We're joined by Ashley Kalagian Blunt to talk about her new crime thriller, 'Dark Mode', hours before its' Sydney Launch. Isolated from the internet, flower-shop owner Reagan Carsen is afraid her past has come back to haunt her when a severed corpse that looks just like her is left on the street outside her apartment. As echoes of her past begin to stalk her every footstep, Reagan is caught on the edge between the up and downsides of finally taking her life, and business, online. We talk with Ashley about the motivations behind the story, its powerful game of incentives, and Reagan's journey as a character.

Thank you to Ultimo Press for providing copies of 'Dark Mode' and arranging our interview with Ashley.

We discuss chapters 3-5 of Janice Hallett's bizarre media-meta-fiction 'Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels'. Oliver Menzies grows increasingly unhinged as Amanda Bailey tries to keep her investigation of the Alperton Angels as close to the rails as it can hurtle. Outside threats and late-night interrogations grow more menacing, the voices of past writers grow louder, and Ellie Cooper sits petrified on the fences. Will Amanda get the truth, or will getting close enough to it be her demise?

We're also joined by Ashley Kalagian Blunt to talk about her new crime thriller, 'Dark Mode', hours before its' Sydney Launch. Isolated from the internet, Reagan Carsen is afraid her past has come back to haunt her when a severed corpse that looks just like her is left on the street outside her apartment. We talk all about technology and imagery.

Thank you to Ultimo Press for providing copies of 'Dark Mode' and arranging our interview with Ashley.

We talk with author Ben Hobson about his newest novel, the Western-inspired Aussie outback thriller 'The Death of John Lacey'. Etched in a strange sort of stone, following the turmoil in the aftermath of the most evil man Hobson has ever written, the book explores familial bonds, hard conversations, and the chaos of early Ballarat. We talk about Ben's motivations behind the novel's complex family structures, writing with self-imposed restrictions, and the tough conversations in our own lives. In our concluding spoilers section, we also talk about the tricky nature of the book's final act and its implementation of religion and fear.

Thank you to ABC Radio National and Allen & Unwin for providing copies of 'The Death of John Lacey'. You can catch Herds on 'The Bookshelf' on ABC Radio National discussing the book here.

A guest episode where 2SER's Irene Diakanastasis is joined in conversation by debut novelist Kerryn Mayne to talk about her new book 'Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder'. Lenny Marks is woman whose life was shaped by a trauma she can’t remember. What happens when it all comes back to her, and how does she deal with the unavoidable encroachment of her past? Bridging an uplifting tale with the unsettling world of a child having to live in the shadow of being told 'you did this'. From a brilliant new voice in Australian fiction, Mayne hooks readers into Lenny’s touching quest for belonging and self-discovery.

Thank you to Penguin Australia for providing copies of 'Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder' to 2SER, and Irene for producing this discussion.

We discuss chapters 1-2 of Janice Hallett's bizarre media-meta-fiction 'Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels'. Journalist and true crime author Amanda Bailey is on the hunt for a new story. Her editors put her onto the case of the Alperton Angels, a perplexing cult-suicide from the early 2000s involving ritual sacrifice and a missing baby. As Amanda begins to work through her wishlist of interviewees for the novel, her old arch rival Oliver Menzies shows up investigating the same case, and the two are forced to work together on the tapestry of conspiracy behind the case. We see the case through the text logs and transcripts of conversations as the narrative is sculpted out in the atmosphere between the hard journalistic fact.

In the spirit of strange structures, we're joined by author Ben Hobson to talk about his etched-in-stone Aussie-Outback-western 'The Death of John Lacey', and the motivating factors behind both his narrative choices, and how threatening the reader with a thoughtfully off-kilter structure can impact the feel of a book.

Thank you to ABC Radio National and Allen & Unwin for providing copies of 'The Death of John Lacey'. You can catch Herds on 'The Bookshelf' on ABC Radio National discussing the book here.

You know by now that we absolutely loved Benjamin Stevenson's phenomenal 2022 metafictional mystery, 'Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone'. Ben was out on tour while we were covering the book, but now that he's back, we sat down to talk about all the juicy details of the book's creation. Be warned, this conversation features full, unrestrained spoilers after the first two questions. Hear about the reasons he included many of the more harrowing and sincere moments of the story, the things that inspired the book, and how Ben views the novel's place in the genre. We also have a chat about the reception of the novel and the early shape of the recently-announced sequel 'Everyone on this Train is a Suspect'. Importantly, our lawyers told us to insist that the baseball bats Ben mentions were purely cosmetic.

Also on the podcast - be sure to check out our main discussions on the novel, featuring Nikki Mottram, Michael Stanley, and 2ser's own Roderick Chambers.

Thank you to Penguin Australia for providing copies of 'Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone'.

We discuss Rian Johnson's second outing with Benoit Blanc, the 2022 mystery extravaganza 'Glass Onion'. A group of successful friends are invited to a mystery weekend on the private Greek island of their mutual benefactor Miles Bron. Upon arrival, Blanc discovers his invitation to the weekend was not from Bron himself, and so the mystery weekend begins to unravel. Soon thereafter, Blanc's Detective's Curse seems to strike again as one of the participants is murdered. From scripted puzzle to pure chaos, Glass Onion blows the genre wide in spectacular fashion.

We also preview our full-length discussion with Aussie author Benjamin Stevenson on his latest novel, 'Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone'.

Thank you to Penguin Australia for providing copies of 'Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone'.

We talk with Michael Stanley (AKA Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip) about their latest Detective Kubu novel, 'A Deadly Covenant'. The second prequel telling of Kubu's early career in the Botswana Criminal Investigations Department, we follow Detective Kubu to Shakawe, Botswana on a case investigating a mass grave of first nations Africans hoed up amidst preparations for a new water line through the Kalahari desert. His long-tenured friends and mentors are new acquaintances, and his later-wife is only a growing flirtation. The town's history begs to be unearthed as modern murders point to needed justice for past misdeeds.

Thank you to Michael Stanley for copies of 'A Deadly Covenant'.

A guest episode where 2SER's Irene Diakanastasis is joined in conversation by Dinuka McKenzie to talk about her latest novel 'Taken'. A brilliant follow-up to her debut novel ‘The Torrent’, Detective Sergeant Kate Miles is back from maternity leave and faced with a whole new set of challenges. Torn between her own spiraling personal life and taking charge of a child abduction case, this novel is a thrilling, action-packed and touching read that will have you hooked from the start. They talk her upcoming novel and its dynamic female lead, where she explores the novel’s central themes on the unrealistic (even contradictory) expectations of women returning to work after having a child and the flaws in police culture.

Thank you to Harper Collins AU for providing copies of 'Taken' to 2SER, and Irene for producing this discussion.

We discuss chapters 33-41 of Benjamin Stevenson's phenomenal 2022 metafictional mystery, 'Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone'. What would a murder mystery be without a bizarre detour right before the explanation. A jaunt with heavy machinery over to a party at another nearby lodge introduces us to a distraught couple it seems were being blackmailed by one of the Cunninghams, but why? Ern has to piece together the scraps of this mystery on his feet as Chekov's innumerable guns all collide in a scorching finale.

We're also joined by Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, the minds behind Michael Stanley and their latest novel 'A Deadly Covenant', to talk about the second prequel in the adventures of their Detective Kubu, and the tumultuous boundaries between cultures that inspired it.

Thank you to Penguin Australia for providing copies of 'Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone', and to Michael Stanley for copies of 'A Deadly Covenant'.