don’t scare anyone, you haven’t really succeeded’
The first time Roberto Saviano stepped inside a mafia don's house, he urinated in the bath. This raw hatred - and reckless defiance - of the mob drove him to expose them in a bestselling book. Does he regret putting his life on the line? Sometimes, he tells John Hooper
OJ and that ‘weird gap’
If I Did It, OJ Simpson's 'confession', has been a bestseller in the States; but should it have been published, asks Duncan Campbell
The poet of collision
Rereading: Dashiell Hammett knew that his day job as a detective for the anti-trade union Pinkerton agency made him in large part a fascist tool - his guilt, writes James Ellroy, was the driving force of his crime fiction.
Sinister obsession
David Mckie: A splenetic outburst by Conan Doyle reveals just how differently left-handed batters were once viewed.
Catherine Sampson’s top 10 Asian crime novels
Sampson’s latest novel, The Pool of Unease, is set in Beijing, where the author has lived for many years. Here she chooses her top 10 crime novels set in Asia
Women innocent of crime fiction charge
Ian Rankin's claim that female writers - particularly lesbians - produce the most violent fiction is very inaccurate, and very insulting.
Murder she wrote – and plenty of it: Denise Mina on her career
Denise Mina’s Garnethill and Paddy Meehan novels are dark but compelling. She tells us what inspires her.
The mean fields of crime fiction
I'm on a crime spree in Harrogate - but you can call off the cops, it's only a literary festival.
The plot thickens as crime writer Patricia Cornwell takes ‘cyberstalker’ to court
· Best-selling novelist fears for safety over web jibes· Libel case defendant accused of 'jew hating'
Back to the mean streets
Scott Turow's old-school collection, The Best American Mystery Stories 2006, shows little sign of a new wave in crime fiction, says John Williams.
The sage of Sicily
Andrea Camilleri writes crime stories that shift effortlessly from the comic to the grotesque. Paul Bailey on the late flowering of an Italian phenomenon.
The Hammett of Havana
His award-winning crime novels feature transvestites, crooked officials and moralising newsreaders. For some critics, it's too dark a picture of Cuba. But, Leonardo Padura tells Duncan Campbell, his work reflects the reality of his country.
Ellroy’s dark places
James Ellroy talks to Steve Rose about the film of The Black Dahlia and his mother's death.
Hurrah for MI5, saviours of Blighty
Emily Stokes isn't convinced by Stella Rimington's latest foray into the world of espionage, Secret Asset.