Anthony Horowitz (http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/) is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His output is large across a range of genres. The summary of his latest, Magpie Murders, is as follows: When editor Susan Ryeland is given the tattered manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has little idea it will change her […]
Ian Rankin (http://www.ianrankin.net/) scarcely needs introduction. The prolific Scottish crime writer has shared the cases of Inspector John Rebus with us for years now. The City of Edinburgh is the almost invariable setting for the dark crimes which he investigates. In this latest tale, Rebus investigates a cold case that has turned hot again. Incapable of
Rather be the Devil Read More »
Dilly Court has been enriching the lives of her readers with carefully crafted novels of great power and conviction for some time. Her 23rd, The Swan Maid, is available now and her devoted readership can fully expect more to follow before the year is out. Court writes Dillygently every morning before rewarding herself with a
Robert Harris (http://www.robert-harris.com/) is the author of ten bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy – Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator, then Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, and An Officer and a Spy, (which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction). Several of his books have been filmed, most recently The
In 2016 the political Left in Britain is in disarray. Large numbers of people on the Left and in The Labour Party believe that it is impossible Jeremy Corbyn could be elected as British Prime Minister. Yet the Labour Party has resoundingly re-elected Corbyn as leader. Aside from the convictions of activists, it would be
George Orwell by Robert Colls Read More »
On one of my visits to Berlin in the mid 1990s I was making my way through a street market in the Museum Island area. Many of the stalls were offering memorabilia from the era of the German Democratic Republic. Nostalgia for a lost time had already set in, not long after the fall of
Christopher Brookmyre (http://www.brookmyre.co.uk/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Brookmyre) has won the The McIlvanney Prize – previously known as the ‘Scottish Crime Book of the Year’ – at the Bloody Scotland festival in Stirling (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37323557). To see why this writer is so respected by other authors in the crime fiction field, and adored by a legion of fans, read his latest crime
Religion is an extremely complex social and cultural phenomenon. No simple definition can capture its manifold nature. Rich, simple, consoling, disturbing, unifying, divisive, colourful, austere, prayerful, practical, doctrinal, mystical, peaceful, militaristic, solitary, communitarian, supernatural, worldly. It has all of these (often contradictory) aspects. The very briefest attempt to get a conceptual handle on the phenomenon
A Little History of Religion by Richard Holloway Read More »
Tonight (Sunday 4th September 2016) sees the screening of the second series of the newly made Poldark historical drama on BBC TV. Many of us will remember the 29 episode TV adaptation with Robin Ellis and Angharad Rees which ran from 1975-1977. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075560/?ref_=nv_sr_2) Forty years on, and it’s Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson who are
