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.

A brush with the law

In 1998, bored lawyer Kenneth Walton tried to sell a fake painting on eBay. Boosted by pretend bids from a friend, the price rose to $135,805. Then the FBI knocked at the door. Dan Glaister reports.

Whip hand

Stuart Jeffries: After Dick Francis took a tumble in the final seconds of the Grand National in 1956 he stopped racing and became a writer. Now, after a six-year break, he's writing again.

Stealing beats borrowing

Rose George: Selfishness is trumping sharing as £150m worth of books are filched from local libraries every year.

An offer I couldn’t refuse

Crime writer Michael Dibdin was well aware that the remote wilds of Sardinia were a haven for kidnappers and brigands. But what were the intentions of the roughneck stranger who insisted on befriending him?

Hachette finds crime doesn’t pay

8am: Magazine publisher Hachette Filipacchi is expected to close its real-life title Crime Confidential after just four issues following disappointing sales. By Claire Cozens.

Crime: so much more fun when it’s made up …

Victoria Coren: The other day, I was chairing a Radio 4 chat show about the British interest in crime stories. We all love a bit of Poirot or Jane Tennison - but is this fun so innocent (I was intending to ask my three guests), given that we also love poring over the grisly details of real-life crime as well?

True crime

Fred Vargas is a highly successful French crime writer, but since she declared her support for an Italian author faced with extradition, her calls are monitored and she is followed by the intelligence services. She tells Jon Henley how life came to imitate art.