‘I think I’ve written more Sherlock Holmes than even Conan Doyle’: the ongoing fight to reimagine Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle’s master detective has been endlessly rewritten. But nearly a century after the author’s death, how new writers portray him remains contested

Nora Roberts speaks out after attacks on casting of Alyssa Milano in adaptation

The bestselling novelist says she is ‘sincerely appalled’ by some readers’ anger at news that the #MeToo activist will star in a Netflix adaptation of Brazen Virtue

Twist review – try-hard reboot spray paints over Dickens’ tale

Rafferty Law’s young hero is a graffiti artist and Michael Caine’s Fagin an ex-art dealer in this under-par update of Oliver Twist

The best recent thrillers – review roundup

Captivity, secrets and the spirit of Raymond Chandler lurk in remarkable new titles from Will Dean, Abigail Dean, Jane Harper and Steph Cha

Girl A: Abigail Dean on her shocking debut novel that’s taking the book world by storm

Has this Google lawyer written the book of the year? The part-time author talks about the inspiration for her thriller about siblings who flee abusive parents and their ‘house of horror’

The Exception review – psycho-thriller foiled by lazy sexism

A group of unhinged women turn on each other in a by-the-numbers Danish drama written and directed by men

Mick Herron: ‘I look at Jackson Lamb and think: My God, did I write that? My mother reads this stuff!’

As the first book in his spy series, Slow Horses, is made into a TV drama, Herron talks about his slow-burn success – and the resemblance of a certain blustering villain to our PM

Shelter by Catherine Jinks review – frenetic outback thriller from a masterful storyteller

Tension and terror from a prolific author who’s demonstrated she’s just as comfortable penning picture books as mapping the terrain of vicious killers

Recon review – GIs on a mission to nowhere

Second world war soldiers in Italy march warily towards a possible trap in a disappointingly flat adaptation of Richard Bausch’s much-lauded novel

A year of reading dangerously: in 2021, I resolve to read more challenging books

Comfort reading helped author Megan Nolan make it through 2020, but now it’s time for a return to hard-won rewards

Turning over a new leaf? The best books for a new year

From Agatha Christie’s Mary Westmacott novels to life lessons from a Stoic philosopher, Sophie Hannah recommends books to see in 2021

John le Carré didn’t invent the spy novel – he joined a tradition and made it new again

William Boyd remembers an exemplar of the ultimate literary professional, tirelessly writing at the top of his game well into his 80s

How John Le Carré changed television and paved the way for box-set culture

The drawn out style and meticulous character studies of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy initially confused some viewers, but today the 1979 adaptation couldn’t feel more relevant

John le Carré remembered by writers and friends: ‘He always had a naughty twinkle in the eye’

Margaret Atwood, John Banville, Tom Stoppard, Ralph Fiennes, John Boorman and more pay tribute to a master who transcended the limits of spy fiction

‘Titan of English literature’: tributes flow for John le Carré

British novelist hailed a mentor, inspiration and ‘humanitarian spirit’ by literary figures following his death