The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Why Isn't Everybody Talking About This Crime Author? My Holiday Top 8

   Philippa is back from holiday — and the books made it to Rhodes eventually, after a handwritten letter to Athens customs explaining why a normal person would post books to themselves. Today she's sharing her top eight reads from the trip, spanning crime, horror, graphic novels, historical fiction, and AI thrillers. All different. All five stars. The Top 8 Holiday Reads (in reverse order) 8. Under the Hammer – Samantha Dooey Miles A woman whose landlord has a fatal accident discovers her life's mission: punishing as many landlords as possible, starting with the ones she's spotted on a home improvement TV show. Sharp, witty, and wickedly entertaining. 7. Splasher – Billie Host Bought at Imagine Things bookshop in Harrogate. A swim coach returns to Richardson University a decade after tragedy struck — and on the first day of training, two students are found dead in the pool. Funny horror, perfectly read beside a swimming pool. 6. The Confessions – Paul Bradley Carr AI bot Liam powers society — until he goes offline. Then identical white envelopes start arriving at people's houses, confessing their darkest secrets. Dystopian, clever, and full of unexpected turns. Philippa was audibly groaning with delight. Joint 4th. The Scandalous Ladies Football Club – Frances Quinn London, 1897. A schoolteacher places a newspaper ad asking for volunteers for the first ever women's football team. Philippa was so engrossed she propped the book up at the edge of the private pool and swam on the spot while reading it. Auto-buy author. Frances Quinn joins the podcast soon. Joint 4th. Roman Mornings – Matson Taylor Rome, 1952. A young English woman arrives full of idealism. By 1976, she's wilting — until a chance encounter with a young carpenter changes everything. A celebration of friendship, identity, and the eternal city. Mattson Taylor joins the podcast over Christmas. 3rd. The Corfe Castle Murders – Rachel McLean DCI Leslie Clark is transferred to rural Dorset after being injured in a bomb attack — and before she's even started, she's investigating a murder at Corfe Castle. Book one of a long series. Philippa loved it and wants the next one immediately. 2nd. The Bad Doctor – Ian Williams A graphic novel following a rural GP whose patients cause equal measures of empathy and dismay. Funny, serious, and with mental health storylines that Philippa found astonishing. Highly recommended as a first graphic novel for anyone curious about the format. Found at Hay-on-Wye Comics. 1st. Better Off Dead – Sean Watkin The second DCI De Silva and DS Barkley novel — and Philippa's undisputed book of the holiday. She was so immersed she didn't realise she was mouthing the words as she read. A cold case, a dismembered body in the Formby woods, and a duo who can't trust anyone around them. The third book in the series is already pre-ordered. The first is Black Water Rising. Auto-buy author who Philippa insists needs to be on every crime reader's radar immediately. Get in touch Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

   September 11, 2026·26min
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   Number 2: Frances Quinn: The True Scandal Behind The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club

   Victorian Women Weren't Allowed to Play Football. They Did It Anyway. In 1897, a woman calling herself Nettie Honeyball founded Britain's first ladies' football club — and doctors wrote to the newspapers warning it would make women infertile. Author Frances Quinn joins me to talk about The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club, her brilliant historical fiction novel inspired by that true story, and the real Victorian scandal of women simply choosing to play the game. We talk about inventing a fictional rival team to give the real history its missing plot, writing three women each trapped by Victorian society in different ways, and the friend who told her a 70,000-word draft was "a little bit rubbish" — and was right. Frances also tells me about her dream writing retreat with three fellow authors in a Norfolk cottage, why a sea view would ruin her concentration completely, and what powered the words this time round (a chocolate digestive, eaten strictly undunked). Before that, a spoiler-free look at three books I've been reading:Not Quite Myself, by Mike and Claire Gayle — a body-swap story about a couple who separate the morning after dropping their youngest at university, told in alternating chapters by a husband-and-wife writing teamThe Butler, by Clare Mackintosh — a shorter, glamorous whodunnit set at a French villa during Cannes, a real change of pace for the authorIn Deep Water, by Elle Blair — a cruise-ship murder mystery that didn't land for me, though the reviews suggest it may well land for youFeatured book: The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club, Frances Quinn That's this episode — spoiler-free reviews of Not Quite Myself, The Butler, and In Deep Water, plus Frances Quinn on the real history behind The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club. Get in touch Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

   September 21, 2026·41min
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   Number 3: Sarah Pinborough on They Say a Girl Died Here, Horror, Secrets & Pick and Mix

   Philippa is back with her first author interview in two months — and opens with a confession: she recorded the entire thing without plugging her microphone in. Apologies have been issued. The show goes on. The guest is the wonderful Sarah Pinborough — author of over 30 books including Behind Her Eyes — talking about her latest novel They Say a Girl Died Here. Plus three book reviews ranging from emotionally devastating to cosy Miss Marple, with a live retraction of a book review opinion somewhere in the middle. Three Book Reviews: Saving Noah – Lucinda Berry Discovered via a Wild & Wordy subscription box swap. A top student, a champion swimmer, a hometown hero — and a confession that changes everything. Philippa was utterly consumed by this book, was stunned by the direction it took, and is now following Lucinda Berry's every move. Very emotional, not for everyone, but extraordinary writing. The Body in the Library – Agatha Christie After Saving Noah, Philippa needed something cosy. Miss Marple delivered. A beautiful edition spotted in a bookshop, a body in the library, and the enduring joy of watching Miss Marple quietly observe everyone into a corner. Philippa always thinks she knows who did it. She never does. Cross My Heart I Hope You Die – Mallory Arnold Three women discover they've all been dating the same man and hatch a revenge plan at a remote mountain cabin. Philippa wasn't sure how she felt about it while recording — and then issued a live retraction mid-review. On reflection: she liked it. Didn't love it. Would like you to read it and tell her what you think. Sarah Pinborough on They Say a Girl Died Here Anna Mayborn arrives in Harper's Creek — a drought-stricken Nebraska town — with her mum, her little sister, and her grandmother, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Two girls have been murdered three years apart. The anniversary is approaching. Anna starts digging. Her grandmother starts having strange nightly episodes. And everyone in town seems to know more than they're saying. Sarah and Philippa discuss:How the book began as a horror novella ten years ago — different ending, younger Anna — and how it was transformed into a crime thriller by her UK editorWhy Anna is a different kind of unreliable narrator: not hiding something from the reader, but genuinely unable to trust her own judgment after traumaThe drought as a character in itself — the smell of the book would be dry summer with a slight rot, because nothing washes away when there's no waterHow small towns work: reputations linger, everyone knows everyone, and a town's willingness to look away is as interesting as the murders themselvesThe book is optioned for screen — Sarah is currently writing the first episodeWhy she'll never be a one-lane author and has made peace with thatHer preference for sofa over desk, dog over coffee machine, and staying home over book festivalsLiving in a small town herself and knowing exactly how reputations workHer next book: The Winter Bones, set in West Virginia — a whole town unravelling after a little boy dies. Secrets and snow this time, rather than secrets and sun.What she's reading: A biography of George Boleyn, and Fitcher's Bird by Angela Slatter — a dark modern fairy tale novella by an author she considers an auto-buy. Biscuit answer: Doesn't buy biscuits because she'd eat all of them. The book was probably powered by Itsu and Deliveroo. Her true love is pick and mix — particularly after a life-changing visit to a vast pick and mix shop in Boston where a stranger told her to just try one and covered her. Get in touch Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

   September 14, 2026·40min
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   Number 4: C.J. Tudor on Serenity Falls, Creepy Disney Towns & the Smell of Buttered Popcorn

   Philippa reviews four books — including two she couldn't wait to tell you about — before a wonderful, wide-ranging conversation with C.J. Tudor about her latest novel Serenity Falls, out 10th September, the book she needed to write after the hardest year of her life. 📚 Four Book Reviews One of Us is Guilty – Steve Cavanagh The 10th Eddie Flynn case finds con-man-turned-lawyer Eddie investigating a brutal murder with only two suspects — and one of them is guilty. Philippa loves everything Steve Cavanagh writes, and this is no exception. The Silent Appeal – Janice Hallett The Fairway Players are back, rehearsing Agatha Christie's The Hollow, and someone isn't going to make it to opening night. Lawyers Charlotte and Femi must sift through the evidence once again in what Philippa considers one of her favourite Hallett books yet. A Stranger in Corfu – Alex Preston Former MI6 operatives, exiled to a Greek island to be forgotten, find their uneasy peace shattered when one of their own washes up dead. Beautifully written, thoughtful, and atmospheric — blurbed as "Le Carré meets the Durrells," which Philippa thinks is entirely fair. Signals: The Inside Story of Our Hormones – Dr. Saira Hameed A fascinating nonfiction exploration of how hormones shape everything from our health to our eating habits — told through real patient cases. Philippa went to hear the author speak, bought the book immediately, got it signed, and then went straight out for a double chocolate cookie. Blame the ancestors. C.J. Tudor on Serenity Falls Dan and his teenage daughter Sadie arrive at their mysterious inheritance in Serenity Falls — a picture-perfect Disney-style town in Florida — only to find a body in the swimming pool, dressed as a cartoon character, on day one. Things don't get more normal from there. Inspired by Celebration, the real Disney-built town near Orlando, Caz and Philippa discuss: Why the idea of a perfect, theme-park-adjacent town is inherently sinister — and what happens when you actually go and visit oneHow the creepy ice cream van started as a small detail and grew into a major character and the cover imageWriting Serenity Falls — and why she needed a new idea to fall in love with before she could write againWhy this is perhaps her least horror-y book, but also her most uncanny — and what the word "uncanny" really means in a C.J. Tudor contextThe dark humor running through the book, and why Sadie is one of her favourite characters she's ever writtenTV developments, the patience required to wait for news, and why she's learned not to get too excited too earlyHer next book The Last Caretaker — currently being written, out autumn 2027What she's looking forward to reading: The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer, which arrived as a lovely exchange for a quote on Serenity FallsTen years since her publishing deal — and why it's worth stopping to appreciate how far you've comeIf Serenity Falls had a smell: Buttered popcorn. Lovely at first. Overwhelming very quickly. Which is, she immediately agreed, the whole vibe. Biscuit answer: Pick and mix for writing fuel, but biscuit-wise: plain rich tea or digestive for daytime dunking (no timing, pure instinct), and Border biscuits for evenings — too posh to dunk, chocolate gets melty. 💬 Get in touch Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

   September 07, 2026·38min
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   Number 5: SUMMER SPECIAL — Fern Britton on A Cornish Legacy, Florence & Finding Home

   Bestselling author and broadcaster Fern Britton joins Philippa for a very special summer edition of Quick Book Reviews to talk about her wonderful new novel, A Cornish Legacy. Fern shares stories of solo travelling in Florence, cycling adventures across India, Madagascar, Cuba and Egypt, dream holidays to Penang, mosquito nightmares, Cornwall, family history, and the joy of finding a place to truly belong. They also discuss the emotional inspiration behind A Cornish Legacy, the real Cornish house that inspired the story, food in fiction, family secrets, wartime history, reviews, writing challenges, and why Fern thought this might be “the worst book” she’d ever written — before readers fell completely in love with it. A Cornish Legacy is a warm, emotional and uplifting novel set around a beautiful old Cornish house called Wildahoo. After heartbreak and loss, Cordelia unexpectedly inherits the crumbling house and must decide whether to destroy it or rebuild both the property and her own life. Rich with friendship, family, belonging, love and second chances, it’s perfect for readers who adore atmospheric Cornish fiction. (penguin.co.uk) Perfect for fans of Fern Britton, Cornish fiction, women’s fiction, uplifting novels, family stories, summer reading, author interviews, and feel-good books with heart. Books and authors mentioned: A Cornish Legacy by Fern Britton Daughters of Cornwall by Fern Britton Still Life by Sarah Winman Gone with the Wind by Gone with the Wind Dorothy L. Sayers Agatha Christie This episode is full of travel stories, writing wisdom, Cornwall, family memories, laughter, emotion, and excellent advice about protecting your ice cream from seagulls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

   August 31, 2026·28min
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