‘A moment after death when the face is beautiful’: rare Raymond Chandler poem discovered by US editor
The Strand magazine ran Requiem, dated to 1955, after editor found it in Bodleian library at University of Oxford
March 2023
Marlowe review – worldweary Liam Neeson makes for low-energy private eye
Raymond Chandler’s gumshoe hero is resurrected in this period adaptation of a novel by John Banville – a film that looks good but lacks a spark
December 2022
Guess who? Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Sophie Hannah and other crime writers reveal their favourite detectives
At the end of a year when murder mysteries rode high in the charts, we ask crime writers to celebrate the best fictional detectives
July 2021
Split infinitives: the English ‘rule’ that refuses to quietly die
Letters: Salley Vickers, Angelica Goodden, John Doherty, Eddy York and Barbara Benedict weigh in on an eternal linguistic debate
October 2020
Unseen spoof by Raymond Chandler shows writer's 'human side'
Noir master had a chilly reputation, but self-parodic Advice to an Employer – being published for the first time this month – shows him in a warmer light
June 2019
Inside the Guardian
Guardian Books: 'You can tell a lot about a country by how it treats its libraries'
The books site editor on the challenges facing publishers, and who she would invite to her dream dinner party
October 2018
Books blog
Why we need an award for writers who start later in life
Gillian Slovo
Some authors worry they are past it at 30, forgetting the careers of Chandler, Defoe and many others. Which is where the Christopher Bland prize comes in
September 2018
Tom Gauld's cultural cartoons
Tom Gauld on the power of a great sentence – cartoon
How would an author deal with writing their most perfect sentence? It’s not always positive...
June 2018
How well do you know your fictional bookshops? – quiz
To mark the end of Independent bookshop week, a celebration of booksellers across the UK and Ireland, test your knowledge of fictional literary havens
May 2018
Books interview
Michael Chabon: ‘Parent properly and you’re doing yourself out of a job’
The Pulitzer prize-winner on combining writing with raising kids, his freakozoid tendencies and the authors he returns to
April 2018
Top writers choose their perfect crime
Crime fiction is now the UK’s bestselling genre. So which crime novels should everyone read? We asked the writers who know ...
March 2018
May I have a word about … cliches?
Jonathan Bouquet
Let’s draw a line in the sand under over-used phrases
November 2017
Raymond Chandler attacks US healthcare in newly-discovered story
It’s All Right - He Only Died was found in The Big Sleep author’s archives with a note underlining his contempt for doctors who turned away poor patients
May 2017
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: 'I’ve never had a hit song, and I never will'
He’s the cult musician who has written songs for John Legend and acted for Kelly Reichardt and John Sayles. Now the artist also known as Will Oldham explains why he turned to country’s Merle Haggard for his new album
April 2017
Books blog
A pint of Sarah Perry, please: the literary food tie-ins we want to try
The novelist’s Essex Serpent is getting its own beer, which makes you wonder what other marketing opportunities books could offer
February 2017
Top 10s
Top 10 Hollywood novels
As excitement rises ahead of Sunday’s Oscars, a look at novelists’ treatments of the film mecca reveals a rather darker picture
December 2016
Top 10s
Top 10 slangy crime novels
As well as masterful exercises in suspense and social realism, the best fiction in this genre is also a rich repository of slang. And that’s no Archbishop Laud
September 2016
Top 10s
John Sweeney's top 10 books on corruption
From Macbeth to Robert Maxwell and Mussolini’s son-in-law, the investigative reporter and crime novelist picks his favourite books featuring ‘plot No 2 in literature’
