ALAN JOHNSON chats to Paul Burke about his debut thriller THE LATE TRAIN TO GIPSY HILL. Inspirational teachers, the library education. Character and plot and why Hull isn't the money laundering capital of Europe.

THE LATE TRAIN TO GIPSY HILL: A woman hiding a deadly secret. And the man who went in search of adventure, but found himself in danger ...
Gary Nelson has a routine for the commute to his rather dull job in the city. Each day, he watches as a woman on the train applies her make up in a ritual he now knows by heart. He's never dared to strike up a conversation . . . but maybe one day.
Then one evening, on the late train to Gipsy Hill, the woman invites him to take the empty seat beside her. Fiddling with her mascara, she holds up her mirror and Gary reads the words 'HELP ME' scrawled in sticky black letters on the glass.
From that moment, Gary's life is turned on its head. He finds himself on the run from the Russian mafia, the FSB and even the Metropolitan Police - all because of what this mysterious young woman may have witnessed. In the race to find out the truth, Gary discovers that there is a lot more to her than meets the eye . . .

ALAN JOHNSON'S childhood memoir THIS BOY was published in 2013. It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and the Orwell Prize, Britain's top political writing award. His second volume of memoirs, PLEASE MR POSTMAN (2014) won the National Book Club award for Best Biography. The final book in his memoir trilogy, THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD (2016), won the Parliamentary Book Award for Best Memoir.
Alan was a Labour MP for 20 years before retiring ahead of the 2017 general election. He served in five cabinet positions in the Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown including Education Secretary, Health Secretary and Home Secretary.
He and his wife Carolyn live in East Yorkshire.

Produced by Junkyard Dog
Music courtesy of Southgate and Leigh
Crime Time

Mentioned in this episode:
Margery Allingham - Tiger in the Smoke
Damon Galgut - The Good Doctor
Catherine Belton - Putin's People 
Chris Mullin - A Very British Coup
Georges Simenon - the Maigret novels/short stories 

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

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