BEN PASTOR chats to Paul about her new literary historical crime novel THE VENUS OF SALÒ, Martin Bora, Totalitarianism, Rome, writing in English, growing up in a divided world, Shaun the Sheep.    

THE VENUS OF SALÒ October 1944, in the Republic of Salò, a German puppet state in the north of Italy and the last fascist stronghold in the country. After months of ferocious fighting on the Gothic Line, Colonel Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht is handed a new, red-hot case. Transferred to the town of Salò on the shore of Lake Garda, he must investigate the theft of a precious painting of Venus by Titian, stolen with uncanny ease from a local residence. While Bora’s inquiry proceeds among many difficulties, discovering three dead bodies throws an even more sinister light on the scene. The victims are female, very beautiful, apparently dead by their own hand but in fact, elegantly murdered. Is it the work of a serial killer, or are the homicides somehow related to the stolen Venus? Why were intriguing clues left behind for Bora to find? And why is there an official attempt to make the investigator himself appear as the culprit? Caught in an unforeseeable web of events, hounded by the Gestapo (for years at his heels on the charge of anti-Nazi activities), hopelessly in love with an enigmatic, real-flesh “Venus,” Bora must resort to all his courage and ability – not only to solve the mystery and expose the perpetrator, but also, in a breathtaking crescendo, to try to save himself from the firing squad and secure an unlikely way out...

Ben Pastor, born in Italy, lived for thirty years in the United States, working as a university professor in Vermont and has since returned to her native country. She is the author of the Martin Bora series and other novels, including The Water Thief and The Fire Waker (set in Roman times and published to high acclaim in the US by St. Martin’s Press), and is considered one of the most talented writers in the field of historical fiction. In 2008 she won the prestigious Premio Zaragoza for best historical fiction. She writes in English.

Recommendations
Walden Henry David Thoreau
Moby Dick Hermen Melville

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2023. An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out in 2025.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE 

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,

Paul Burke talks to SIMON TOYNE (host) and JANE CASEY (panellist) about the 5th SLAUGHTERFEST in London on 11th June, 2024.

Panels
The Art of Detection
True Detectives
Murderous Motives
&
Clare Mackintosh & Lucy Foley in conversation with Ryan Turbridy

Event is sold out but will appear on You Tube on 20th June to coincide with the release of Karin Slaughter's new novel THIS IS WHY WE LIED.

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2023. An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out in 2025.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE 

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,

 #OnTheSofa Season 6 Episode 6. Closed Circle Mysteries and other puzzles.
Victoria investigates how to craft the perfect puzzle with fellow authors, Claire Douglas The Wrong Sister and Claire McGowan Truth, Truth, Lie

Recommendations and mentions: Wilkie Collins, Agatha Christie, John Creasey, Save The Cat Jessica Brody, Barbara Vine, Sabine Durrant.
The Secret History Donna Tartt, The Time Traveller's Wife Audrey Niffenegger.

VICTORIA SELMAN
SundayTimes bestselling author of ALL THE LITTLE LIARS
Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3xmvMeS
Website for news and giveaways: http://www.victoriaselmanauthor.com
Twitter: @VictoriaSelman

We love to hear from our listeners! Find me on Twitter @VictoriaSelman and join in the chat using #OnTheSofaWithVictoria

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,

In a special edition guest presenter SCOTT BLACKBURN chats to HENRY WISE about his debut novel HOLY CITY*, MFA programmes, writing-working-family, begin with a million words. Available 6/4 in USA.

HOLY CITY After a decade of exile precipitated by the tragic death of his mother, Will Seems returns home from Richmond to rural Southern Virginia, taking a job as deputy sheriff in a landscape given way to crime and defeat. Impoverished and abandoned, this remote land of tobacco plantations, razed forests, and boarded-up homes seems stuck in the past in a state that is trying to forget its complex history and move on.
Will's efforts to go about his life are wrecked when a mysterious, brutal homicide claims the life of an old friend, Tom Janders, forcing Will to face the true impetus for his return: not to honor his mother's memory, but to pay a debt to a Black friend who, in an act of selfless courage years ago, protected Will and suffered permanent disfigurement for it.
Meanwhile, a man Will knows to be innocent is arrested for Tom's murder, and despite Will's pleas, his boss seems all too content to wrap up the case and move on. Will must weigh his personal guilt against his public duty when the local Black community hires Bennico Watts, an unpredictable private detective from Richmond, to help him find the real killer. It would seem an ideal pairing--she has experience, along with plenty of sand, and Will is privy to the details of the case--but it doesn't take long for either to realize they much prefer to operate alone.
Bennico and Will clash as they each defend their untraditional ways on a wild ride that wends deep into the Snakefoot, an underworld wilderness that for hundreds of years has functioned as a hideout for outcasts--the forgotten and neglected and abused--leaving us enmeshed in the tangled history of a region and its people that leaves no one innocent, no one free, nothing sacred.

Henry Wise is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Mississippi MFA program. A writer across multiple genres, his poetry has been published in Shenandoah, Radar Poetry, Clackamas, Nixes Mate Review, and elsewhere. His nonfiction and photography have appeared in Southern Cultures. Holy City is his first novel.

Scott Blackburn is an English instructor and a 2017 graduate of the Mountainview MFA program. He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife and two children. When he is not writing and teaching, Scott enjoys training in combat sports such as boxing, Muay Thai, and Ju-jitsu, in which he holds a black belt.

Recommendations 
Ted Flanagan, Polly Stewart, Eryk Pruitt, James A McLaughlin, Chris Offutt, Eli Cranor, Megan Abbott, SA Cosby.
Wesley Browne They All Fall the Same
Richard Price Lush Life 
William Faulkner Sanctuary
Joseph Conrad Lord Jim

*Amazon link

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time

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 MALAKIN chats to Paul Burke about his new novel THE WRECKAGE OF US, (available 6/6/24), cyber crime, Bridport prize, THE BOX, sci-fi, high concept ideas, work-life balance.

THE WRECKAGE OF US It's always the husband... Isn't it?
Astrid Webb is missing. The police have found her car crashed near the woods, the driver's door open, the seat spotted with blood. But there's no sign of Astrid herself, a sick woman who rarely left her house, who surely couldn't have left the scene of the accident without help.
Her husband Bryan is sure that she's alive - after all, this isn't the first time she's vanished, only to reappear without explanation. But as the days pass, Bryan starts to look like a suspect in his wife's disappearance, perhaps in her murder. Because Bryan isn't telling the police the whole truth. Not about Astrid's stalker, their broken-in back door, or the threatening messages she received. And it seems as if both Astrid and Bryan have something to hide.
Then a woman's body is found in the woods, her face terribly disfigured. By staying silent, is Bryan protecting Astrid, or protecting himself?

DAN MALAKIN has twice been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and his debut novel, The Regret, was a Kindle bestseller. When not writing thrillers, Dan works as a data security consultant, teaching corporations how to protect
themselves from hackers. He lives in North London with his wife and daughter.

Recommendations
the Examiner Janice Hallett
The Mind of a Murderer Michael Wood
All the Little Liars Victoria Selman

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 2024. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out in 2025.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE 

Produced by Junkyard Dog
Crime Time

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,

WILLIAM SHAW chats to Paul about his new novel THE WILD SWIMMERS, music journalism, respecting the arts, CJ Sansom (RIP), Breen & Tozer, Alexandra Cupidi and unbridled wealth.

THE WILD SWIMMERS If only Alexandra Cupidi had turned south instead of north, she would have found the dead woman.
Instead it is her vulnerable daughter Zoë who stumbles across Mimi Greene's lifeless body on the shoreline. A regular wild swimmer with a group of close friends, it's out of character for Mimi to have been swimming alone, especially in bad weather. DS Cupidi starts to suspect this is more than just an accidental drowning.
Meanwhile, her friend and colleague Jill Ferriter receives a mysterious letter from a man who claims to be her father. Stephen Dowles has been in prison for the last twenty years, convicted of two brutal and senseless murders.
With Cupidi obsessed by the death of Mimi Greene, Ferriter must lean on Bill South to uncover the facts around Dowles' conviction, revisiting old colleagues and criminals.

William Shaw has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, longlisted for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and nominated for a Barry Award. A regular at festivals, he organises panel talks and CWA events across the south east. His books include the acclaimed Breen & Tozer crime series set in sixties London, the newest series featuring DS Alexandra Cupidi, and the standalone bestseller The Birdwatcher. He worked as a journalist for over twenty years and lives in Brighton/Ireland.

Recommendations
CJ Sansom, Raymond Carver, George Eliot, George Simenon, Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths, Mick Herron. Neville Shute, Lisa Cutts
Nicholas Feeling, Guns Before Butter, Love in Amsterdam
Trevor Wood The Silent Killer (July)
AK Turner Dead Fall (July)

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2023. An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out in 2025.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE 

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,

Ain't That Truth: Where Crime Fact Meets Crime Fiction
Season 6 Episode 5
Victoria Selman & Cara Hunter chaired by Triona Adams
Live from the Oxford Literary Festival: Victoria and Cara Hunter explore our our apparently unquenchable thirst for true crime and ask why the genre is often stranger than fiction.

Cara Hunter Murder in the Family: LUKE RYDER’S MURDER HAS NEVER BEEN SOLVED. 
In October 2003, Luke Ryder was found dead in the garden of the family home in London, leaving behind a wealthy older widow and three stepchildren. Nobody saw anything.
Now, secrets will be revealed – live on camera.
Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence on Infamous, a true-crime show – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on?
Or does the truth lie closer to home?
Can you solve the case before they do?

VICTORIA SELMAN
SundayTimes bestselling author of ALL THE LITTLE LIARS
Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3xmvMeS
Website for news and giveaways: http://www.victoriaselmanauthor.com
Twitter: @VictoriaSelman

We love to hear from our listeners! Find me on Twitter @VictoriaSelman and join in the chat using #OnTheSofaWithVictoria

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,

New crime fiction titles for May 2024.

novels:
Fiona McPhillips When We Were Silent
John Connolly The Instruments of Darkness
 Aslak Nore Sea Cemetery
 Emiko Jean The Next Girl
Kellye Garrett Missing White Woman
Jennifer Lee Thompson Vigilante City
Dark Deeds Down Under Vol.2 eds. Craig Sisterson and Lindy Cameron
Olivier Norek Between Two Worlds

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2023. An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out in 2025.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE 

Produced by Junkyard Dog
Crime Time

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,

DUGALD BRUCE-LOCKHART chats to Paul Burke about his new novel SECOND SKIN, spy fiction, acting directing & memoir, going away to find himself and losing the plot, Greece, THE LIZARD.

SECOND SKIN: Five years after a murderous encounter on the island of Paros, Alastair Haston’s world is upended by a startling discovery: a son he never knew existed.
Desperate to learn more, he travels to Athens, but his pursuit is intercepted when MI6 intervenes, coercing him into a high-stakes espionage mission – to infiltrate a suspected mafia operation intent on abducting his son.
As the chase unravels across the Mediterranean, Alistair has a chilling revelation, could the spectre of his past be returning to taunt him? Could the answer lie in that fateful, deadly summer on Paros five years ago?

Dugald Bruce-Lockhart is an actor who trained at RADA and has worked extensively with the RSC, the National Theatre and the Old Vic. He has appeared in many productions on stage and TV including including, The Thirty Nine Steps, Mama Mia and The Crown. He is currently appearing in Witness for the Prosecution in London. He lives in South London with his family.

Recommendations: Any Human Heart William Boyd, Kennedy 35 Charles Cumming, The Magus John Fowles, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair Joël Dicker, On Writing Stephen King, Surrender Bono, The Storyteller Dave Grohl.

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2023. An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out in 2025.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE 

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,

JOSEPH KANON chats to Paul Burke about his new spy thriller SHANGHAI,

SHANGHAI Daniel Lohr, sensing that the Nazis are closing in on the Jews, leaves his dying father in Berlin and boards a ship to Shanghai. His passage is dependent upon him delivering a package to his shady uncle, his father’s brother, upon arrival. Daniel has no idea what the package contains. On board is Leah, also fleeing the Nazis. She and Daniel conduct a passionate but brief shipboard affair, but are separated as soon as the ship docks in Shanghai. Will he ever see her again?
Daniel is immediately plunged into his uncle’s seductive and corrupt world, and becomes involved in the launch of a new nightclub, the biggest, best and most glitzy in town. When violence breaks out and lives are at risk, he finds himself drawn irrevocably into the terrifying underworld that is wartime Shanghai.

JOSEPH KANON is the Edgar Award-winning author of The Berlin Exchange, The Accomplice, Defectors, Leaving Berlin, Istanbul Passage, Stardust, Alibi, The Prodigal Spy, Los Alamos and The Good German, which was made into a major film starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Other awards include the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers and the Human Writes Award of the Anne Frank Foundation. He lives in New York City. Visit him online at Joseph.Kanon.com

Recommendations: John le Carré, Graham Greene, JG Ballard, Dan Fesperman
Mentions: Joseph Kanon Stardust, Los Alamos, Istanbul, Shanghai

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2023. An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out in 2025.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE 

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,