MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians
Latest editorial
Best of 2024: Crime fiction
MAT COWARD picks the jewels, new and old, from the endless crime scenes of fiction
![REBELS: Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar in Nadia Fall’s powerful debut feature Brides [Pic: IMDb]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-09/round%20up%20web_0.jpg.webp?itok=41xI6jhN)
MARY CONWAY recommends an early Shakespearean tragedy that feels so contemporary that it mirrors our daily news
A ghost story by Mexican Ave Barrera, a Surrealist poetry collection by Peruvian Cesar Moro, and a manifesto-poem on women’s labour and capitalist havoc by Peruvian Valeria Roman Marroquin
DAVID NICHOLSON recommends a dazzling production of Bernstein’s opera set in a world where chaos and violence are greeted by equanimity
MARY CONWAY is frustrated by a new play that loses its drama amid the moral dilemma of re-settling children in the aftermath of WWII
Acclaimed as a masterpiece when it premiered, this study of story-telling in an Irish pub more than lives up to expectations, says MARY CONWAY
SYLVIA HIKINS relishes a comedy that dives deep into Liverpool’s divided loyalties
HISTORICAL crime fiction can be uniquely satisfying, in the hands of a writer who knows what they’re doing. My favourite history-mystery this year, in a strong field, was The Scream Of Sins by Chris Nickson (Severn House, £21.99), in which a hard winter is on the way in Leeds, in 1824, as Simon Westow, professional finder of stolen objects, is hired to retrieve some missing documents.
They belonged to a notorious city magistrate, responsible for the deaths and transportations of many Luddites and other dissidents. The old man’s dead, but his son fears that publication of his papers could bring disgrace on the whole family.
Simon is distracted from this job by news from his assistant, former street-girl Jane, who has heard an unbearable story of cruelty from a homeless child. If half of what they’re being told is true, this is going to be the worst case they've ever been involved in.
Similar stories
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley
A late Christmas cornucopia, a Canadian wolf, a dodgy motel and Peter Diamond’s last bow