Features

CIS: Rim of the Pit revisited

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Today, when lists of new crime and thriller books are saturated with stories involving ever-more numerous and gruesome deaths for their fictional characters, a look back at the kinds of mysteries that emphasise puzzles over gore can be more than a bit refreshing. A classic…
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Features

CIS: Cutter and Bone revisited

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For many, first contact with Cutter and Bone comes via the lauded 1981 film Cutter’s Way, directed by Ivan Passer. The movie had a difficult pathway to production – funding changes, Dustin Hoffman pulling out because of scheduling issues – and despite good notices, it…
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Features

Interview: Jussi Adler-Olsen

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The Department Q series by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of the best going. This division of the Copenhagen police force deals with the cold cases other detectives just couldn’t solve, all over Denmark. Situated in their basement office they’re seen as misfits, led…
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Features

CIS: Nicola Upson interviewed

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Her debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of classy crime novels by Nicola Upson, whose main character is Josephine Tey – one of the leading authors of the Golden Age of crime fiction. Tey’s detective novels were hugely popular…
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Features

CIS: The classics of Tartan noir

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Scottish crime fiction has a long and lustrous history. Whether set in Scotland or written by Scots there is a wealth of classics from which to choose. Our feature includes some of the earliest examples as well as modern works by still-active authors – all…
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Features

CIS: The Big Sleep revisited

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It’s impossible to imagine a proper historical survey of noir fiction without reference to Philip Marlowe, the iconic character created by Raymond Chandler in his ground-breaking 1939 debut novel The Big Sleep. Marlowe is the prototypical hardboiled private eye. Street-smart and tough, he reads people and situations at…
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Features

Welcome to Classics in September 2017

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It’s become a tradition with us. Every September we go back to school and check out some of the best classic crime fiction. We find it exhilarating and inspiring. This year we’ve got plenty planned, aided and abetted by our sponsors at Bloomsbury Reader, who…
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Features

Interview: Lynda La Plante

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A legendary screen writer, Lynda La Plante’s greatest creation is Jane Tennison, the detective inspector played by Helen Mirren who dominated TV screens in the 1990s series Prime Suspect. She won an Edgar Award for her work on the series in 1993, but has so…
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