After nearly 50 years together, a husband is jailed for life for the strangulation of his wife. Greg Bruce discovers how an ordinary relationship went so horribly wrong.

Ceramic artist John Parker's stunning book encompasses 50 years of his work.

Reviews of crime-fiction by Michael Connelly, Ian Austin, Sam Carmody and Laura Lippman

Author Jay McInerney's old-fashioned belief that Love and Art can defy both time and money is to be applauded.

RED HERRING by Jonothan Cullinane (HarperCollins, $37) Auckland 1951: trams run along Queen St, women aren't allowed in the RSC

Greg Fleming rounds up the latest in crime fiction.

British writer Cath Weeks talks to Jennifer Dann about life on the brink.

Wiremu Heke, known as Billhook, leaves his Otago home in 1825 with regret in his heart and vengeance in mind.

Since winning the 2003 Man Booker Prize, DBC Pierre has often been forced to come clean about past difficulties, such as his shady

COMMENT: I've loved the Harry Potter series and J.K. Rowling for over 10 years, but now, for the first time, I feel disappointed with her - and it hurts.

A person could so easily be attracted to this book by its cover. But no, we mustn't judge.

When Chris Gayle foolishly sleazed on cricket journalist Mel McLaughlin, he became Australia's public enemy one.

Joe Hill's latest work has post-apocalyptic optimism, writes Stephen Jewell.

A Time To Die (Hachette) Tom Wood $34.99 Englishman Wood says he got into the book business "to pen thrillers with the boring bits

Gustav Perle, son of a dead policeman and a bitter mother whom he loves despite her disaffection for him, is merely 5 as this story

Often the books we read cover the same subjects.

Annie Proulx's new epic story stretches far and wide and south, writes Dionne Christian.

This hot love story from an American author, set on a freezing continent, has touches of New Zealand occasionally. The setting is

Justin Cronin's readers can't easily put him down, writes Dionne Christian.

Danyl, the protagonist, is back after a six-month absence caused by a misunderstanding with the justice system.

On a chilly, rainy day, it's tempting to escape to the baking heat of Australia.

It sounds almost too extraordinary to be true: a Kiwi advertising executive makes a pilgrimage across the byways of China, where tourists are rarely seen, and tracks down a long lost son of Mao Tse Tung.

Jennifer Dann meets an author whose book is inspired by violence but defined by humanity.

Karl Stead is like a grand old sideboard in the dining room of New Zealand literature.

Novels about painters and paintings have been in vogue recently.

Christchurch-based writer Heather McQuillan is the winner of this year's National Flash Fiction Day competition.

Elizabeth is a husk of a woman. She feels nothing. Why she continues to live baffles her.

Noah is a 4-year-old boy who often wakes screaming from nightmares in which he plays with guns and is held underwater until he blacks out.

Foodies and home cooks will love these four new reads.

What a phenomenon James McNeish is. Literary fashions, figures and feuds parade past and all the while McNeish is working steadily and skilfully away.