Features

CIS: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

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Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin came out last year, and since this biography the American crime author seems to be enjoying a bit of a revival. For the first time in many years, all of Jackson’s novels and story collections are…
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CIS: My classics by Ann Cleeves

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Ann Cleeves is one of the UK’s leading crime writers and, in time, there’s little doubt that her novels will rank as classics. In the 1986 she broke onto the scene with A Bird in the Hand, combining her interest in ornithology with a tale…
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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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