One of our masterful crime writers, Peter Robinson, author of Careless Love, the 25th case in the DCI Banks series, shares some of his favourite villains of literature with us, because we all like a good bad-guy, right?

#1 Count Fosco
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Corpulent, crapulent, calculating, cruel, creepy, canary-keeping Count Fosco!

Img src: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b2x1wh

#2 Auric Goldfinger
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming

Most Bond villains want to take over the world and/or destroy large areas of it for fun and profit. But Goldfinger also cheats at golf!
Img src: https://www.stltoday.com/online/auric-goldfinger/article_37da8350-72f4-5549-a491-4e47c8b5aa75.html

#3 Tom Ripley
The Talented Mr Ripley (and others) by Patricia Highsmith

No matter how much we find ourselves rooting for him and hoping he gets away with it, there can be no denying that Tom Ripley is a cold-blooded murderer.
Img src: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMVu0pL4z1s

#4 Hannibal Lecter
Red Dragon (and others) by Thomas Harris

Everybody’s favourite cannibal. Pass the Chianti, please!
Img src: https://www.sideshowtoy.com/collectibles/the-silence-of-the-lambs-hannibal-lecter-straitjacket-version-blitzway-903215/