 |
|
|||||||||||
|
|
Saturday 11th February | ||||||||||
|
Feature ArticlesTen Great Crime Novels That You Should Have Read There's a kind of novel that can only be a crime novel. They are short. They are sharp – ostentatiously so - they are cool and the people are cold. The Year of Translated TV Dramas The announcements have been coming thick and fast over the last few days regarding new to the UK dramas from mainland Europe Iceland's Talent To Watch Out For: Quentin Bates' Second Rundown On the first of November every year, that year's Arnaldur Indriðason novel is published. It's something that has become a significant, eagerly anticipated event and during the first week or two of every November the talk around the water coolers and in workshop canteens turns to the 'latest Arnaldur' as people dissect and discuss Iceland's top author's newest book. A book tends to be the fallback option for a Christmas gift in Iceland, so the pre-Christmas market is crucial to Iceland's publishers with the bulk of the year's sales taking place in a matter of a few weeks... The Blaggers Guide To George Pelecanos The man Obama likes to take on holiday Altar Of Bones: A Literary Sensation But Who Dunnit? The publication of a crime thriller whose plot rests on a global conspiracy is fast inspiring its own, real-life literary conspiracy Stockholm Noir: Jens Lapidus talks To Barry Forshaw For We Love This book, Barry Forshaw talks to Jens Lapidus about his Stockholm Noir trilogy - the side-earner to his day profession as a criminal lawyer that has earnt him the respect of the greats Why Are Most Crime Novels Bad? Because they are part of a series. And books in a series eventually run of steam. Quentin Bates On Iceland's Crimewriting Legacy, Part 1 It may be news to the post-Larsson generation, but Scandinavian crime fiction (or, more accurately, Nordic crime fiction) is nothing new. It's just a new phenomenon to English-language readers. Many of those who are hitting the bookshop shelves these days are established writers who have a strong record behind them already. A fine example is writer Jussi Adler-Olsen, who made his English-language debut only last year, but for years has been regularly selling books by the truckload in his native Denmark as well as to a great many discerning and demanding crime readers in Germany... Absolute Zero Cool (Liberties Press) was an attempt to side-step that absurdity, essentially by writing a crime novel unlike anything else I was reading. And so the author of Eightball Boogie and The Big O - unnamed in the novel, but to all intents and purposes Declan Burke - is approached by a character called Karlsson, a hospital porter languishing in the limbo of an unpublished manuscript written by one Declan Burke... Thrillers Including Simon Khoury And Simon Kernick Jeremy Jehu gets all het up about the latest batch of thrillers Mark Billingham And Paul Johnston In Conversation So what nudged you towards the genre? Left Coast Crime Award Nominations Left Coast Crime 2012, "Mining for Murder," has announced the four awards Elmore Leonard: The Great American Novelist There is no greater writer of crime fiction than Elmore Leonard, and no one who has more resplendent energy Jens Lapidus On Turning Swedish Crime Writing On Its Head Jens Lapidus's novel Easy Money has become the fastest selling Swedish crime novel in a decade How Difficult Is It To Write A Crime Novel? How difficult is it to write a crime novel? Is a 'novel of crime' novel different from a novel of crime? Are they aimed at different readerships? Do publishers resist genre novels that don't fit their niche market? In a crowded market, at a time when every writer is turning to writing historical, fantasy and crime novels, first-time novelists looking for a publisher need patience and perseverance. There are eight million stories out there in the naked literary city - this is just one of them... Elmore Leonard is one of the undisputed masters of hip, cool, crime fiction Danish Director Nicolas Winding Refn Pushes Drive Into High Gear Nicolas Winding Refn, director of Drive, doesn't himself drive. He has failed his driver's license test eight times For a writer who never thought she'd write a novel, Jacqueline Winspear finds that Maisie Dobbs brings together many of her great interests Five Best Books: French Noir Fiction - chosen by R J Ellory Bad Men, Bad Women, And The Need For A Knife-proof Vest Martina Cole is not how you would imagine Si Spurrier Talks Nonsense. But that's irrelevant. Here's a video he did Crime Reviews: Carol O'Connell, Simon Lelic, Elizabeth George And Paul Johnston Jake Kerridge relishes new crime novels by Carol O'Connell, Simon Lelic, Elizabeth George and Paul Johnston The Lewis Man by Peter May, She's Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel, Good Bait by John Harvey and A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths Mons Kallentoft In The Financial Times On Barry Forshaw's Death In A Cold Climate I met Barry Forshaw briefly at a dinner for crime fiction aficionados in London some time ago. He was the obvious authority in the room; I could see people straining to hear, weighing his words carefully. That evening, Forshaw came across as humble, intelligent and perceptive.
His new book Death in a Cold Climate is both intelligent and perceptive. Humble it is not. It is, to my knowledge, the most complete guide to Scandinavian crime fiction yet written in any language, an invaluable companion for anyone interested in the genre... Graham Hurley Talks to Crime Time... More than decade ago, thanks to an invitation from Orion, I became a crime writer. This wasn't a corner of commercial fiction I'd ever regarded with much enthusiasm but the fridge was getting emptier and – to be frank – I couldn't afford to say no to a three-book contract. But where to start? One answer would have been the crime shelves of my local library but that would have been a short cut to pastiche fiction and so I fenced off a couple of precious months and set about getting alongside working detectives. Tough call... Next 25 |