Features

CIS: The Quiller Memorandum revisited

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In 1965, writing under the pseudonym of Adam Hall, Elleston Trevor published a thriller which, like Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale before it, was to herald a change in the world of spy thrillers. The novel was titled The Berlin Memorandum and at its centre was the protagonist…
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A Song from Dead Lips by William Shaw

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Crime writers are occasionally given to complaining about how technology has made life harder when it comes to plotting. Many Golden Age authors would certainly have been scuppered by mobile phones or CCTV. So, in theory, the historical crime novel should make life simpler. However,…
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From Doon With Death by Ruth Rendell

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May 2014 is the 50th anniversary of Ruth Rendell’s debut novel, From Doon with Death. It is being reissued with an introduction by Ian Rankin, who describes her as “probably the greatest living crime writer in the world”. Hopefully, the typographical errors that sneaked into…
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The Ties That Bind by Erin Kelly

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“Brighton is a town that always looks as if it is helping police with their inquiries,” said the writer Keith Waterhouse. It’s an aphorism that chimes with Erin Kelly’s new novel about a former gangster who once ruled the Sussex coast. Joss Grand is now…
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Chasing the Game by Paul Gadsby

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London. 1966. The capital was preparing itself for the greatest sporting event in England since the Games of the XIVth Olympiad – the Austerity Games of 1948. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association had awarded the World Cup competition to England in 1960, despite rival…
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Mr Campion's Farewell by Margery Allingham

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Written by Margery Allingham, completed by Mike Ripley — When Margery Allingham died in 1966, she had published 18 novels featuring her Golden Age private detective Albert Campion. She left behind several unfinished manuscripts, and her husband Philip ‘Pip’ Youngman Carter – who collaborated with…
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