The Best Fiction Books

Great novels about the law have always been an inspiration to lawyers, bringing home the problems of the law, the human mess that it tries unsuccessfully to make sense of, and the gulf that can exist between the law and justice. Scott Turow, the bestselling author of Presumed Innocent, talks to us about his own favourite legal novels, from a classic set on aboard a Royal Navy ship during the Napoleonic wars to a murder trial in the Pacific Northwest after World War II.

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories and four novels starring his fictional sleuth. Michael Dirda – Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, writer and lifelong Sherlockian – gives us his personal choice of the best Sherlock Holmes books and tells us more about their creator.

The adventures of Tintin are some of the bestselling books of all time, translated from French into languages across the globe, and still in bookshops nearly a century since they first started being published. Their stories, their humour, their characters continue to delight. Here, Tintinologist Michael Farr explains why the Tintin books have such enduring appeal and how their creator, Hergé, came to write them.

A good thriller isn't about the violence or bloodshed, it's about making the reader feel off-balance and as if something isn’t quite right, says bestselling author Tess Gerritsen. She tells us about her own favourite thrillers.

When we think of an ebook, we think of a printed book delivered in electronic form. But it can be so much more than that. Here, literary scholar Jessica Pressman talks us through the the rise of electronic literature—books that are composed not just of words, but take advantage of all the tools that a digital medium has to offer.

We're living through a golden age for fantasy, says fantasy novelist and book critic Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians and The Bright Sword. He tells us what makes for a good fantasy novel, and who's staking out the future not just of fantasy but of fiction as a whole.

The Romanian-born poet tells us about his love for fantastic and magical tales – particularly bloody ones with cannibalism, necrophilia and alienated heroes.

Conventional prose fiction falls short of the mark, says English author Will Self. He tells us about his modernist novel Umbrella, what the real character of London is, and why he can’t stand the Olympics

Evelyn Waugh's biographer, Selina Hastings, explores the decadence of the young and rich in 1920s London, and tells us about the author's rebellious youth, bullying disposition and later breakdown – as well as just how much (and early) he drank

A prolific writer sometimes oblivious to events going on around him, PG Wodehouse remains so well loved because of his enduring characters and inimitable style, says Sophie Ratcliffe, professor of English at Oxford University and editor of his letters.