The Birthday Party review – grimly compulsive unhappy occasion in deepest France
Cannes film festival: This could be better paced but the crisis which descends on an up-against-it dairy farm is delivered by some very memorable goons
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Honey by Imani Thompson; Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre; The Final Chapter by CB Everett; The Hollow Boys by Tariq Ashkanani; Shrink Solves Murder by Philippa Perry
Houdini’s reappearing act: David Haig’s new play lays bare the magician’s dispute with Conan Doyle
An interest in spiritualism drew the escapologist and the Sherlock Holmes author together but, as actor-playwright Haig’s drama Magic shows, also threw them into conflict
‘Deliciously dark’: how Freida McFadden’s twisty thrillers gripped millions of readers
The author, who recently revealed her real name to be Sara Cohen, began writing to escape from her work as a medic, and now has a huge global fanbase
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Keeper by Tana French; The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman; Mrs Shim Is a Killer by Kang Jiyoung; A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad; The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary
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
Len Deighton, spy novelist and author of The Ipcress File, dies aged 97
British writer brought wit, realism and class consciousness to cold war espionage fiction, reshaping the genre in the 1960s
Len Deighton obituary
Writer whose ‘anti-Bond’ hero in his 1962 novel The Ipcress File had a seismic impact on spy fiction
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Barbecue at No 9 by Jennie Godfrey; A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver; A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford; Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo; A Stranger in Corfu by Alex Preston
I’ll Be the Monster by Sean Gilbert review – are they fantasists or psychopaths?
The dark past of a seemingly perfect couple is gradually revealed in this observant debut of obsession and control
Cold Storage review – mutant-mildew plague horror comedy stuffs fun into the fungi
Stranger Things’ Joe Keery is joined by a stellar cast battling an outbreak of virulent brain spores, but the film doesn’t offer much more than endless wisecracks and a splatterhouse grossfest
Crime 101 review – bracing tale of master thief lifts a trick or two from Michael Mann
The pedal is pressed hard to the metal for this very stylish high-stakes armed robbery thriller starring Chris Hemsworth
Allan Massie obituary
Acclaimed novelist and literary critic who was a staunch opponent of Scottish devolution
Oscar nominations 2026: the full list
All the nominees, from Sinners to One Battle After Another, for the 98th Academy Awards, which are due to take place on 15 March
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Cut Up by Louise Welsh; The Persian by David McCloskey; The 10:12 by Anna Maloney; Very Slowly All at Once by Lauren Schott; Vivian Dies Again by CE Hulse