Open Book - 21/03/2010

Mariella Frostrup talks to the novelist DJ Taylor, who explains why in his latest book he's taken on the persona of a 1930s thriller writer. He talks about his fascination with period slang, and why he decided to make up some of his own. There's also news of a New York exhibition of JD Salinger's letters, containing major revelations about the reclusive writer's life. Declan Kiely of the Morgan Library explains what these 10 letters tell us. And the writer Rachel Polonsky discusses what browsing the private library of one of Stalin's most notorious henchmen taught her about the life of Vyacheslav Molotov.