Michael Crichton got my son hooked on reading
Maxim Jakubowski: I don't doubt that his gift for storytelling got a generation of boys to start reading books
Economic justice by the book
Mark Braund: If the US presidential rivals need ideas they should try John Stewart's latest political thriller
Sticky situations
David Gaffney, debt adviser turned writer, talks to David Ward about his novel Never, Never
In praise of … John le Carré
Editorial: His heroes have none of the simple bombast of America's cold war warriors
Affleck goes to Town for Warner Bros
Gone Baby Gone director to rewrite, star and call shots on The Town, an adaptation of The Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan
Silks
Review: Silks by Dick Francis and Felix FrancisThe pace is slowed by the hamfisted inclusion of barely digested chunks of information about the English legal system from Magna Carta to the present
When Dick Francis’s son joined the family stable
It's all very well writing in the name of your father, but it's refreshing when the progeny of literary stardom show a little independence
Tinker, tailor, soldier, film star
Francesca Martin: John le Carré's hit thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is to hit the big screen
Bring on the Bond girls
As we celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, we ask is James Bond still just a Boy's Own adventure? Here, seven women examine the phenomenon, from Fleming's writing style to his spy's sartorial habits. Then there's the debate about his sexual preferences ...
Writing as spectator sport
Two thriller writers are spinning a yarn live online. Let's hope the boisterous chatroom backchat doesn't drown them out
Reviewing Raymond
Robin Cook, aka crime-writer Derek Raymond, prepared the dark path trodden by today's giants of the noir thriller
The conundrum
Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist seems to offer an analysis of the roots of fascism, but the real tension lies elsewhere. Tim Parks on a hypnotic, puzzling film about private life and political commitment
Polish author jailed over killing he used as plot
· Pole orchestrated murder of suspected love rival
· Police stumped until they read gruesome thriller