Robert Richardson obituary
Crime writer who drew on his experience as a Fleet Street journalist to colour his thrillers
Magpie by Elizabeth Day review – a clever thriller about baby hunger
Marisa moves into a seemingly perfect house with a seemingly perfect man – but a surprise is in store
‘Absolute beast’: critics go wild for No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s last Bond film
Despite a few dissenting voices bemoaning a bloated plot, film reviewers largely agree that this is the 007 blockbuster to tempt audiences back into cinemas
No Time to Die review – Daniel Craig dispatches James Bond with panache, rage – and cuddles
The long-awaited 25th outing for Ian Fleming’s superspy is a weird and self-aware epic with audacious surprises up its sleeve
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins audiobook review – Rosamund Pike turns up the heat
A body on a houseboat and twists galore in this gripping thriller narrated by the Hollywood actor – plus this week’s other picks
It’s No Time to Die: but is it time to revoke James Bond’s licence to kill?
In the 1960s, 007 was a glamorous antidote to postwar austerity, but now he’s more laughable than heroic. Can the Bond brand survive, post-Brexit?
Daniel Craig has given us ‘woke’ James Bond, says Charlie Higson
Young Bond author highlights how much the spy has changed since Ian Fleming created him in 1953
The Maltese Falcon review – dreamlike tension and the greatest MacGuffin of all time
A dark, steely performance from Humphrey Bogart is at the cynical heart of John Huston’s adaptation of the classic detective novel
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin; Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty; Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden; The Whistleblower by Robert Peston; and The Wrong Goodbye by Toshihiko Yahagi
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty review – overgarnished but pyrotechnic family drama
A missing grandmother is at the heart of this perfectly readable but indulgent new mystery from the mordant queen of Sydney suburbia
The best recent thrillers – review roundup
This month’s crop of crime and suspense fiction includes an engaging tale of government secrets by Robert Peston and a nail-biting new series from Val McDermid
On my radar: Paula Hawkins’s cultural highlights
The author of The Girl on the Train on discovering Alison Bechdel, identifying with Physical, and her favourite new crime novel
Alan Johnson: ‘John Betjeman was wrong about Slough’
The former health secretary and acclaimed memoirist on his rock’n’roll past, how the Litvinenko poisoning inspired his new thriller, and how he’d have handled Covid
Paula Hawkins: ‘I wasn’t interested in writing the same book again’
The latest novel by the author of The Girl on the Train is a return to form. She talks fame, persistence and remaining an outsider
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
1979 by Val McDermid; A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris; The Turnout by Megan Abbott; Of Fangs and Talons by Nicolas Mathieu; 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard; and These Toxic Things by Rachel Howzell Hall