Covering: ON THE BEACH Stanley Kramer, director/BFI, COLD PREY TRILOGY Roar Uthaug, director/SECOND SIGHT/LA TRAVESTIE Yves Boisset, director/INDICATOR www.dvdchoices.co.uk

2026’s Theakston Old Peculier Awards for Griffiths, Crawford & Baldacci; see Crime Time: www.crimetime.co.uk/2026s-theaks...

At a meal for K.T. Nguyen ('Katie', as she told us to call her) given by Bedford Square, we journos (including Jake Kerridge & John Williams) enjoyed lively conversation with Katie and her fellow scribes, Bonnie Burke-Patel, Tracy Sierra & I.S. Berry. The world was set to rights.

I took a deep breath before reviewing (in this Saturday's Financial Times) the new James Ellroy, Red Sheet...

Covering in the FT: Red Sheet — James Ellroy’s lacerating, liberal-baiting vision of McCarthyite America www.crimetime.co.uk/james-ellroy...

Covering the new 4K disc of Rocco and his Brothers from BFI: 'Many would argue that Visconti‘s Rocco and his Brothers remains his signature film, combining the gritty blue-collar world of neo-realism with nigh-operatic drama...' www.dvdchoices.co.uk

The winners of the prestigious 2026 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced, with Abigail Dean bagging best crime novel of the year. www.crimetime.co.uk/crime-writer...

BLOODY SCOTLAND REVEALS THE LONGLIST FOR THE 2026 McILVANNEY PRIZE - see Crime Time: www.crimetime.co.uk/bloody-scotl...

The horror film genre – up to the beginning of the 2000s — has been thoroughly investigated and analysed by many writers (not least this one!), but as yet there has been no exhaustive coverage of the horror films of the 2010s . www.dvdchoices.co.uk?p=2235

Jordan Harper, Abir Mukherjee et al in New June Crime in Crime Time with To the Max... www.crimetime.co.uk/june-crime-i...

Provided a booklet essay for Insomnia, one of the most powerful of Scandinavian crime films, impeccably acted and directed. Erik Skjoldbjærg's tense directorial debut is immeasurably enhanced by the presence of Stellan Skarsgård, showcased in this 4K set from Second Sight

Covering Summer Crime in Saturday's FT: The Darkest Tide by Peter Hanington, Baskerville The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter, HarperCollins The Dangerous Stranger by Simon Mason, riverrun The Keeper by Tana French, Viking www.crimetime.co.uk/ft-summer-cr...

A deep pleasure to join the extras for Hammer Films' neglected crime gems (such as 36 Hours) in the illustrious company of Kim Newman, Vic Pratt, Sergio Angelini, Dr Jo Botting, Maxim Jakubowski, Adrian Smith et al

In the latest Age Of Thrills, working again with Kim Newman on films for which we've done commentaries: Hitchcock's The Lodger & John Brahm's Hangover Square

I asked Paul Cain and Marie O'Regan to talk to Crime Time about their new anthology, Best Served Cold www.crimetime.co.uk/best-served-...

Patricia Cornwell/Andrew Hunter Murray/Michael Connelly/Chris Brookmyre/Georges Simenon/John Connolly/Jo Murray/Holly Watt: in my FT column last Saturday www.crimetime.co.uk/ft-crime-fro...

Saturday's FT: True Crime: A Memoir, Patricia Cornwell/ Bad Deeds, Andrew Hunter Murray/ Ironwood, Michael Connelly/ Quite Ugly One Evening, Chris Brookmyre/ Letter to My Judge, Georges Simenon plus John Connolly, Jo Murray, Holly Watt www.crimetime.co.uk/ft-crime-fro...

Launch at @Ink84 for Kim Newman's Model Actress Whatever; I wrote: 'This sardonically funny vision of empty celebrity and quirky superheroes set in an alternative London has all the untrammelled wordplay and inventiveness of his masterpiece Anno Dracula.'

Crime writing talent galore on the new CWA Daggers shortlist... www.crimetime.co.uk/crime-writer...

Islington lunch with Ben Stoddart; Kim Newman and I supplied extras for the eye-popping new @BFI set of Invaders from Mars (commentary: Kim and me; booklet essay: me).The world of film and blu-rays put to rights in two wine-soaked hours...

I asked Martin Edwards to talk to Crime Time about editing the latest CWA anthology, Guilty Secrets, published on July 21... www.crimetime.co.uk/editing-guil...

Always enjoy writing about the best supernatural film ever made in Britain, Tourneur's Night of the Demon, along with the meretricious (but shamelessly enjoyable) Blood of the Vampire and Horrors of the Black Museum (this time for the latest Cryptology)

Covering the new Penguin translation by Howard Curtis of Simenon's Letter to My Judge/Lettre à Mon Juge in the Financial Times

Times obit for Angela Pleasence: 'Film writer Barry Forshaw once shrewdly observed that she was 'an unconventional femme fatale' who 'with her lank hair and lack of makeup is so radically different from the usual nubile temptress that her fey roles were immeasurably enhanced'.

Another terrific evening of bookish talk and wine at latest Hatchards Authors of the Year party, hosted by the inimitable Francis Cleverdon. Great to chat to w. heavyweights William Boyd Anthony Quinn, Charles Cumming , Simon Brett & Ferdinand Mount. Jilly Cooper much missed

Wrote in the FT: ‘Jane Harper’s position is consolidated with Last One Out (Pan Macmillan, £22), which is a forensic examination of both familial breakdown and the fracturing of a community.’ – and asked Jane to talk to Crime Time… www.crimetime.co.uk/jane-harper-...

I asked Luke Deckard to talk to Crime Time about No Saints Only Killers: www.crimetime.co.uk/no-saints-on...

As Jo Nesbo’s work finally gets a worthy screen adaptation with DETECTIVE HOLE, I was reminded of one of the colour-coordinated events I chaired with Jo…

The bookish group at the launch of Michael Ridpath's Operation Berlin: Anna Mazzola, Natasha Cooper, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Barry Forshaw, Mark Ellis

In a Telegraph obit for Angela Pleasence: 'Barry Forshaw - in his definitive study, British Gothic Cinema - described Pleasence as an “unconventional femme fatale” who “with her lank hair and lack of make-up, is radically different from the usual kind of nubile temptress...”