Crime
Purge of the posh
Should employees be judged by their parents’ income?
Barometer
Secrets of the stars The astrologer Jonathan Cainer died after beginning his last horoscope for his own star sign: ‘We’re…
When in Rome…
‘Now I am a mother and a married woman, but not long ago I led a life of crime,’ begins…
Recent crime fiction
All it takes is a spark. In her compelling new thriller, Ten Days (Canongate, £14.99), Gillian Slovo tracks the progress…
Who killed murder?
The mystery of violent crime’s dramatic decline
No hiding place
Technology has made murderers much easier to catch
Who steals books?
At my shop, it seems to be everyone from students to organised professional gangs
Could I have prevented a Kray murder?
Could I have prevented a Kray murder?
The disturbing case of Roger Khan – and the cost of cheap justice
The disturbing case of Roger Khan – and the human cost of doing justice on the cheap
High life
To Cleveland, Ohio, where middle America’s middle class begins its great Midwest sprawl. I’ve always wanted to visit Cleveland because…
Unreliable evidence
I hadn’t really thought much about pixels before, despite spending a large portion of my day looking at them. After…
Curtain call for Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell’s final novel, Dark Corners, is about how psychological necessity can drive perfectly ordinary people either to terrible deeds…
See no evil
Harry Mount once idolised the Kray twins. He’s since seen the error of his ways
Barometer
Rogue traders Former UBS trader Tom Hayes was jailed for 14 years for rigging the Libor market. How long could…
Caught on the net
Going online does not make you invisible – as the adulterers who used the hacked site Ashley Madison are discovering
Poison and parsnip wine
First, a quote from the novel under review. The context: it is a flashback scene of the behaviour of a…
Barometer
The spirit of 1945 No one would have been more surprised at the sight of 100,000 people marching in London…
High life
The last week in Gotham was exceptional fun. I saw a Broadway play, Finding Neverland, compliments of the producer, my…
No sex, please, in the Detection Club
‘The crime novel,’ said Bertolt Brecht, ‘like the world itself, is ruled by the English.’ He was thinking of the…
Warning: this column may soon be illegal
A couple of weeks back I wrote an article headed: ‘Call me insane, but I’m voting Labour.’ Among the many…
Barometer
Deadly to dogs An Irish setter was allegedly poisoned at Crufts, using beef containing slug pellets. Some other substances with which dog-show rivals…
When did we become a nation of narks?
There’s a danger that in what follows your columnist may seem to be recommending an attitude. Please don’t think that.…
The defence never rests
Sir Ivan Lawrence QC on the Krays, Dennis Nilsen – and Chris Grayling
Barometer
Space to dream Richard Branson’s dream of commercial space flights has suffered a setback after a prototype craft crashed. But…
All guns blazing
Once, both police and criminals in Britain routinely did without guns. How did that happen? And why did it change?
