Oh, the joy of curling up on a winter’s afternoon to immerse oneself in a compelling crime novel or TV drama featuring victims and sleuths. The story will be set in a picturesque, seemingly safe place

My love of stories came before my love of reading. I rarely slept as a baby, so my poor mum often soothed me at nights by reading to me. As a small child I listened to Storyteller tapes all night – au

Who else has attempted the perfect crime?

To mark half a century since Agatha Christie’s death, we welcome you inside the literary doyenne’s rural retreat – her sanctuary from the harsh world of press and public

What revealed the magic of books for me was The Wind in the Willows. When I was five, I contracted measles, which meant I had to spend my days in bed in a darkened room. My mother sat outside my bedro

The writer Daphne du Maurier was fascinated by the English country house. Jeremy Musson explores her evocation of these buildings with the help of specially commissioned drawings by Matthew Rice