The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup
An orphan held hostage in the forest and a woman waking up confused in a luxury Mexican retreat are among this month’s highlights
Confess, Fletch review – Jon Hamm wisecracks through screwball mystery
Greg Mottola’s amiable film rattles along with a host of wacky characters and Hamm’s more sophisticated portrayal of Irvin Fletcher
The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup
Former cases, former boyfriends and former tenants return to haunt new works by Louise Penny, Nicci French, Charlotte Northedge and BA Paris
Horror begins at home: the haunting new chapter in domestic noir
A new wave of gothic and haunted house novels explores the fears that lurk behind closed doors
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer; Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths; Queen High by CJ Carey; Blue Water by Leonora Nattrass; Silverweed Road by Simon Crook
The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup
A 50-year-old treasure hunt haunts its creator’s daughter, detectives Strike and Robin pursue a mysterious cyber-criminal, and Tuva Moodyson, and a creepy home provides chills
In brief: Three Times a Countess; Queen High; Nina Simone’s Gum – review
An eye-opening biography of Raine Spencer; an exciting counterfactual novel set in postwar Britain; and Warren Ellis’s witty account of devotion
In brief: Dandelions; Good Reasons to Die; Notes on Grief – reviews
An erudite Italian memoir, a suspenseful Chornobyl-set thriller, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s moving essay about the death of her father
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith; The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly; The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman; Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson; Marple: Twelve New Stories by Val McDermid and others
Jackie Brown review – Tarantino’s most romantic film is a stone-cold classic
Pam Grier and Samuel L Jackson are explosively good in this stylish crime thriller, with superb supporting turns from Robert Forster, Robert De Niro and Bridget Fonda
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris review – regicides on the run
In 1660, after the Restoration of the monarchy, two of Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers fled to America to escape execution. Harris is at his best in this fictionalisation of their escape and the quest to find them
The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup
A grieving woman’s childhood nanny reappears in a compelling debut, a ticking noise spells trouble in Simon Mayo’s latest, and Vera Stanhope is back in a friends reunited tale
The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman review –sleuthing sequel hits the bullseye
It is hard not to be charmed by the ex-Pointless presenter’s funny, warm-hearted new novel
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
On Java Road by Lawrence Osborne; Meantime by Frankie Boyle; Alias Emma by Ava Glass; The Change by Kirsten Miller; Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib
The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup
Unreliable childhood memories haunt Ella King’s dark debut and new works by Carole Johnstone and Andrea Mara, while Matt and Harrison Query deliver Stephen King-lite scares