Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defence? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt’s sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and […]
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When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty – even if that meant taking on an entire town. Red Harvest (1929) is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in America. 224 pages in Orion paperback edition ISBN
Ian Rankin (http://www.ianrankin.net/) is on top form with the 8th in the Inspector Rebus series. This detective novel is full of wit, style and intricacy. Bible John killed three women, and took three souvenirs. Johnny Bible killed to steal his namesake’s glory. Oilman Allan Mitchelson died for his principles. And convict Lenny Spaven died just to prove
Denise Mina (http://www.denisemina.co.uk/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Mina) treats us to a grisly Glasgow crime novel in Garnethill. Maureen O’Donnell wasn’t born lucky. A psychiatric patient and survivor of sexual abuse, she’s stuck in a dead-end job and a secretive relationship with Douglas, a shady therapist. Her few comforts are making up stories to tell her psychiatrist, the company of
Our very own Ian Rankin (http://www.ianrankin.net/) has at least 25 novels to his name and has a huge following for his Edinburgh policeman Detective Inspector John Rebus. If you’ve not taken the plunge so far into this most appealing of tartan noir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan_Noir) crime fiction, why not start with the 9th of the Rebus books – The Hanging Garden.
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Patricia Cornwell (http://www.patriciacornwell.com/) has sold more than 100 million books and given us the character Kay Scarpetta, medical examiner. Her crime mysteries are distinguished by the level of detail offered concerning forensic science. An excellent place to start reading Cornwell is with the 1990 novel Postmortem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmortem_(novel)). It received the 1991 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The summary
On the day (6th November 2013) in which the penultimate David Suchet version of Agatha Christie’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie#Archaeology) Poirot is being aired on television The Crime Writer’s Association (http://www.thecwa.co.uk/) has voted the classic 1926 mystery The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as the finest example of the crime genre ever penned. The novel is the fourth book in the Hercule Poirot
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A RADA trained stage and screen actress, Lynda LaPlante (http://lyndalaplante.com/) has had an illustrious career as a screen writer for television. Her works include Prime Suspect (starring Helen Mirren), Killer Net and Trial & Retribution. Her crop of novels, beginning with Bella Mafia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bella_Mafia) in 1991, have earned her entry into the Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame (2009).
William Shaw (http://www.bloomsbury.com/author/william-shaw) has written two previous books: Travellers and Spying in Guru Land both published by Fourth Estate, and his work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines around the world including The Times, the Independent, Vogue, Tatler, GQ, Esquire and Cosmopolitan. He is a contributing editor of Arena in the UK and Details
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