“The Secret Life of John Le Carré” by Adam Sisman (published by Profile Books)
Tinker, tailor, shagger, liar and serial philanderer
When Sisman published “John Le Carré, The Biography” in 2015, it was after the novelist placed constraints on him, leading to the ...
Deeper into the shadows with crooks and spooks
Fans of the murky worlds that emerged in the 20 Crime and Espionage back-catalogue novels from Penguin Randon House last year will ...
’The Big Sleep’ and ‘Farewell, My Lovely’ by Raymond Chandler (published by Penguin Books)
Down dark streets with great one-liners
Here in this office, it’s a bit of puzzle why, of the 20 Crime and Espionage books published by Penguin last year, ...
“Maigret’s Revolver” and “Maigret and the Headless Corpse” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Author’s idiosyncrasies in a book a day
All 75 “Maigret” novels were republished one a month from 2013 to 2020 in new English translations and with harmonising covers from ...
"The Mask of Dimitrios” by Eric Ambler (published by Penguin Books)
Digging around in the past can be a bad idea
This 1939 book is sometimes rated as the best of Eric Ambler’s novels, which can be taken either as a big plus ...
“Beast in the Shadows” by Edogawa Rampo (published by Penguin Books)
Mystery and imagination at play again
Considerations arise when reading a 1928 Japanese crime novel. On the plus side, we stand to learn something of a unique culture ...
"The Drowning Pool” by Ross Macdonald (published by Penguin Books)
Gumshoe follows familiar noir tropes
Here is a reissue for the second of the 18 books by American author Ross Macdonald featuring private eye Lew Archer, and ...
Thrillers get green light again
They would certainly look impressive as a set of ten on bookshelves, all with the iconic green hue that is the centrepiece ...
Murder, treachery for the ages
Ten crime and espionage novels by British, American, Belgian and Japanese authors published between 1928 and 1978 are in a new series ...
“The Widow Couderc” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Classics)
Greed, hate, jealousy poison human hearts
Georges Simenon could be a subtle writer. Take the very first words of this novel – “He was walking. For at least ...
