Features

A classic revisited: Cop Hater

“The city in these pages is imaginary. The people, the places are all fictitious. Only the police routine is based on established investigatory technique.” It’s just 24 words, but no three sentences have ever held so much significance on the flyleaf of a book. Each…
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Features

Interview: Alex Gray

Scottish author Alex Gray has been writing professionally since 1992, and her DCI Lorimer books are said to bring Glasgow to life in the same way Ian Rankin’s have brought Edinburgh to prominence. She has won the Scottish Association of Writers’ Constable and Pitlochry trophies for…
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Features

A classic revisited: Death of a Citizen

Published in 1960, Death of a Citizen marked the beginning of the story Donald Hamilton’s counter agent/assassin Matt Helm. It would eventually spread over 27 novels, concluding with The Damagers, which came out in 1993. Books in the series have sold more than 20 million…
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Features

WIN The Devil's Ribbon by DE Meredith

On 25 February Allison & Busby is releasing the UK printing of The Devil’s Ribbon by DE Meredith. And we’ve got five signed copies up for grabs. Set back in 1858, when forensic science was in its infancy, The Devil’s Ribbon sees Professor Adolphus Hatton and…
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Features

French crime fiction: five to discover

French readers are voracious consumers of crime fiction. One in five books sold in France is a polar – a shortening of roman policier, which means crime novel. All the major publishing houses have an imprint or series specialising in crime fiction or noir novels, usually…
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