Features

CIS: June Wright, Australia's queen of crime

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“Our very own Agatha Christie,” claims a quote from the Sydney Morning Herald on the cover of June Wright’s Duck Season Death, written in 1955 but only just published. In post-war Australia, June Wright’s mystery novels famously outsold even Christie’s, and yet by Wright’s death…
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Features

CIS: My classics by Ruth Ware

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Take one hen party containing some women with very different personalities, add in varying degrees of closeness and inclusivity, layer with a few dark secrets, and you have author Ruth Ware’s debut novel In a Dark, Dark Wood which came out earlier this year. The tagline…
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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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Book Club

Golden Age of Murder

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Are we recommending a non-fiction book. Well certainly, when it is an erudite and loving account of a genre for which pretty well all crime fiction lovers have a secret place in their hearts. This book takes us down some well-travelled roads, dealing with the genius of…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

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Britain’s Golden Age of detective fiction produced some of the greatest and most enduring crime writers, including Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Dorothy L Sayers. “The crime novel, like the world itself, is ruled by the English,” said Bertolt Brecht during this period. For readers…
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Features

Iceland Noir: Is Scotland Nordic?

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Today Reykjavik is just as gloomy and grey as yesterday – perfect, then, for today’s key panel discussion on whether or not Scotland’s crime fiction falls into the Nordic mould. The answer is certainly ‘NO!’ authors involved agreed, as they answered questions pitched by South…
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Features

CIS: My classics by Cathy Ace

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Not only is Cathy Ace the author of the wonderful Cait Morgan Mystery series, but she’s also the Vice President of the Crime Writers of Canada. That means she’s quite a busy lady, so we were definitely the lucky ones when she agreed to join…
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