Topic: Edinburgh

Talking About Detective Fiction

Master mystery writer P.D. James dissects her craft.

An orchestra for the engagingly incompetent

The Really Terrible Orchestra's devoted following has surprised even its founders.

Compassion in the Lockerbie release

Mercy has a place in justice, but politics and suspicion obscure it in the case of the Lockerbie bomber released to Libya last week.

Six Picks: Recommendations from the Monitor staff

The interactive Frank Lloyd Wright, 'thirtysomething' on DVD, return of the iconic Spy vs. Spy, and more.

No. 1 Ladies' cookbook in the works

Language that is in good taste

An English chef's experiments with synesthesia give new meaning to the promise 'I'll eat my words.'

The challenge of fair-trade chocolate

Fair trade brought sweet success to Dominican cacao farmers. Why more demand might take profits away.

Classic book review: When Will There Be Good News?

This deeply satisfying Scottish thriller focuses on the hunt for a mother and her young baby.

Accent the positive

He thinks he has curbed his New Jersey accent but sometimes it springs free like a wild animal escaping its cage.

Obama woos Europe on Afghanistan

In Strasbourg, the US president cast the war as an international – not just American – problem.

European workers rebel as G-20 looms

At companies, including Caterpillar in France and Visteon in Northern Ireland, workers have occupied offices and detained bosses.

Obama can expect a week of protests ahead of G-20

British bankers won’t wear ties as groups threaten violence ahead of the economic summit in London.

A Comrade Lost and Found

Journalist Jan Wong chases through modern China in pursuit of a comrade whose life she may have ruined in the Maoist era.

Scotland turns to 18th-century poet for economic stimulus

Sunday’s 'Burns Night' – featuring poems and neats and tatties – is the first test of the effort.

Scotland turns to 18th-century poet for economic stimulus

Six Picks: Recommendations from the Monitor staff

Alexander McCall Smith's latest witty novel, Boston Symphony music ready for your iPod, 'Man on Wire' out on DVD, and more.

Best novels of 2008

The Monitor’s annual gift guide to the best fiction books of 2008.

Wall Street's game over; economics hits home

Our language columnist looks at the background of the phrase 'laissez-faire.'

When Will There Be Good News?

Kate Atkinson saves the best for last in her mystery trilogy.

More Mail Bag matches

Readers remember pen pals they found through the Monitor's old Mail Bag column.

Conservationists uncover 'mother lode' of gorillas in Africa

A census in the north of the Republic of the Congo has discovered 125,000 previously uncounted western lowland gorillas, more than doubling the previous estimated worldwide population of the great ape subspecies.

More Mail Bag matches

Readers remember pen pals they found through the Monitor's old Mail Bag column.

Government tells Britons to clean their plates

Britain's Cabinet Office released a sweeping report on the country's food policy, and determined that Britons are wasting too much food.

China's quake: Why did so many schools collapse?

Earthquake experts say the collapsed schools may be a sign of poor construction despite adequate building codes.

China moves quickly in quake zone

The country's deadliest quake in three decades hit central China Monday.