Magazine Watch - Crime Scene

It's always nice to come across an interesting new magazine, to discover that this is just the sort of publication you've been waiting for. Crime Scene, the new quarterly from Future Publishing maybe one such magazine.

 Billed as the ultimate guide to crime drama,films,books, TV - it pretty much is that but covers virtually every media format out there. For instance there's a feature on a new podcast called Missing which mines similar territory to the excellent Serial.

The Bath based publishing company may be onto a winner here. There are several mainstream magazines for fans of science fiction and a couple for lover of horror, but until now lovers of the crime genre, and they are many, have been sold short in terms of newsstand magazines. Yep, a gap in the market has been well and truly filled.

The debut issue features a Benedict Cumberbatch, in a publicity shot for the forthcoming Christmas special of the BBC's Sherlock - this one will be set in the proper Victorian setting and Sherlock will puff on his iconic pipe. There is a major feature on Sherlock within the magazine, this includes a talk with series co-creator Steven Moffat. And it is a great feature which includes a detailed synopsis of every episode shown thus far.

Sherlock though is just one part of this 140+ page magazine - there's an interview with James Ellroy, a feature in which Ian Rankin reveals his inspirations and influences. There's a look at the 25 greatest TV detectives of all time - Columbo takes the top spot but I won't reveal the others here and urge you to read the magazine. There are  reviews, news, features and even a fiction extract. The Book review are especially good and detailed and will likely lead to the discovery of new writers and books.

Priced at £7.99 the magazine isn't at the cheaper end of the market but I think it is worth every penny for such an entertaining read. It's intelligently written by writers with an obvious love of the genre.

The magazine is on sale now and is highly recommended.