‘Candid’, ‘gripping’, ‘compulsory reading’: the best Australian books out in May
Each month, Guardian Australia editors and critics pick out the upcoming titles they’ve already devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on
‘You’re not the nice guy I thought you were’: the Australian crime novelist and the French bank thief
Marele Day has spent a lifetime writing crime fiction, but it took decades to tell the epic story of a real-life criminal she had come to call a friend
Anne Perry obituary
Bestselling historical crime novelist whose troubled adolescence, and part in a notorious murder, was the subject of a film by Peter Jackson
The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup
A village treasure hunt digs up trouble, a game of dares goes too far and a Mary Higgins Clark classic is revisited in this month’s highlights
Loving Highsmith review – Ripley author tribute soft-pedals writer’s nasty side
Ostensibly about the relationships of the celebrated novelist, this documentary is coy about Patricia Highsmith’s obsessiveness and antisemitism
In brief: The Wakes; Humanly Possible; A Tidy Ending – reviews
A wittily poignant tale of friendship, death and unexpected joy; an impressively wide-ranging history of humanism; and a darkly comic crime novel
Eric Brown, science fiction author and Guardian critic, dies aged 62
Writers, publishers and agents pay tribute to a warm, generous figure, author of more than 50 books ranging from SFF to crime to children’s literature
Christopher Fowler obituary
Author of the Bryant & May detective novels, short stories and essays on forgotten writers – including himself
The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane review – the lost boy
Otherworldly sunsets, family tensions and Aboriginal lore collide in a blazing mystery set in the colonial outback
Bryant & May novelist Christopher Fowler has died aged 69
Crime writers have paid tribute to the London-born author behind the long-running detective series, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2020
Top 10 criminal duos in fiction
Authors from James M Cain to Patricia Highsmith show how partners in crime can really bring out the worst in each other
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis review – an inspired fever dream of a book
A teenage Bret and his uber-privileged friends cruise around 80s LA while a serial killer stalks the city in a gleefully meta return to form by the author of American Psycho
What links Cate Blanchett’s new film Tár to Sissy Spacek and hot sauce?
A composer and conductor opens the door to Loretta Lynn, Wings of Desire and classic 90s rock from Goo Goo Dolls
Guess who? Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Sophie Hannah and other crime writers reveal their favourite detectives
At the end of a year when murder mysteries rode high in the charts, we ask crime writers to celebrate the best fictional detectives
‘Hillary and I were both broken women’: Louise Penny on writing a political thriller with Clinton
As her most famous creation hits the screen, the author talks about the inspiration for Inspector Gamache, her fearless, fine-dining Canadian cop – and remembers how she co-wrote a hit with the presidential hopeful