HEADS TOGETHER: The Thong Episode. The recommended crime titles for October, festivals and podcasts, 2nd novels, queens of crime and the thong.

BARRY FORSHAW is the editor of Crime Time, author of several books on film and crime fiction and the Financial Times Crime Fiction Critic. His latest book SIMENON: the Man, the Books, the Films published by Oldcastle Books is a must read for serious followers of crime fiction.

VICTORIA SELMAN is the bestselling author of the Ziba MacKenzie serial killer thrillers. Her new literary stand alone psychological novel Truly, Darkly, Deeply, published by Quercus, is now a Sunday Times Bestseller.

PAUL BURKE edits Crime Time FM and writes about crime fiction for Crime Fiction Lover and Crime Time and about literature in translation for the European Literature Network. He is a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022.

The October Watchlist:
Laura Wilson -                                   Blue Water Leonora Nattrass
Ayo Onatade -                                         "                                              "
Barry Forshaw -                              A Heart Full of Headstones Ian Rankin
Craig Sisterson  -                                      "                                                                 "
Maxim Jakubowski -                   Queen High CJ Carey (Jane Thynne)
Victoria Selman -                                   "                                "
Sonja van der Westhuizen -   The Tattoo Murder Akimitsu Takagi trans. Deborah Boehm
Erin Britton -                                                     "                                                      "
Paul Burke -                                       Wolf Pack Will Dean

Produced by Junkyard Dog
Music courtesy of Southgate & Leigh
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,

Season 3, Episode 3 - SELF PUBLISHING with ZOE SHARP (The Last Time She Died) & DAVID PENNY (A Death of Promise). The why and How of self-publishing, the benefits and pitfalls, how do you go about marketing your books, what works & what doesn't, snobbery in the publishing industry, Amazon, Ian Rankin and advertising in a public toilet.

VICTORIA SELMAN
SundayTimes bestselling author of Truly Darkly Deeply
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
Music courtesy of Southgate & Leigh
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,

ANTONY JOHNSTON, (THE COLDEST CITY - ATOMIC BLONDE) chats to Paul Burke about the third novel in the Brigitte Sharp series THE PATRIOS NETWORK. Writing screenplays, games, comics and novels. The making of Atomic Blonde (fr. The Coldest City). Classic Cold War spy fiction and Berlin.

THE PATRIOS NETWORK: When a renegade British officer steals plans for a high-tech weapon that could plunge whole cities into darkness, elite MI6 hacker Brigitte Sharp is sent to get them back. But her mission goes badly wrong.
Meanwhile a ‘deepfake’ video of a senior US politician calling for race war in Europe sends a flood of Americans to join neofascist militias on the continent. The Russians nurse a ruthless grudge against a fugitive whistleblower. In the wings, the Chinese flex their muscles. Everything seems connected…but how?
In her toughest challenge yet, Bridge ventures undercover into the heart of the mysterious Patrios network. Her task? To make sense of the growing chaos before darkness and bloodshed engulf Europe. If a powerful enemy doesn’t get her first...

ANTONY JOHNSTON is a New York Times bestselling writer. The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde is based on his graphic novel; his Brigitte Sharp thriller novels are critically acclaimed; and his first videogame, Dead Space, redefined its genre. Antony’s books, graphic novels, and videogames include The Exphoria Code, The Tempus Project, The Fuse, Daredevil, Shang-Chi, Shadow of Mordor, the Alex Rider graphic novels and the adaptation of Alan Moore‘s ‘lost screenplay’ Fashion Beast. He also hosts the podcast Writing And Breathing.

Antony Johnston's writers podcast WRITING & BREATHING: https://writingandbreathing.com/

Recommendations
Ian Fleming Moonraker
John Birmingham The Cruel Stars
Greg Rucka Queen & Country (graphic novel)
The Sandbaggers (TV)
Mick Herron, John le Carré, Len Deighton (spy classics)

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

Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .

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,

Season 3, episode 3: CHARLOTTE PHILBY (EDITH & KIM) & LUKE JENNINGS (KILLING EVE, KILLING EVE: NO TOMORROW). A woman at the centre of the spy story, the PHILBY legacy, Edith Tudor Hart, Guy Burgess, Villanelle the psychopathic killer & brilliant terrible women.

VICTORIA SELMAN
SundayTimes bestselling author of Truly Darkly Deeply
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
Music courtesy of Southgate & Leigh
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,

TREVOR WOOD chats to Paul Burke about his latest novel just out in paperback, DEAD END STREET, characters Jimmy, Deano and Gadge, PTSD and homelessness, The People's Kitchen, writing a new stand alone novel, the writer's journey and the editor who wanted Dog to have a girlfriend.

DEAD END STREET: A group of vigilantes are carrying out a campaign of harassment against the homeless, hounding them both verbally and physically to get them off the streets.
Jimmy Mullen is approached by his friend Gadge, who wants to confront the people behind it but Jimmy has finally got his life back on track. He's working at a hostel for 18 to 25-year-olds and he's reluctant to get involved in anything dodgy.
Gadge decides to go it alone but is attacked by two of the vigilantes. The police find him unconscious in an alley, covered in blood. Problem is, there's a dead body in the alley too and it's his blood that Gadge is covered in. He's also got the murder weapon in his hand.
Convinced that Gadge has been set up, and feeling guilty that he didn't back him up in the first place, Jimmy returns to the streets to try and find out who's behind his friend's difficulties.
Unfortunately, he's about to discover that Gadge has a lot of enemies to choose from.

TREVOR WOOD:  has lived in Newcastle for twenty-five years and considers himself an adopted Geordie. He's a successful playwright who has also worked as a journalist and spin-doctor for the City Council. Prior to that he served in the Royal Navy for sixteen years. Trevor holds an MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) from UEA. The Man on the Street, his first novel, was published to widespread critical acclaim and won the 2020 CWA New Blood Dagger. One Way Street and Dead End Street complete the trilogy.

Recommendations
Helen Fitzgerald Worst Case Scenario
Needless Alley Natalie Marlow
TV - The Capture

Paul Stewart's Trainspotting tour                            https://edinburghstreettours.co.uk
Invisible Cities Charity                                                   https://invisible-cities.org
Imagining Homelessness in a City of Care          https://notanatlas.org/maps/

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

Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .

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,

JOHN BROWNLOW chats to Paul Burke about SEVENTEEN: LAST MAN STANDING, film script sitting,

SEVENTEEN: LAST MAN STANDING: YOU'LL NEVER KNOW MY NAME.
BUT YOU WON'T FORGET MY NUMBER.
Behind the events you know are the killers you don't.
When diplomacy fails, we're the ones who gear up.
Officially we don't exist, but every government in the world uses our services.
We've been saving the world, and your ass, for 100 years.
Sixteen people have done this job before me.
I am 17. The most feared assassin in the world.
But to be the best you must beat the best.
My next target is 16, just as one day 18 will hunt me down.
It's a dog-eat-dog world and it gets lonely at the top.
Nobody gets to stay for long.
But while we're here, all that matters is that we win.

JOHN BROWNLOW is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. Born in Lincoln, UK, after studying maths and English at Oxford he produced and directed more than a dozen documentaries for British TV. In the early 2000s he turned to screenwriting, and wrote the film SYLVIA about Sylvia Plath, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig. He also wrote the TV series FLEMING, about Ian Fleming's work in wartime intelligence, and the TV adaptation of Jessie Burton's best-selling novel THE MINIATURIST. His debut novel, SEVENTEEN, was published in 2022, and the sequel is due to be published in 2023. John holds British and Canadian citizenship and lives in Ontario, Canada.

Film & TV Recommendations
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once
White Lotus
Better Call Saul
Leftovers
Watchmen
Severance
kleo (Paul's comment)

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

Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .

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,

Series 3, Episode 2: VAL McDERMID (1989) & RUTH WARE (The It Girl) chat to Victoria Selman about HOOKING THE READER and KEEPING THEM INTERESTED, publishing then and now, Agatha Christie, the character in your mind and The Stasi Poetry Circle (Philip Oltermann).

VICTORIA SELMAN
SundayTimes bestselling author of Truly Darkly Deeply
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
Music courtesy of Southgate & Leigh
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,

ADAM HAMDY chats to Paul Burke about THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT, writing an original novel, the emotional journey you take the reader on, how characters convey meaning in a story, speculative thrillers, film and TV adaptation, page turning excitement and poetry.

The Other Side of Night: This is David Asha's story, and that of his son, his wife and also, his best friend.
You may think you know what this story is, but it is more, much more.
Its a story of love and loss, lies and suspicion, secrets and history.
A story about a loving family torn apart by tragedy, which leaves a child completely alone and the repercussions of actions which haunt the past and present.but also the future...
Adam Hamdy takes us on an exploration of love, sacrifice and endless possibilities.

Remarkable. Adam Hamdy may have created a completely new crime genre. -- Anthony Horowitz

A strange, compelling, and ultimately moving head-spinner of a novel -- John Connolly

Adam Hamdy is a Sunday Times, Kindle, and international bestselling author and screenwriter. Adam writes the Scott Pearce series of contemporary espionage thrillers [Black 13, Red Wolves], and has written two Private books with James Patterson [Private Moscow, Private Rogue]. He is the author of the Pendulum trilogy, a trilogy of conspiracy thriller novels. James Patterson described Pendulum as ‘one of the best thrillers of the year’, and the novel was a finalist for the Glass Bell Award for contemporary fiction. Pendulum was chosen as book of the month by Goldsboro Books and was selected for BBC Radio 2 Book Club. Prior to embarking on his writing career, Adam was a strategy consultant and advised global businesses in the medical systems, robotics, technology and financial services sectors. The Other Side of Night is out in hardback 15/9/22.

The Other Side of Night is like no crime novel I’ve ever read. The pages almost turn themselves and when I was finished I couldn’t stop thinking about the story’s incredible twists, turns, and surprises. -- James Patterson

Recommendations
Anthony Horowitz A Twist of the Knife
Steve Cavanagh The Accomplice

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

Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .

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,

DAVID LAGERCRANTZ chats to Craig Sisterson about Dark Music (translated by Ian Giles), the influence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a contemporary Holmes and Watson, the social novel, what is genius and not having the luxury to be weak (class and privilege).

DARK MUSIC The launch of a new series inspired by Sherlock Holmes. A murder investigation brings together two unlikely allies in a race to uncover a shadowy international conspiracy.
Professor Hans Rekke: born into a wealthy Stockholm family, world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of vertiginous feats of logic and observation . . . But he might just fall apart when the going gets tough, leading to substance abuse and despair.
Micaela Vargas: community police officer, born to Chilean political refugees in a tough suburb, with two brothers on the shady side of the law.
Vargas feels she has something to prove. She's tenacious and uncompromising, but she needs Rekke's unique mind to help her solve the case. Rekke has it all - wealth, reputation - but also a tendency to throw it all away. He needs Vargas to help him get back on an even keel so he can focus his mind on finding the killer before they're both silenced for good.

David Lagercrantz was born in 1962, and is an acclaimed Swedish author and journalist. In 2015 The Girl in the Spider's Web, his continuation of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, became a worldwide bestseller, two further novels in the series followed. He is also the author of the acclaimed and bestselling I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Fall of Man in Wilmslow, on the death and life of Alan Turing. Dark Music is the first in a new contemporary crime series.

Translator: Ian Giles translates all three Scandinavian languages into English. He is currently Chair of the Swedish-English Literary Translators’ Association. In 2015, Ian was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger for his translation of Andreas Norman’s Into A Raging Blaze. Ian currently lives in Edinburgh.

Craig Sisterson is a features writer and crime fiction expert from New Zealand who writes for newspapers and magazines in several countries. In recent years he's interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at festivals on three continents. He's been a judge of the McIlvanney Prize and Ned Kelly Awards, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. He lives in London with his daughter. He is the author of  SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME: The Pocket Essentials Guide to the Crime Fiction, Film & TV of Australia & New Zealand.

Produced by Junkyard Dog
Music courtesy of Southgate and Leigh
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,

Season 3, episode 1. DAVID BALDACCI (DREAM TOWN) & LINWOOD BARCLAY (TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY) On The Sofa With Victoria.
Thrillers: Two legends of the crime writing chat thrillers with Victoria. Learning from film, momentum, suspense vs shock, , chapter breaks, lean & mean-couch potato writing, the competition, and feeling sorry for Dan Brown.

VICTORIA SELMAN
SundayTimes bestselling author of Truly Darkly Deeply
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
Music courtesy of Southgate & Leigh
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,