Books

Murders for August

Locked rooms and dark churchyards

Oldies made the best holiday companions

A trio of 20th century novels each offer a different desideratum for the discerning lounger

Frustrating life of a man of ideas

We remain interested in Tocqueville because of the power of his thought, not his life story

An unfinished masterpiece

One senses that, in this volume of Picasso’s life, John Richardson is only doing the hands and faces

More than whippets and flat caps

Brian Groom’s Northerners weaves together a rich seam of rebels and innovators

Busting the myth of the Phantom Major

Thread by thread, Mortimer unpicks the lies of David Stirling’s life

Birth of a four decade nightmare

Time and again, Afghanistan has found its future decided from afar

Rhyme of the times

Within six weeks of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, most of Europe was at war

Modern echoes of ancient history

Stephen Kershaw may have taken accessibility too far in his classical account

The fame game

Why has talking about books become the preserve of know-nothing celebrities?