Philip Wilding is a fantastic storyteller, and a brilliant talker of storytelling. He's worked as a radio producer for many national stations, written as a journalist following bands across the world, and has ghostwritten memoirs, including Carl Barat of The Libertines. His newest novel is 'The Death and Life of Red Henley'. It's a noir novel about 1980's New York, a religious commune in Tennessee, and the myriad characters entwined in the death of Red Henley. We talk about how it was written be...
Nov 04, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 240
This week, we chat to Cristina Bendek. Her novel 'Salt Crystals' was published in 2018, and won the Elisa Mujica National Novel Prize. It's about the island of San Andres, and Victoria trying to make sense of everything. It's just been translated and published in the UK. We talk about how it's a slightly autobiographical novel, reflecting on Cristina's own time in an island trying to figure out its place in the world. We talk about the geopolitical situation of it, and how that influenced why sh...
Oct 28, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 239
This week, we chat to Felix Francis. His new book is the next in the 'Dick Francis Series', it's called 'Hands Down' and features Sid Halley looking into a conspiracy that threatens the heart of horse-racing. Felix is carrying on the prolific work of his dad, Dick Francis. Dick was an RAF pilot, a champion race jockey, and then a phenomenally bestselling author. Between them they've publish 50 books and sold over 80 million copies. We talk about the transition of him taking the reins (!) of the ...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 238
Pascal Engman is the bestselling Swedish novelist of his generation, called 'the next Steig Larsson'. He has sold plenty of books around the world, and they're now being published in the UK. His new one is 'Femicide, it looks at 'incel' culture. Involuntary celebates who hate women, and what happens when they switch off their laptops and do something about it in real life. We chat about completely different parts of the world he writes in, and how much pressure he puts on 9 months of his year to...
Oct 13, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 237
Marthe Jocelyn is about to publish her 50th book. It's called 'The Seaside Corpse', and is the 4th in the Aggie Morton Mystery Queen series. It's based on a young Agatha Christie, who solves crimes with her best friend Hector Poirot. The new one takes place in 1903 Lyme Regis, when searching for dinosaurs, Aggie comes across a dead body. We talk about how much she plots mysteries, and why this story has made her mix that up a bit. Also, you can hear how accurate she wants to get her story to rea...
Oct 06, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 236
This week, we chat to author and lecturer David Bell. He's just published his 12th book, 'The Finalists'. It looks at a group of prospective college students, and the lengths they might go to gain a prestigious fellowship. Think 'The Breakfast Club' with murder. His novel, 'Kill All Your Darlings', was nominated for an Edgar Award, and he's written his books whilst lecturing English and writing at University. We talk about how he balances his time teaching writing, and actually writing. You can ...
Sep 29, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 235
Gordon J. Brown has just published his 9th novel, it's called 'Six Wounds' and is published under the name Morgan Cry. We talk about why he's started writing under a different name, and how a certain ex-Prime Minister played a part in that. The book was inspired by a conversation in a Spanish pub, investigating how an ex-pat can be in two places at once. You can hear the process of moving that idea into a full book. It's about Daniella Coulstoun, the prime suspect in the murder of a notorious ga...
Sep 15, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 234
Emily Houghton managed to write the entire draft of her very first novel on her phone, whilst travelling around the world. That novel, 'Before I Saw You', was a huge success and she's followed it up with 'Last Time We Met'. It's about Eleanor and Finn, who make a pact to marry each other if they're single at 35. Then, 15 years later, they bump into each other... what do you think happens? We talk about how writing her new book has been completely different than getting her first down on her phon...
Sep 08, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 233
Robert Murphy has worked as a news reporter for many years. Over the last decade or so, Robert followed the tragic story of Melanie Road. Melanie was murdered in Bath in 1984, after a year long enquiry with 94 arrests being made, no-one was charged. Then in 2009, Detective Superintendent Julie MacKay found something that changed everything. Julie has co-written the story with Robert. We talk about how that worked, how he discovered every facet of the story, and moved that into a plot. You can he...
Sep 01, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 232
Lexie Elliott accomplishes things. She graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in theoretical physics (?!) became a championship-winning swimmer, and even swam the English Channel. She's just published her third novel, 'How to Kill Your Best Friend'. It tells the story of 3 friends who met on the college swim team. Years later, one is found dead in the ocean near a remote island. Can an elite swimmer really have drowned, or is something else going on? We talk about why she wanted t...
Aug 25, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 231
Barnaby Jameson Q.C is one of the country's top counter-terrorist lawyers, involved in notorious cases involved bomb-threats and plans to assassinate MPs. In his time between cases, he's worked on a new thriller, 'Codename: Madeleine'. It's inspired by the story of Poor Inayat Khan, an agent behind enemy lines. We talk about the idea, how he researched it and plotted out a story inspired by fact. Also you can hear how his writing is a curated stream of consciousness, where he escapes to write, a...
Aug 18, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 230
Ruth Ware is an international bestseller, who has just published her 7th crime thriller, 'The It Girl'. It tells the story of April, a vivacious, bright girl at the University of Oxford, who quickly draws a group of friends into her dazzling orbit. Until, one morning she is found dead. 10 years later, new information surfaces about the crime, and changes Hannah's life... her testimony was key to sending a man to prison. It means, one of her friends might have done killed 'The It Girl'. Ruth's bo...
Aug 11, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 229
This week, we chat to Sarah Pearse. Her debut novel, 'The Sanatorium', was the best selling debut fiction book of 2021. It was a New York Tiimes and Sunday Times bestseller, a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick. Her new one is called, 'The Retreat'. Set on an eco-wellness retreat on an island near Devon, it promises rest and relaxation, yet the locals believe it to have a cursed past. When a young woman is found murdered nearby, DS Elin Warner is called in ...
Jul 28, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 228
Andrew White is a do-er. He's written factual pieces for BBC Countryfile magazine, Rail Britain, written AA Guidebooks, and runs the Walks Around Britain YouTube channel and presents its TV shows. During lockdown, Andrew found that there wasn't much call for long-form walks around the country, when everyone was told to stay inside, so found a new outlet for his creativity. He started coming up with plot-lines for his first novel. He came up with over 30 of them, and 'The Walker Mysteries' were b...
Jul 21, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 227
Emma Bamford is a journalist and memoirist whose debut novel, 'Deep Water' is out right now. About a decade ago, Emma quit her job and escaped to Borneo with a complete stranger. She told this story in her memoirs, 'Casting Off' and 'Untie the Lines'. We talk about writing memoir: why other people want to read about your life, and how you keep records of adventures to write them later on. 'Deep Water' tells the story of Jake and Virginie, who after a traumatising experience at sea, find sanctuar...
Jul 14, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 226
Benjamin Wood has been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel award and the Commonwealth Book Prize, he's a CWA Gold Dagger nominee and a finalist for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. He also lectures creative writing at King's College. His 4th novel is 'The Young Apprentice'. It looks at Charlie and Joyce, recently released from borstal and starting a new life as an architecture apprentice. Until a figure from Joyce's past creeps back into her world, trying to drag them back to their o...
Jul 07, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 225
Mary Adkins is the author of critically acclaimed novels, 'Palm Beach', 'When You Read This', and 'Privilege'. She has used her experience of writing, publishing and also teaching, to become a writing coach. Her 'Book Incubator' programme looks to help you on the difficult journey to publishing. It uses how creative you are, how outgoing you are, and what your day is like, to plan the perfect method for your writing, and helps you write, revise and pitch your novel. We talk about why she sets up...
Jul 01, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 224
Colette Dartford's debut, 'Learning to Speak American', was shortlisted for an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. She followed up this success with her second, 'An Unsuitable Marriage', was a Kindle bestseller for 18 months. For her new novel she's made an interesting decision. In August, she'll self-publish, 'The Mortification of Grace Wheeler'. She's done this to have more creative control over publishing, marketing and pricing, and is almost doing it as a one-book experiment. She gets deep into...
Jun 16, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 223
Janice Hallett career started as a magazine editor, journalist and speech writer. Her first feature film, Retreat, starred Cillian Murphy, Thandiwe Newton and Jamie Bell. She's written speeches for the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and many others. Her frustration at getting screenplays adapted for TV and film prompted her to start writing novels. What a decision. Her debut, 'The Appeal', has achieved phenomenal success. It's been shared widely online by book communities, sold lots of copies a...
Jun 09, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 222
Mark Ellis started work as a lawyer, then ran his own business, and is now 5 books into his own crime series. It's all about Detective Frank Merlin, who investigates crimes during World War 2, a time in which committing crimes was relatively easy. His new book is 'Dead in the Water', which looks at how a mangled body found in the Thames and a missing piece of art are connected. We talk about how much he plans long-term for his characters, why he overwrites his first draft and how he goes about c...
Jun 02, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 221
Jessica Payne had 3 failed attempts at getting published. It took a genre switch to finally get her book out there and on the shelves. Her debut is 'Make Me Disappear', about a woman so desperate to escape her sociopathic boyfriend, she's prepared to go to extreme lengths to get away. We talk about why she was so determined to get published, also how she balances a hectic work-life where her husband works 90 hour weeks, while she looks after her toddler and manages to write novels. You can hear ...
May 27, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 220
Scott Kershaw has had an interesting route to being published. Leaving school with few qualifications, he signed up as a mature student in college. Whilst there, his work was spotted by the Head of Writing at Hull University, and despite having no A Levels or even filling in a UCAS application, he was offered a place and graduated with a First Class Degree in Creative Writing. It's all led to his debut, 'The Game'. It follows five strangers from across the globe who receive a warning that their ...
May 19, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 219
Dervla McTiernan was an Irish lawyer for 12 years. After the global financial crash, she moved to Australia and became a crime-writer. After a short-story was nominated for a prestigious prize, her debut 'The Ruin' achieved great success, and she's become a runaway bestseller. Her new novel, 'The Murder Rule', looks at The Innocence Project, which looks to exonerate wrongly convicted criminals. Only this book turns it on its head when a woman doesn't want to save a man on death row... but bury h...
May 13, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 218
Joanna Cannon's debut novel, 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' was an instant hit and became a Sunday Times Bestseller. She wrote it in very early mornings and in her lunch break, working in her car in an NHS car park, in between shifts as a Doctor. Becoming a writer is the third act of a busy life, Joanna left school at fifteen, worked as a barmaid, kennel maid and pizza delivery girl before qualifying as a Doctor in her forties. Now, she's a full-time author. Her new book, 'A Tidy Ending', ab...
Apr 28, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 217
Gracie Hart is a saga novelist, her stories focus on a family's troubles through history. She loves writing of the late-Victorian era, and immerses herself in the place and time that she's looking at. Her new novel, out in paperback, is 'The Baker's Girl'. It tells the story of Meg who needs to keep her family together. Her mum is ill, her sister in school, and she is the breadwinner... and indeed, the breadmaker. She finds a job with Ted Lund in the local bakery, and in the face of his mismanag...
Apr 21, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 216
Laure Van Rensburg has been highly acclaimed with short stories, been published in magazines, and her debut, 'Nothing But Us', is out now. It tells the story of Steven and Ellie, a professor and a student, on a romantic getaway to an isolated New York cabin. It's meant to be the perfect getaway, but he's not who he says he is... and neither is she. We talk about why she's set it in a part of America she's never been to, confounding most debut practice by writing what she doesn't know. Also you c...
Apr 14, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 215
Sara Blaedel is Denmark's 'Queen of Crime'. 3 million copies have been sold in Denmark alone. The country has under 6 million people living in it. She's published 25 books, and is best known for her Detective Louise Rick stories. The new one is 'A Harmless Lie', in which Louise has to rush back from holiday in Thailand, after a panicked phone call from her father. Her brother has attempted suicide, and everything is entangled in his estranged wife, and a girl who went missing a decade before. We...
Apr 07, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 214
Philippa East's debut, 'Little White Lies', was nominated for a CWA New Blood Dagger Award in 2020, one of the highest prizes in crime fiction. She works as a clinical psychologist, using inspiration from her work to write thrillers. Her new one, 'Safe and Sound', was inspired by a documentary she saw. It tells the story of Sarah Jones - pretty, charismatic, and full of life, who is found dead in her home. The strange thing is... she's been lying there for 10 months. We talk about what she did a...
Mar 31, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 213
Danny Wallace is an ideas-man and a doer. He's started his own kindness cult, tracked down all his long-lost friends, and spent a whole year saying yes to everything. Danny has published adult books, kids books, and has a new one out, 'The Luckiest Kid in the World'. It's all about a boy who is determined to be the most average child ever, and that very fact makes him extremely unusual. We talk about the having the idea and what he needs to know before he starts writing, also where he sometimes ...
Mar 25, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 212
Luca Veste is fully immersed in the fantastic writing community. He's blogged, he podcasts with 'Two Crime Writers and a Microphone', plays in the 'Fun Lovin' Crime Writers', co-founded the 'Locked In Festival' and has published many books. He's most known for the 'Murphy and Rossi' novels, and for writing across many genres. His new one, 'You Never Said Goodbye', is about Sam Cooper who lost his Mum early in life, and then years later learns a secret from his Dad that changes everything. We tal...
Mar 18, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 211
