Earlier this year, I stumbled over The Beanstalk Murder (2024) by P.G Bell, a superb crossover mystery which imports the tenets of a well-clued mystery into the world of Jack and the Beanstalk. Bell’s second novel along this line, The Big Bad Wolf Murder (2025), followed in due course, and a few weeks ago he was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about the writing of these two excellent books.

The general thrust of this conversation, available here as a podcast episode for your ears to listen to, was examining how to create a lightly-realised alternative universe which nevertheless has superb depth in its writing…most of which has to be implied, since younger readers don’t want to sit through 20 pages of Elvish songs and lore. And Peter, to give Bell his True Name, is very thoughtful and generous in his reflections, which you can listen to even if you’ve not read the books because everything here is free of spoilers.

If you’ve ever wondered about the process of crafting a book, especially one not set in the real world, there’s a great deal to learn from the insight shared here, not least how much damn work can go into appearing so effortless. Also, wow, how sanitised has Little Red Riding Hood become down the years??!

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

My thanks to Peter for his time, and for all the work that went into these superb books, to you for being a patient audience where these unpredictably-released episodes are concerned, and to Jonny Berliner for the music. There was due to be another IGWT episode soon, but some rescheduling became necessary and so you should expect it sometime in August now. Which probably means it’ll come out in October. 2028.

Happy reading!

~

All episodes of In GAD We Trust can be found on the blog here.

A bit of pre-Christmas podcasting for you, as I sit down with Jack Anderson, author of The Return of Moriarty (2025) which, honestly now, is probably the very best Sherlock Holmes universe pastiche I’ve ever read.

Picking up — spoilers for ‘The Final Problem’ (1893) in case you’re 132 years behind on your TBR — after Holmes and Professor James Moriarty have gone over the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, Jack’s book posits a world in which Moriarty lives and, with his empire in ruins, must find a way to survive while keeping his identity secret. So how do you go about writing a book about such a famous villain? How do you make him someone the reader wants to spend time with? And, given how little there is about Moriarty in Doyle’s canon, how can an author claim to be sticking to the principles of the characters as originally laid out?

Into this and more do we get, all without spoilers so that you’re free once you’re done listening to add this to your Christmas list, or to just go and buy your own copy, and enjoy it with Jack’s thoughtful answers to my nosy questions fresh in your mind.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

Thanks go to Jack for both his time and the work that went into this wonderful book, to Jonny Berliner for my music, and to you, as ever, my faithful audience who continue to listen to these episodes even though my release schedule is a surprise even to me these days. Podcasting remains something I am committed to, but it’s so much more fun when I can do episodes like this which genuinely interest me, and I’m grateful for the patience of those of you who are happy to listen as and when and if new material is released.

Now, go and buy The Return of Moriarty; I non-legally-bindingly guarantee you won’t regret it.

~

All episodes of In GAD We Trust can be found here.

Nothing for a year, then two in consecutive weekends — it’s a podcastpalooza!

11th September 2025 saw the publication not just of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife (2025) by Martin Edwards, but also the new non-fiction book from John Curran, The Murder Game: Play, Puzzles and the Golden Age (2025). And, like Martin last week, John has been kind enough to join me to talk about the writing of the book and much more besides.

The essential tenet of John’s book — that a deliberate, observed, and expectation-governed element of rule-based observation forms a central pole holding up the tent that is the game played with Golden Age detective fiction — won’t, I think, be too controversial to anyone reading this. But to see him examine it so thoroughly in print, and to have stirred into the mix not just examples of ludic aspects from the book, but also commentary from critics both at the time and since, really is quite delightful if, like me, you’ve committed far too much of your life to reading books in this genre — time that could have been easily wasted on far less important things.

So, we get into the book’s origins, discuss some of the principles herein, digress into the career of S.S. van Dine, and generally pick apart the game in all its glory. Hopefully this proves an enjoyable listen, and please do rush out and buy the book once you’re done listening.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

Thanks to John for his time, to Jonny Berliner for the music, and to you, my increasingly patient audience, as these episodes drip out from invisible Event Towers at unpredictable intervals. And, no, no podcast next week; I originally had plans to release one per weekend in September, but they fell through and so not even I know when the next one will be.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in the GAD-focussed cryptic crosswords I wrote that got a mention in the above, it turns out there are actually three of them:

One based around the Hercule Poirot books.

One based around the non-Poirot books.

And one in which the answers are all detectives.

So that might keep some of you entertained, at least.

I promised you more podcast, and wouldn’t have blamed you for not believing me; but more podcast there is today for your listening pleasure.

Martin Edwards, current President of the Detection Club and winner of just about every crime writing award going, has a new book out next week: the very enjoyable and playful Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife (2025). And he kindly gave of his time to discuss the new book, how it differs from the sort of thing he’s written to date, and the creation process in general.

Of course, we also had to discuss the recently-updated (and now ten years old — gulp!) The Golden Age of Murder (2025) and get a few words in about Martin’s work with the brilliantly successful British Library Crime Classics range…so there’s plenty to chew over in these 65 minutes.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

My thanks to Martin for his time, to Jonny Berliner for the music, and to you, dear listener, for making these podcasts worth doing. More podcast at some point — I’m committed to getting to episode #40, even if I don’t have the entire route mapped out — and I hope all remains happy and healthy in your lives in the meantime.

Another surprise episode of my increasingly-irregular podcast In GAD We Trust, this time featuring Mark Aldridge in discussion about his new book, Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness (2024).

Yes, finally some good news: four years on from his excellent Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World (2020), in which he charted the evolution of little Hercule through books, films, TV, video games, and all other media adaptations, Mark has returned to do the same for Aunt Jane, in a sumptuously-illustrated book that takes you chronologically through all the different faces of the world’s most popular spinster detective.

Did Christie ever bet on the Grand National? Which of her characters has been mis-named in a majority of printings? Which book might you not have read the full text of? All this and more is revealed in Mark’s book, and also discussed in the 68 minutes of chat below…so learn the answers whichever way appeals the most.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

Thanks go of course to Mark for his time, to Harper Collins for providing me with an early copy of the book, to Jonny Berliner for the music, and to you, dear listener, for your continued interest in this ever-unpredictable endeavour of mine. I’ve committed to getting to 40 episodes, and I will, but I’ll get there in my own time!

And, if you’re heading to the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, let Mark know you listened to this interview. I make no money or anything from this, but he would probably appreciate knowing that this was a valid use of his time. He’s always wonderful to talk to, and I’d love the chance to pick his brains again when that mystery next book comes out…

Stay safe; more podcast…eventually.

~

Previous episodes of In GAD We Trust can be found here.

Five and a half years ago I tracked down and read an obscure novelette by long-forgotten British pulp writer James Ronald, which set me on the trail of his far-from-readily-available other works. This week, Moonstone Press published the first two in a series of reprints that will see Ronald’s entire criminous catalogue made available, and series editor Chris Verner is here to tell us all about it.

Chris has spent the last year and a half trawling through Ronald’s works both in this genre and otherwise in order to ensure that we’re getting as much of his criminal imaginings as possible, and the one thing that comes across here is the sheer amount of work that has gone into tracking down stories by an author whose output is, at best, slightly unknown. A phenomenal effort, and incredible to think of this going on behind the scenes for so long.

And, thankfully, such immersion has not dimmed Chris’ enthusiasm for Ronald’s output — there’s much to enjoy in the man’s writing, and we get to discussing the appeal and quality of his prose along the way as well. If this doesn’t whet your appetite, you are, frankly, beyond hope.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

Thanks to Chris for throwing so much light upon proceedings and for all the work he’s done on behalf of our little community of classic era crime fiction nerds, to Jonny Berliner for my theme music, and to you at home for listening and — I’m anticipating a bit here — going out to support these books as they become available.

More podcast next year; see you then!

~

The James Ronald Stories of Crime and Detection, published by Moonstone Press:

Another year, another Bodies from the Library collection — incredibly, the sixth — and another opportunity to sit down with Tony Medawar and talk about the wonderful work he’s doing on all our behalfs.

As well as discussing the contents of the latest collection — all spoiler-free, of course — we get into the details of the series as a whole and the various decisions that go into such a long-term project. That done, we turn our eye upon the other intriguing projects that Tony has on the go at present that are going to make life all the more exciting for we classic detective fiction nerds in the coming months and years. Prepare to be enticed…

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

Thanks to Tony for his time and the work he’s doing, to Jonny Berliner for the music, and to you, dear listeners, for playing along at home. There will be more In GAD We Trust before Christmas, that much I can promise.

Now, please, go out and buy at least one of the Bodies collections for someone in your life this festive season, and make this old man very happy.

The return of my In GAD We Trust podcast, and a welcome return for Alasdair Beckett-King, comedian and now children’s author.

Since last appearing on the podcast, Alasdair has written two books for younger readers — Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum (2023) and Montgomery Bonbon: Death at the Lighthouse (2023) — and so joins me this time to discuss mystery fiction and the writing thereof. Because I wrote a book myself, you may remember, so we’re positive old hands at this.

How many Agatha Christie novels has Alasdair read? What does he think of the Sarah Phelps adaptations of Christie’s work? Is classic detective fiction effectively sat in a fantasy world? And how likely is it that a child wearing a false moustache would be taken as an adult by everyone they meet? Some of this, and much more besides, is answered below, so here’s hoping it passes a pleasant hour for those of you who might be interested.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below. 

My thanks, of course, to Alasdair for his time, to Jonny Berliner for my theme music, and to you, the anticipated audience, for your attention. In GAD We Trust is definitely an on-going project for me, but the next ten episodes will be a little more occasional as befits my full-time working status — rest assured, more are planned and will hopefully pop up and surprise you at irregular intervals over the coming year or so.