Features

Interview: Val McDermid

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Val McDermid is something of a media personality these days, often popping up on TV and radio. She was even asked about writing an opera recently on BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions. But it is her crime writing that has garnered a legion of fans who snap up…
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Features

CIS: A classic revisited - Vertigo

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While an Alfred Hitchcock adaptation was always a coup for any author, ultimately the master’s movie tended to overshadow the book – and that is certainly the case with Vertigo (1958). Hitchcock’s psychological thriller is now recognised as one of the best films of the…
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Features

A gazetteer of British crime: East Anglia

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Oh, you can complain about the weather, the food, the accommodation and the service. Fair enough. Our country has exported everything from stiff upper lips to football hooliganism. But what you can’t complain about in the UK is the sheer variety in its regions and customs….
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Features

CIS: My classics by Gunnar Staalesen

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Tell you what… it’s a real honour to have Norway’s Gunnar Staalesen here on the site during Classics in September. He’s regarded as one of the father’s of Scandinavian crime fiction and his debut was way back in 1977 with Seasons of Innocence. It was…
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Features

CIS: Crime classics on the box

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Classic crime novels have been a source of rich pickings for TV writers and producers since the days of good old black and white. They can provide a solid foundation for a beloved, long-running and essentially faithful set of programmes (think Poirot), or a stepping stone for…
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