Blanche d’Alpuget on her racy new detective novel: ‘All my books have had quite a bit of sex’

The author and widow of former prime minister Bob Hawke turns from political biography and historical fiction to a crime caper set in Sydney’s eastern suburbs

Crime and thrillers of the month – review

A scientist’s chilling struggle for survival at the ends of the Earth, the search for a serial killer’s final victim, and murder on the mountains in DS Max Craigie’s latest case

Joseph Wambaugh obituary

Bestselling crime writer whose work drew on his own experience as an LAPD detective

The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn review – murder most unsolvable

The author’s haunting and highly readable fictionalisation of a high-profile killing in prewar Liverpool is rich in legal and procedural detail

Crime and thrillers of the month – review

The scorned woman thriller deftly reimagined, preposterously gripping murders at an ice skating training camp - and a frantic search for a missing daughter

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer; The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths; Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito; The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha; The Weekenders by David F Ross

Perspectives by Laurent Binet review – a dazzling Renaissance romp

The HHhH author’s entertaining whodunnit is stuffed with real-life artists behaving badly

The Naming of the Birds by Paraic O’Donnell review – Victorian gothic

The pursuers become the pursued in this tale of vulnerable children, society murders and an irascible detective

British crime writer Mick Herron wins Crime Writers’ Association lifetime achievement award

The author of books such as Slow Horses and Down Cemetery Road receives the prestigious Diamond Dagger award for his contribution to the genre

Crime and thrillers of the month – review

Nicci French’s latest gem; an unsettling brainteaser from Japanese enigma Uketsu; the tensions that mar the maiden voyage of an airship; and a sojourn on a scary Scottish island

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

Havoc by Christopher Bollen; Strange Pictures by Uketsu; Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor; Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse; The Day of the Roaring by Nina Bhadreshwar

Richard Price: ‘I don’t like to write, I just don’t – it’s too much anxiety’

The US novelist and co-writer of The Wire on why his new book isn’t about cops and robbers, his 80s drug addiction and the authors who have inspired him

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie audiobook review – a starry whodunnit

Peter Dinklage’s resonant turn as Hercule Poirot gives the beloved writer’s debut a charismatic reboot

‘Perfect for winter nights’: the best crime novels to read at Christmas according to Ian Rankin, Bella Mackie and more

From Maigret to Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple, authors choose the whodunnits they love to hunker down with at this time of year

Lost story by Cape Fear author John D MacDonald published for first time

The Accomplice, a noir tale found by Strand editor Andrew Gulli, considers the temptation of a grocery clerk