Books

Last night, Sunday, April 23, 2023, between 7pm and 8pm, marked World Book Night. This annual event encouraged readers of all ages to turn off their smartphones, turn the lights down low, and bury their heads in a book. Sadly, the official World Book Day website claims one in three …

Neil Lancaster’s bestselling books brilliantly tackle police corruption (Image: PA) An elite secret unit of highly trained investigators aimed at rooting out corrupt police and their criminal conspirators. Allegations of misconduct bedevilling a force. And a network of private messaging apps where officers trade shameful information. No, not the Metropolitan …

Manni and Reuben Coe write book together (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster) Manni Coe, 49, describes his younger brother Reuben, who has Down’s Syndrome, as “a heart on legs”. He says: “There is no malice in him; he is all soft edges.” When I ask Reuben, 39, to describe Manni, he is …

Life has been ab fab for Netflix thriller king and bestselling author Harlan Coben of late. First, actor and comedian Jennifer Saunders appeared in his Netflix series The Stranger – and now Joanna Lumley is filming his new eight-parter Fool Me Once. The 61-year-old novelist and screenwriter says: “Joanna is …

Young Bond author Charlie Higson is the author of what is his first ever adult 007 book. The novel, aptly titled On His Majesty’s Secret Service, is set for release on May 4, two days before the Coronation and actually begins its setting on that day. The official synopsis reads: …

It’s been 12 years since George RR Martin published A Dance with Dragons, the latest book in his A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. Since then, HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation of the novels has been and gone; relying on the 74-year-old’s outline of his final two books …

Jeeves and Wooster books have been changed to lose ­“unacceptable” passages by author PG Wodehouse. It is the latest in a long line of literary alterations to some of the world’s best-loved works. The original wording in the popular comic novels has been purged or rewritten for new ­editions issued …

And tricky also to describe the story without revealing too much about her shocking back-story. Because Celia Creswell is a woman with a past and then some, someone whose history is veiled by necessary secrecy, someone scarred by events no one should have to endure at the tender age she …

British author Anne Perry died on April 10, aged 84, it was confirmed today by her agent. The writer – who was born Juliet Marion Hulme – was best known for her Pitt and Monk detective novel series, and had penned dozens of books since her debut novel, The Cater …

The Dunk and Egg novellas are set around 100 years before A Game of Thrones, so about a century after House of the Dragon. Dunk is the future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard known as Ser Duncan the Tall. And Egg is the future King Aegon V Targaryen, the grandfather …