Agents, publishers, books on writing tell you to write about nice characters who grow and learn. Louise Doughty clearly missed that memo. Her characters are troubled, rarely nice, placed in dark situations. Nazi mass killing…
Scrivener review road test: What’s so special about Scrivener? Some people love it – a few hate it. Almost everything that Scrivener does is done by other programs, sometimes better. But not all in the…
Should we legalise drugs? Peter Paget MP thinks so. But he’s only a lowly backbencher in a government whose ministers hardly notice him as they rush past on their important business. But one day Paget…
Spook Street: Spies, it seems, come in distinct and recognisable flavours. There’s the glamorous-sexy (Bond), the depressive-tragic (The Spy Who Came In From The Cold). The dumped-on-by-the-boss (The Ipcress File). The intellectual-self-effacing (Smiley). And, of…
24th century princess Charity Freestone is fighting for her life against the massed forces of at least two diabolical business enterprises who have the power to inflict deeply unpleasant forms of torture, such as the…
It may surprise you that a verbal attack can be much trickier and more difficult to deal with than a physical attack. And you never know when one might come. A few years ago, a…
What is it about sex and law that gets our pulses racing? A famously dry and dusty profession, somehow the law can be remarkably sexy when on page or screen – whether it’s a John…
If you want to improve at something, you can’t do better than studying the habits of people who’ve already done it well. Mason Currey’s book Daily Rituals aims to make this easy with bite-sized chunks…
I’ve read many books on Buddhism, but this, by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, stands out as very special. In just a few pages, he cuts through the faff – writing in a very down-to-earth manner. Starting…
This is a nice little book, full of enjoyable bite-sized detective stories. There are many good stories, recent and older, including pieces by Ruth Rendell, Ian Rankin and Sara Paretsky. And there are some absolute…
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie LeeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I don’t know anyone who’s opened this book who hasn’t been immediately enchanted by it. Much less famous than Cider…
I’m delighted and honoured to be invited to make my contribution to Richard Fernandez’ remarkable Secret Library on his blog Cafe Thinking. Secret Library is a lovely idea – authors are invited to recommend three…
Dead Writers in Rehab by Paul Bassett DaviesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars At the start of Paul Bassett Davies new novel, Dead Writers in Rehab, Foster James wakes up to find himself indeed in…
From Line of Duty to Jack Reacher… …crime is the thing nowadays – but the challenge is to find a new way to tease and entertain the myriad crime fans. One well-travelled path is to…
Capital by John LanchesterMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Satire is the genre that dare not speak its name in British publishing right now, but it could hardly be more needed than it is today.…
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch My rating: 5 of 5 stars Just came across this lovely off-beat fantasy crime novel, thanks to a friend of my wife’s. It starts with a bang one freezing…
Killers in mascara by Huw Collingbourne My rating: 3 of 5 stars I’m in the middle of this unusually entertaining crime novel and really enjoying myself. Collingbourne has created a great off-beat detective, with a…
Straight White Male by John Niven My rating: 4 of 5 stars How do you succeed in creating a difficult central character, indeed a quite obnoxious one, and yet persuade your readers to fall in…