Crime Time FM

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 2023-2026 & 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 2023-2026 & 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 2023-2026 & 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 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,  

THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY BLOODY SCOTLAND 15th - 18th September, 2022.

A CRIME TIME FM SPECIAL 

Victoria Selman and Paul Burke chat to Festival Director BOB MCDEVITT and Scottish crime writers SARAH SMITH (HEAR NO EVIL) & ABIR MUKHERJEE (WYNDHAM & BANERJEE series), about what makes Bloody Scotland so special, the McIlvanney Prize and Scottish Debut Novel Awards, what it takes to put on a successful hybrid festival, a star studded cast which includes John Connolly, Dean Koontz, Sir Ian Rankin, Sara Paretsky, Ann Cleeves et al, and the Scotland vs England rivalry on the pitch.

BLOODY SCOTLAND
BLOODY SCOTLAND DIGITAL PASS

To book tickets over the phone simply call 01786 274000. Lines open Tues-Sat 10am-5pm.

The McIlvanney Prize Shortlist:
Liam McIlvanney  The Heretic
Alan Parks                May God Forgive
Louise Welsh          The Second Cut
Ambrose Parry     A Corruption of Blood

Bloody Scotland Crime Debut Of The Year shortlist:
Tariq Ashkanani            Welcome to Cooper
Frankie Boyle                 Meantime
Sarah Smith                     Hear No Evil
George Paterson          The Girl, the Crow, the Writer & the Fighter
Amanda Mitchison      The Wolf Hunters


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 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,  

LAURA WILSON chats to Paul Burke about her new YA novel MONOCHROME,  Grace and the teenage world, Climate change, achromatopsia, writing with a renewed purpose & drunk tank pink.

MONOCHROME
In a world drained of colour, nothing is black and white. Early one morning, Grace wakes to find herself staring at an ashen sunrise in ominous grey skies. It's like watching a disaster movie, though her family don't seem to think anything is wrong. Grace is one of a handful of people in the country who are seeing the world in shades of grey. But this is only the beginning of the 'greyout', or Monochrome Effect, that is rapidly sweeping the world.
Loss of colour vision is traced to polluted water systems; microplastics covered in harmful bacteria have been poured into the ocean for years. With failing harvests and stay-at-home orders in a world on the brink of a major ecological disaster, there appears to be no cure - until one day Grace sees a single flash of red.
She agrees to join a government-run study with other teenagers who experience intermittent 'colour episodes'. They are promised that they are the key to reversing the damage, but Grace soon realises that the reality is much more complicated, shocking, and dangerous than she could have ever imagined . . .

LAURA WILSON/JAMIE COSTELLO lives in London. Under her own name, Laura Wilson, she is the author of six educational books on historical subjects for eight-to-twelve-year-olds, and thirteen critically acclaimed psychological thrillers, including the DI Stratton series. Her books have been shortlisted for many awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger, and she has won both the CWA Historical Mystery Award and the French Prix du Polar Europeen. She was the Programming Chair for the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in 2009, and co-programmes the Killer Women Crime Writing Festival. She is also the Guardian's crime fiction reviewer.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Drunk Tank Pink Adam Alter
The Changes Trilogy Peter Dickinson
JG Ballard
Chatterton Square EH Young
The Book of the Most Precious Substance Sara Gran
Five Survive Holly Jackson (pub. 8/12/22)

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 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,  

JOHN VERCHER chats to Paul Burke about his new novel AFTER THE LIGHTS GO OUT, identity, racism, Mixed Marshal Arts, mental health - CTE/Alzheimer's and carers, noir/tragedy and propulsive storytelling, and fear for the dog (Loki)

AFTER THE LIGHTS GO OUT: How do you save yourself when you’re the person you trust least of all?
Xavier "Scarecrow" Wallace is a biracial Black MMA fighter on the wrong side of thirty, who is facing the comeback fight of his life. He is also losing his battle with pugilistic dementia- a struggle he can no longer deny.
In the nursing home of his father, a white man suffering from Alzheimer's, Xavier witnesses shocking episodes that expose ugly truths about his past and his family.
And as the big fight draws near, a sparring session with a younger competitor goes horribly wrong, leaving Xavier faced with a dangerous dilemma: throw his match or suffer the deadly consequences.
After the Lights Go Out is a propulsive exploration of biracial identity, the price that athletes pay to entertain, and one man's battle to reconcile his past- even when he can't hold on to his present.

John Vercher lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He has a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. He is a contributing writer for WBUR Boston’s Cognoscenti, and NPR features his essays on race, identity, and parenting. His debut novel, THREE-FIFTHS, was named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune, CrimeReads, and Booklist. It was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards for Best First Novel. John's second novel AFTER THE LIGHTS GO OUT is available now. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @jverchwrites.

Recommendation
Chet'la Sabree Field Study
(honourable mentions)
James Hannaham Delicious Foods
Smith Henderson Fourth of July Creek
Leonard Gardner Fat City
William Boyle Shoot the Moonlight Out
Eli Cranor Don't Know Tough
Ted Flanagan Every Hidden Thing
Scott Blackburn It Dies With You.

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 .

If you've enjoyed this interview listen to Ted Flanagan and Scott Blackburn on CTFM.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,  

Paul Burke takes a look at the latest crime fiction for August. From a top notch comedy thriller-come-meta-fiction to a slice of southern rural noir, from a dysfunctional family drama to a tense heist, and from the US and Mexico to the UK with brief spells in Crete and Dublin.

Books reviewed:
Anthony  Horowitz.   A Twist of the Knife                                                     top cosy /comedy
Gabino Iglesias   The Devil Takes You Home                                               top noir
Jean Hanff Korelitz  The Latecomer                                                                 top drama
John Trinian  The Big Grab & The Savage Breast
Wiley Cash  This Dark Road to Mercy
RG Adams  The Last House
Alan Johnson  One of Our Ministers is Missing                                        top beach read 
Ace Atkins (Robert B Parker Spenser series)  Bye Bye Baby            laudable swansong 
Andrea Mara  Hide an Seek
Deborah Masson  From the Ashes
John Vercher  After the Lights Go Out*                                                        top literary noir

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 .

Coming in September: Robert Harris, Peter Papathanasiou, Will Dean, Rijula Das, Tim Leach...

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Crime Time

Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,  

JANET EVANOVICH chats to Paul Burke about THE RECOVERY AGENT, GAME ON, Stephanie Plum and Gabriela Rose, humour and sex, The Mummy, Midnight Run, Teslas and having a mouth like a truck driver.

THE RECOVERY AGENT Lost something? Gabriela Rose knows how to get it back. As a recovery agent, she’s hired by individuals and companies seeking lost treasures, stolen heirlooms, or missing assets of any kind. She’s reliable, cool under pressure, and well trained in weapons of all types. But Gabriela’s latest job isn’t for some bamboozled billionaire, it’s for her own family, whose home is going to be wiped off the map if they can’t come up with a lot of money fast.
Inspired by an old family legend, Gabriela sets off for the jungles of Peru in pursuit of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez. But this particular job comes with a huge problem attached to it - Gabriela’s ex-husband, Rafer. It’s Rafer who has the map that possibly points the way to the treasure, and he’s not about to let Gabriela find it without him.
Rafer is as relaxed as Gabriela is driven, and he has a lifetime’s experience getting under his ex-wife’s skin. But when they aren’t bickering about old times the two make a formidable team, and it’s going to take a team to defeat the vicious drug lord who has also been searching for the fabled ring. A drug lord who doesn’t mind leaving a large body count behind him to get it.

GAME ON Stephanie Plum returns to hunt down a master cyber-criminal operating out of Trenton in the 28th book in the wildly popular series.
When Stephanie Plum is woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of footsteps in her apartment, she wishes she didn’t keep her gun in the cookie jar in her kitchen.  And when she finds out the intruder is fellow apprehension agent Diesel, six feet of hard muscle and bad attitude whom she hasn’t seen in more than two years, she still thinks the gun might come in handy. 
Turns out Diesel and Stephanie are on the trail of the same fugitive: Oswald Wednesday, an international computer hacker as brilliant as he is ruthless.  Stephanie may not be the most technologically savvy sleuth, but she more than makes up for that with her dogged determination, her understanding of human nature, and her willingness to do just about anything to bring a fugitive to justice.  Unsure if Diesel is her partner or her competition in this case, she’ll need to watch her back every step of the way as she sets the stage to draw Wednesday out from behind his computer and into the real world.   

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, the co-authored Fox and O’Hare series, the Knight and Moon series, and the Lizzy and Diesel series as well as twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, Troublemaker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.

Recommendations/Mentions
Lee Goldberg
Robert B Parker - Spenser series
Sara Paretsky
Sue Grafton
Film: Midnight Run

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 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,  

BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES & ENDS: An On The Sofa With Victoria Special.
PART 3: ENDINGS
Victoria Selman chats to Dominic Nolan about novel endings. The importance of the twist in a crime novel, why first sentences stand out more than last, or do they/, what makes a satisfying ending?

DOMINIC NOLAN is the British the author of 3 crime fictions. His latest VINE STREET is a superb London set historical mystery, it is available now in paperback.

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 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month
& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 2024
2024 Slaughterfest,