Janice Hallett joins me on In My Good Books to talk about The Silent Appeal, her new murder mystery and a return to the brilliantly chaotic world of am dram!

Since The Appeal was published in 2021, Janice has become one of the most distinctive voices in modern crime fiction, creating ingenious mysteries told through emails, text messages, transcripts and other documents rather than traditional narrative. 

Now, The Silent Appeal takes us back to Lockwood, where the Fairway Players are preparing to stage Agatha Christie's The Hollow. But, as you might expect, there's far more happening behind the scenes than amateur dramatics.

Janice tells me why she decided to return to the characters from The Appeal, how she keeps track of such a huge cast, and how she gives every character a distinctive personality using only the way they communicate. We talk about the influence of her ten years as a scriptwriter, why she writes her incredibly intricate mysteries chronologically and – perhaps most surprisingly – why she doesn't plan them in advance.

We also discuss the danger of an unusual format becoming a gimmick, the unexpected influences behind The Appeal, including narrative video games and Emma Donoghue's Room, and why story and character always have to come before structure.

Janice also talks about taking her distinctive storytelling style into children's fiction with A Box Full of Murders and Death at the Museum, writing two books a year, and what her writing schedule actually looks like when edits, short stories and other projects all have to fit around each other.

And, of course, I ask Janice what's in her good books. She recommends The Fifteenth Man by William Cook, The Art of Getting Hammered by Joanna Wallace and London Falling.

The Silent Appeal is out now.

Listen to the full episode of In My Good Books wherever you get your podcasts.

Bestselling author Sarah Vaughan joins me for the latest episode in my Bloody Scotland 2026 series to talk about her new psychological thriller, Based on a True Story.

Sarah tells me why she wanted to make Based on a True Story a glossier, more playful departure from novels including Anatomy of a Scandal, Little Disasters and Reputation, and why the Cornish setting was so important to her.

We talk about the novel’s surprising influences, from Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier to King Lear,  Macbeth and Succession, and why Sarah decided to put a powerful matriarch and her three very different daughters at the centre of the story.

We also discuss the complicated relationship between parents and children when a child becomes part of a parent’s work, the real-life experiences of Christopher Robin Milne that helped inspire the novel, influencer culture and the ethics of parents sharing their children online.

Sarah also talks about what happens when a writer’s novels start being adapted for television, and how working as an executive producer on adaptations of her books has changed the way she thinks about pacing, chapter endings, point of view and setting when she writes.

Plus, we look ahead to Bloody Scotland and Sarah shares the events she’s hoping to catch while she’s in Stirling.

Sarah Vaughan will appear alongside Evelyn Clarke and Sarah Lotz on Writes and Wrongs at 12 noon on Friday 18 September at the Golden Lion Hotel.

Sarah’s Bloody Scotland picks include Denise Mina Presents Lucy Foley at 3pm, where Lucy will discuss her new Miss Marple novel Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel; The Kill Switch: Robert Peston at 5pm; Twists and Turns with Gilly Macmillan, Dorothy Koomson and Claire Douglas at 6.45pm; and Richard Osman with Mark Billingham at 8.15pm.

Matt Coyne, better known to millions of parents as Man vs Baby, joins me to talk about his new novel, The Trouble With Sister Francis a funny and nostalgic story about friendship, community and growing up.

Matt takes us back to the 1980s and the working-class Sheffield estate that helped inspire the novel, introducing us to Sister Francis, a swearing, smoking, unconventional nun, and the four boys who find refuge in the boys’ club she is trying to revive.

We chat about how much of the book was inspired by Matt’s own childhood and his big Irish Catholic family, why nostalgia can be such rich territory for fiction, and the challenge of turning personal memories into a story that connects with readers who weren’t there.

And, as always, we finish with some book recommendations:

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers — Mary Roach
• The List of Suspicious Things — Jennie Godfrey

• On the Edge, Stepping Up & Well, That Escalated Quickly — Sarah Turner

• Skulduggery Pleasant — Derek Landy

Sarah Pinborough joins me for a special Bloody Scotland 2026 episode to discuss her haunting new novel, They Say a Girl Died Here.

Known for bestselling novels including Behind Her Eyes, Sarah has built a reputation for writing books that constantly surprise readers. In this conversation, we explore how an early novella evolved into one of her most emotionally resonant novels, why she's drawn to isolated small-town settings, and how memory, trauma and family relationships became the emotional heart of the story.

We also chat about adapting her own work for television, why she's no longer chasing the "big twist", the pressure of writing unforgettable opening chapters, and how horror films continue to inspire her writing.

Sarah will appear on the panel:

The Stuff of Nightmares

She also recommends:

• How to Clean a Crime Scene
• Femme Fatales with Liz Nugent, Andrea Mara and Harriet Tyce
• S.A. Cosby's event

If you're heading to Stirling this September, make sure you check them out.

This week I'm joined by Joanna Wallace to celebrate the publication of her brilliantly entertaining new novel, The Art of Getting Hammered.

Joanna's debut novel, You'd Look Better as a Ghost, introduced readers to one of crime fiction's most unforgettable protagonists: Claire, the artist, pub worker and part-time serial killer.

Now Claire is back, and this time she finds herself investigating drink spiking, mysterious deaths, and another killer operating on her patch - all while trying to stick to her own very unusual moral code. 

Joanna also shares two brilliant book recommendations:

The Silent Appeal by Janice Hallett

Man and Dog: A Love Story by Tony Parsons 

If you enjoy crime fiction that's dark, funny, brilliantly original and packed with memorable characters, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Jonathan Trigell joins me for this episode of Reading Is Political to discuss the re-release of his award-winning novel, Boy A.

First published in 2004, Boy A became one of the defining British novels of its generation, winning both the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Waverton Good Read Award before being adapted into the acclaimed BAFTA-winning film starring Andrew Garfield. More than twenty years later, the novel has been re-released for a new generation of readers and its themes feel just as relevant today. 

Our conversation explores why society continues to struggle with ideas of crime, punishment, rehabilitation and forgiveness. We discuss whether children who commit terrible crimes are judged differently from adults, the role of the media in shaping public opinion, and how social media would completely change Jack's story if Boy A were written today.

Jonathan's book recommendations:

• GB84 — David Peace

• If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable — Daniel Trilling

• Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York — Andrew Lownie

• Lost Boys: Undercover in the Manosphere — James Bloodworth

• Fieldwork As A Sex Object — Meena Kandasamy 

• The Road — Cormac McCarthy

• The House at Pooh Corner — A. A. Milne

Linda Duncan McLaughlin joins me to discuss her debut crime novel, Original Sins, which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize.

Linda shares the inspiration behind a story that explores identity, adoption and the age-old question of nature versus nurture. We discuss the challenge of writing a protagonist whose birth father is a serial killer, why the novel blends psychological suspense with family drama, and how a manuscript that sat unfinished for years eventually became her debut novel.

Linda also tells us about appearing on the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize Panel, taking place Friday 18 September at 3:00pm, and shares the festival events she's most looking forward to attending. Her recommendations include the Two Crime Walking Tour, From Screen to Page, You the Jury, Every Breath You Take, Glesga, Murder at the Edge of the World, and Pitch Perfect. 

This week on In My Good Books, I'm joined by debut author Katie Huttlestone to discuss her novel, A Healthy Appetite.

The novel follows Hannah, a woman with late-stage illness who volunteers for an experimental drug trial. As the treatment begins to work in unexpected ways, it also awakens an increasingly ravenous appetite, forcing Hannah to confront impossible questions about survival, identity and the moral compromises we might make to stay alive.

Katie shares the deeply personal inspiration behind the novel, drawing on her own experiences of living with chronic illness while creating a speculative story that asks fascinating "what if?" questions rather than telling a traditional cancer narrative. We talk about medical trials, the realities of living in the space between illness and wellness, and why she wanted to write a story that offered something different from the books she'd previously encountered.

As always, Katie shares two brilliant book recommendations to add to your reading list:

• Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh

• Wrecks by Matt Hill

If you enjoy conversations about books, writing and the stories behind the stories, don't forget to follow In My Good Books so you never miss an episode.

In this episode of Reading Is Political, I'm joined by debut novelist Fauzia Musa to discuss her extraordinary novel The Strangling Fig.

Spanning the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 through to the early 2000s, The Strangling Fig is a sweeping family saga that blends literary fiction, magical realism and historical memory. We explore how personal histories become family myths, the generational impact of political decisions, and why some stories remain untold for decades. 

Fauzia shares how the novel began as an attempt to write her own family's history before evolving into fiction, why she introduced a ghost into the narrative, and how multiple drafts transformed the book into the story readers see today. We also discuss researching Partition, writing ambitious dual timelines, and the challenge of creating authentic characters across generations. 

Fauzia also recommends four books that have shaped her thinking, before sharing two comfort reads she returns to again and again:

Melissa Febos – Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative

Shehan Karunatilaka – The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Shon Faye – Love in Exile

Ayn Rand – The Fountainhead

Lily King – Heart the Lover

John Fowles – The Magus

If you enjoy conversations about books, politics, identity and the stories that shape our world, don't forget to follow In My Good Books wherever you listen to podcasts.

Fauzia's Legit Substack

Kirsty Lockwood joins me to discuss her debut crime thriller, We Know What You Did, a novel that's already making waves after being shortlisted for the 2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize.

In this episode, Kirsty shares the whirlwind journey from publication day to becoming one of the most talked-about new voices in Scottish crime fiction. We chat about the inspiration behind Odette, one of this year's most compelling protagonists, the challenge of writing dual timelines, and why social media became such an important part of the novel's central mystery. 

As part of my Bloody Scotland 2026 series, Kirsty also tells us about appearing on the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize Panel, taking place Friday 18 September at 3:00pm, and shares the festival events she's most excited to attend.

Her recommendations include Femme Fatales (featuring Liz Nugent, Harriet Tyce and Andrea Mara) and Are They or Aren't They? featuring Leodora Darlington. 

If you enjoy psychological suspense, character-driven crime fiction and behind-the-scenes publishing conversations, this is an episode you won't want to miss.