The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Whidbey by T Kira Madden; Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan; Killing Me Softly by Christie Watson; The Dangerous Stranger by Simon Mason; Astronaut! by Oana Aristide
Chain of Ideas by Ibram X Kendi review – anatomy of a conspiracy theory
This careful analysis of so-called ‘great replacement theory’ offers a lens through which to view our broken politics
University of Liverpool acquires entire archive of poet Roger McGough
Archivist Jo Klett says the 40 boxes of material will provide ‘a full picture of Roger’s entire working career’
PEN America announce 2026 World Voices festival with Judith Butler and Bill McKibben
The 2024 festival was cancelled after multiple authors pulled out over the non-profit’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war
The Barbecue at No 9 by Jennie Godfrey audiobook review – secrets and lies in suburbia
Gemma Whelan and Stephen Mangan are among the cast in this multi-voiced tale of family tensions and trauma, set during the 1985 Live Aid charity concert
The Minstrels by Eva Hornung review – an audacious, confronting epic
The award-winning Australian author is at her most ambitious with this sweeping rural drama, tackling difficult topics with dazzling prose
Midwinter Break review – sad, spiky and brilliantly acted portrait of rupture and rapture
Polly Findlay’s barnstorming drama about interpersonal and religious tumult in late middle age is a triumph, swerving any sense of sentimentalism
A Queer Inheritance by Michael Hall review – the National Trust’s LGBTQ history revealed
It’s recently been accused of turning ‘woke’ – but the institution has been gay since the beginning, argues this deeply researched book
Mare by Emily Haworth-Booth review – profound story of a woman’s love for a horse
Where does it come from, this passion for an animal that isn’t even hers? An astonishing debut delves into deep truths about love, motherhood and care
Derek Owusu and Seán Hewitt shortlisted for Dylan Thomas prize
Six writers are now finalists for the prestigious annual prize, which awards £20,000 to a writer aged 39 or under
Future of William Wordsworth’s Lake District home secured for the public
Romantic poet’s Rydal Mount and Gardens, marketed for over £2.5m, will remain open under Wordsworth Trust
Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave review – a will-they-won’t-they queer romance
Two women fall into and out of each other’s lives over decades, in a moving examination of love and choices
Climate fiction prize announces finalists including Madeleine Thien and Robbie Arnott
The authors of The Book of Records and Dusk join Keshava Guha, Susanna Kwan, Maria Reva and Helen Phillips on the shortlist for the £10,000 prize
When the Forest Breathes by Suzanne Simard review – the Indiana Jones of trees returns
The author of Finding the Mother Tree is back with an inspiring call to the next generation of ecologists
Tony Gould obituary
Other lives: Literary editor of New Society and New Statesman who wrote a social history of polio, a disease he contracted in his late teens