1950s

A Coin for the Hangman by Ralph Spurrier

By DavidPrestidge

11 April, 2016

It’s a curious thing for an author to make himself a character in his own book, and proves slightly unnerving to start with. However, the fictional version of Ralph Spurrier does not detain us for too long. A book dealer, in the story he buys…

Book Club

Black Wings Has My Angel

By crimefictionlover

10 April, 2016

This re-issued Elliott Chaze novel offers up a delicious trip into the noir past, and holds you in its grip. Originally published in 1954, the first-person narrator of Black Wings has all the sardonic humour of Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe, but instead of a PI he’s…

iBook Kindle Print Reviews

The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr

By DavidPrestidge

8 April, 2016

Ex-cop Bernie Gunther feels life has come full circle. In his younger days, between spells with Berlin’s Kriminalpolizei, he was the house detective for the city’s celebrated Adlon Hotel. Then came World War II and Gunther’s nimble foxtrot around Nazi Germany where he worked for the likes…

Features News

First look: Gunther returns in The Other Side of Silence

By DavidPrestidge

19 March, 2016

Philip Kerr’s damaged but noble German cop Bernie Gunther is back for another episode and here’s your chance for a first look at The Other Side of Silence. Gunther bestrides the 20th century. We know he fought in World War I but Kerr has kept that…

iBook Print Reviews

Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze

By Vicki Weisfeld

24 February, 2016

This is a 2016 reissue by The New York Review of Books of a Mississippi newspaperman’s best noir crime novel, originally published in 1954. Black Wings Has My Angel is a roller-coaster of a read; lightning fast and a lot of fun. At the outset,…

iBook Kindle Print Reviews

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley

By MarinaSofia

3 February, 2016

If you come to this book expecting something sombre about human frailty based on Shakespeare’s line, “Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney sweepers come to dust,” then you’re in the wrong place. This book is a charming recreation of the 1950s with a…

iBook Kindle Print Reviews

Cut Me In by Ed McBain

By crimefictionlover

7 January, 2016

Originally written in 1954 and released under the pseudonym Hunt Collins, this book has been rediscovered and reprinted by Hard Case Crime. The publisher has even roped in the excellent illustrator Robert McGinnis, who painted many a James Bond poster in the 1960s, and who…

Features

CIS: A classic revisited – The Hours Before Dawn

By Andre

28 September, 2015

At a time when domestic suspense is proving increasingly popular – from Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell to Erin Kelly and Gillian Flynn – readers who enjoy crime that stays close to home would do well to discover the debut novel by Celia Fremlin. To…

Crime Fiction Lover

A Coin for the Hangman by Ralph Spurrier

Black Wings Has My Angel

The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr

First look: Gunther returns in The Other Side of Silence

Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley

Cut Me In by Ed McBain

CIS: A classic revisited – The Hours Before Dawn

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