Jane Thynne chats to Paul Burke about new Clara Vine spy novel THE JUDGEMENT OF STARS, Nazi Astrology, the German Film industry, Hedy Lamarr, humour in the darkest moments.

The Judgement of Stars Berlin, 1942. Clara Vine, the Anglo-German actress, is working undercover in Germany as an agent of British intelligence. During a hiatus in the filming of Goebbels’ latest propaganda film, the Sinking of the Titanic, she is covertly approached and asked to track down an errant British spy called Victor Stern.
Stern is a physicist, feared to be passing vital secrets to the enemy. He also happens to be Clara’s former lover, who she met in Vienna at the home of the actress, Hedy Lamarr.
As Clara hunts for Stern, however, she finds herself the subject of a blackmail plot from a young woman at the Propaganda ministry, Gisela Vogel, who knows of Clara’s Jewish heritage.
She faces a race against time to find the missing agent before Goebbels learns of her true identity.
Clara's search takes her to Hamburg and a meeting with the Third Reich’s favourite astrologer, who foretells dramatic news about her future.
But even if Clara finds her former lover, does she have it within herself to kill him?

Appointment in Paris 

Jane Thynne is a novelist journalist and broadcaster. She has worked at the Sunday times, the Daily Telegraph and the BBC, among others. She is the author of The Clara Vine series of wartime espionage thrillers and the Fox and Fry novels. She has also written two acclaimed dystopian novels, Widowland and Queen High, under the name CJ Carey. She lives in London.

RECOMMENDATIONS & talking points - Lawrence Rees, Adam Zamoyski, Uwe Neumahr The Writer's Castle, The Passenger Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, Simon Schema The Road to Auschwitz (documentary), Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther novels.

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

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Crime Time

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CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
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ALEX GERLIS chats to Paul Burke about his WWII spy thriller THE SECOND TRAITOR, Operation Sea Lion, Hitler as military commander, German spies in England and Alan Furst.

THE SECOND TRAITOR The countdown to invasion begins... It's September 1940, and British intelligence is on high alert: the Nazi invasion of Britain is imminent. The German navy is assembling a vast fleet in Rotterdam to ferry men and materiel across the Channel. Meanwhile, a sinister organisation called The Group – a collection of British and Irish Nazi collaborators – is at work within the UK trying to pave the way for the Wehrmacht. The Invasion Warning Sub-Committee is established to counter this threat, and Charles Cooper, coming in from the cold after the disintegration of The Annexe, joins up and is tasked with cracking this nefarious network. But that is not the only concern for the spy chiefs: the search for double agent ‘Archie’ – the Soviet spy and British traitor – is hotting up: they are now confident he works within MI6, and an elaborate scheme is set up to narrow down the list of suspects… To make things worse, they now know for certain that a second traitor, ‘Bertie’, is also in play. With suspicion at paranoia pitch, can MI6 clean house before the Nazis arrive to help them do it?

ALEX GERLIS was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He worked for the BBC as a journalist for many years, starting out as a researcher on a three-month contract on Panorama and ending his career there nearly thirty years later as Head of Training in the BBC College of Journalism.  In between, he was an editor of a number of Television News programmes. Alex left the BBC in 2011 to concentrate on his writing.  Alex is married to Sonia and lives in west London and has two daughters and two grandsons, even though he is obviously not old enough to be a grandfather. Contrary to what many readers seem to believe, he’s never worked in the world of espionage. Alex has the usual hobbies and interests one expects and has supported Grimsby Town since 1968. His books contain cryptic references to the club, which only Mariners fans will appreciate.

Recommendations Alan Furst, le Carré, Graham Greene, IS Berry.

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
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CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,

Fiona Forsyth chats to Paul Burke about her new historical thriller DEATH and the POET, Ghastly misogynists, Ovid, small town life in the ancient world, studying the classics.

Death and the Poet 14 AD. When Dokimos the vegetable seller is found bludgeoned to death in the Black Sea town of Tomis, it’s the most exciting thing to have happened in the region for years. Now reluctantly settled into life in exile, the disgraced Roman poet Ovid helps his friend Avitius to investigate the crime, with the evidence pointing straight at a cuckolded neighbour.
But Ovid is also on edge, waiting for the most momentous death of all. Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, is nearing his end, and the future of the whole Roman world is uncertain.
Even as far away as Tomis, this political shadow creates tension as the pompous Roman legate Flaccus thinks more of his career than solving a local murder.
Avitius and Ovid become convinced that an injustice has been done in the case of the murdered vegetable seller. But Flaccus continues to turn a deaf ear.
When Ovid’s wife, Fabia, arrives unexpectedly, carrying a cryptic message from the Empress Livia, the poet becomes distracted - and another crime is committed.
Assisted by Fabia, the investigators get closer to the truth. But the truth will come at a price.
Ovid hopes for a return to Rome - only to discover that he is under threat from an enemy much closer to home.

FIONA FORSYTH I will never fully understand the Romans, and that is the challenge. I have loved the ancient world since I read my first Greek myth, Theseus and the Minotaur. After reading Classics at Oxford, I taught at a boys’ public school for twenty-five years, but then my family moved to Qatar. There wasn’t much call for Latin teachers, so I wrote, and now I am back in the UK, all the questions I have asked myself about the Romans over the years are turning into novels. I was once accused by a slightly indignant teenager of being in love with Cicero. This is not strictly true...

Recommendations SJ Parris, DV Bishop, RM Cullen Harlequin is Dead, Nicola Upson, Robert Graves, Alan Massie, John Williams.

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
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The latest reviews - July 2025.

Strange Houses Uketsu trans. Jim Rion

Blood Caste Shylashri Shankar

The Red Shore William Shaw

The Inside Man by Trevor Wood

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

The Case of the Mad Doctor PD Lennon

Home Before Dark Eva Björg Ægisdottir trans Victoria Cribb

The Blue Place by Nicola Griffith

Two Kinds of Strangers Steve Cavanagh

Snapshot & Chain of Evidence by Garry Disher

Paul Burke writes for Aspects of Crime, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,

MARK ELLIS chats to Paul Burke about his new historical crime thriller Death of an Officer and Boom Time an account of crime in WWII London.

DEATH OF AN OFFICER: London. Spring 1943. While Europe continues to suffer under the iron fist of Nazi occupation, Britain remains battered but unbowed.
DCI Frank Merlin, already contending with a booming wartime crime wave in the capital, is confronted with a baffling case: the brutal murder of a respected doctor.
Following a puzzling trail that leads him into the hidden corners of clubland - and which appears to be linked to the disappearance of both British and American officers - Merlin must untangle a dark web of shocking secrets.

Boom Time The accepted story of the Home Front during the Second World War is one of cooperation and teamwork as people across Britain linked arms to provide support for the war effort. Right? Wrong. Crime rates actually increased during the war years. Think foreign gangs roaming through London is a recent phenomenon? Think again as Maltese and Italians cornered the organised crime world. And what about the Black Market? Well, business was booming. As gangster Mad ‘Frankie’ Fraser later said, ‘I’ll never forgive Hitler for surrendering, we were making so much money!’ And what about the Americans? Healthy appetites, charm and good looks were not the only thing they brought with them. Also racial segregation and a veritable army of criminals.

MARK ELLIS is a thriller writer from Swansea and a former barrister and entrepreneur. He is the creator of DCI Frank Merlin, an Anglo-Spanish police detective operating in World War 2 London. His books treat the reader to a vivid portrait of London during the war skilfully blended with gripping plots, political intrigue and a charismatic protagonist. 

Recommendations: Ragnar Jonasson, Simon Mason, Eric Ambler, Gore Vidal, Andrew Lonie, Phil Craig, Chips Channon, Len Deighton, Kingsley Amis.

Film: Chicago Joe and the Showgirl with Emily Lloyd & Keifer Sutherland 

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,

DAN FESPERMAN chats to Paul Burke about his new spy novel PARIAH, Eastern Europe, fiction as the second draft of history, facades of democracy, comedy and Hollywood, The Baltimore Banner.

Pariah: an adrenaline-fueled thriller about a disgraced comedian-turned-politician who takes on the role of a lifetime: infiltrating a corrupt Eastern European country to spy on their brutal dictator. Hal Knight, a comedian and movie star-turned politician, is no stranger to controversy. But after an embarrassing and humiliating encounter on set, Knight resigns from Congress, quits social media, and disappears to the tiny Caribbean island of Vieques to drink dirty martinis and nurse his wounds. Shortly after his arrival, he is approached by a trio of CIA operatives hoping to recruit him to infiltrate the power structure of Bolrovia--a hostile, Eastern European country whose despotic president, Nikolai Horvatz, happens to be a longtime fan of Knight's adolescent male humor. Knowing that Horvatz plans to invite the disgraced star for an official visit, the CIA coaxes Knight to accept. Skeptical, but with little to lose, Knight accepts the challenge, sensing this might be his one chance to do something worthwhile, even if no one else ever finds out. Upon arrival as President Horvatz's guest of honor, Knight confronts his ultimate acting challenge. What begins as an assignment to keep his eyes and ears open quickly turns into a life-or-death battle of wits, with consequences reaching all the way to Washington. With Pariah, Dan Fesperman has crafted a heart-pounding thriller about espionage, entertainment, and one man's pursuit of redemption.

Dan Fesperman  served as a foreign correspondent for The Baltimore Sun, based in Berlin. His coverage of the siege of Sarajevo led to his debut novel, Lie in the Dark, which won Britain's John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first crime novel. Subsequent books have won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller, the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers, the Barry Award for best thriller, and selection by USA Today as the year's best mystery/thriller novel. He lives near Baltimore.

Recommendations Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe, Graham Greene, Mick Herron. Charles Cumming. David McCloskey, IS Berry, John le Carré.

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,

GJ WILLIAMS chats to Paul Burke about her new historical crime thriller THE CYGNET PRINCE, third in the Tudor Rose Murders series, Tudor scandals, pretenders to the throne, the Kardashians of the Tudor period. 

THE CYGNET PRINCE: England 1562. Elizabeth's court is besieged by scandal and Catholic plots, when a young German prince arrives in England claiming to be the son of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves - and so the rightful King. His letters, looks, and jewels seem to prove his case. As a poison spreads and old secrets unravel, Doctor John Dee and his apprentice, Margaretta, must uncover the truth behind the prince's origins. Their investigation spans England and German as they uncover forbidden love, revenge, betrayal and a plot against the Tudor Dynasty. But will they uncover the truth in time to save the queen's throne?

GJ WILLIAMS is a Welsh woman living in Somerset, England. She is a doctor of psychology and ran an international consulting business for 25 years before putting her love of writing to the forefront of life. She lives between Somerset and London and is often found writing on the train next to a grumpy cat and a cup of tea. Her dream is to be chosen by readers of CJ Sansom, SJ Parris, Rory Clements, Kate Mosse, SG McClean, and Andrew Taylor

Life is always busy. When she is not writing, she is researching, travelling to historic sites or plotting while sailing the blue seas on her beloved boat.

GJ also delivers talks and ‘meet the author’ sessions with historical interest groups, book clubs and societies. Reach her through the contact page.

Recommendations 

The Unravelling of Mary Reddish by David Whitfield 

Murder at Greenwich Palace Adele Jordan

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

20% of royalties from this book will be donated to Weston Hospice Care

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Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,

SIMON  MCCLEAVE chats to Paul Burke about his new novels - THE ABERSOCH KILLINGS and FIVE DAYS IN PROVENCE, Anglesey and Snowdonia and writing TV.

The Abersoch Killings Keep your enemies close and your family closer… At his beachside mansion, with his large family and beautiful wife, Jack Rush celebrated his step-daughter’s wedding: an extravagant, happy day. But that night, the movie producer is found in a pool of blood having snorted cyanide instead of cocaine. With security tight, DI Ruth Hunter and DS Nick Evans are looking for a suspect among the guests. Jack’s wife knew of his many infidelities; his twin sons resented his control; and Charlie, the new son-in-law, was furious about the prenup. They all had motive and opportunity but who switched the drugs and killed the domineering bully?

Also: Five Days in Provence 

Simon McCleave is a multi million-selling crime novelist who lives in North Wales with his wife and two children. Before he was an author, Simon worked as a script editor at the BBC and a producer at Channel 4 before working as a story analyst in Los Angeles. He then became a script writer, writing on series such as Silent Witness, The Bill, EastEnders and many more. His Channel 4 film Out of the Game was critically acclaimed and described as ‘an unflinching portrayal of male friendship’ by Time Out. His first book, 'The Snowdonia Killings', was released in January 2020 and soon became an Amazon Bestseller, reaching No 1 in the UK Chart and selling over 400,000 copies. His twenty subsequent novels in the DI Ruth Hunter Snowdonia Series have all been Amazon bestsellers, with most of them hitting the top of the digital charts. He has sold over 3 million books to date. ‘The Dark Tide’, Simon’s first book in an Anglesey based crime series for publishing giant Harper Collins (Avon), was a major hit in 2022, becoming the highest selling Waterstone’s Welsh Book of the Month ever.  This year, Simon is releasing the first in a new series of books, ‘Marshal of Snowdonia’ with several more planned for 2025. Simon has also written a one-off psychological thriller, Last Night at Villa Lucia, for Storm Publishing, which was a major hit, The Times describing it as ‘…well above the usual seasonal villa thriller…’ with its ‘…empathetic portrayal of lives spent in the shadow of coercion and abuse.’  The Snowdonia based DI Ruth Hunter books are now set to be filmed as a major new television series, with shooting to begin in North Wales in 2025. 

Recommendations Michael Connelly, James Ellroy, George Pelecanos.

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out 2026.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,

The Crime Writers Association Awards Evening hosted by Victoria Selman and Imran Mahmood.

Vaseem Khan outgoing Chair

Nadine Matheson new Chair

Mick Herron Diamond Dagger winner

Maxim Jakubowski introducing Red Herring recipient Janet Laurence

Dea Parkin Emerging writer dagger - Winner Ashland by Joe Eurell

Vicki Goldie introducing the Dagger in the Library - winner Richard Osman (recorded)

DV Bishop introducing the Best Crime Publisher Dagger - winner Orenda Books collected by Karen Sullivan

Ayo Onatade introducing the Short Story Dagger  - winner A Date on Yarmouth Pier by JC Bernthal

Maxim Jakubowski introducing the In Translation Dagger winner The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani translated Sam Bett.

Philip Gooden introducing the ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction - winner The Peepshow Kate Summerscale (recorded)

Paul Burke introducing The Historical Dagger - winner AJ West The Betrayal of Thomas True 

Gytha Lodge introducing the Whodunnit Dagger winner Lisa Hall The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl

Susi Holliday introducing The Twisted Dagger winner Nightwatching Tracy Sierra (recorded)

Victoria Dowd introducing the ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger winner All Us Sinners Katy Massey

Corrine Turner introducing the IFP Ian Fleming Steel Dagger winner Dark Ride Lou Berney (recorded)

Richard Reynolds with the final award of the night the KAA Gold Dagger - winner Anna Mazzola

Congratulations to all winners. Apologies for the delay in putting up this show due to unforeseen circumstances. Thanks you to the Crime Writers Association and all sponsors. 

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023 & 2024 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,