Do all crime novel mysteries need to be resolved?

This episode's pick: In the Woods by Tana French, the award-winning, Celtic-mist-soaked psychological mystery that launched the Dublin Murder Squad. When a young girl is found murdered at an archaeological dig, detective Rob Ryan is forced back into the very woods where he once vanished as a child, an incident he has no memory of, except for his blood-soaked shoes. As Rob and his partner Cassie Maddox investigate, the line between past and present blurs. It’s atmospheric, character-driven, and the kind of book that makes you glance over your shoulder at every little noise.

This week’s guest - Dervla McTiernan is an internationally bestselling Irish-Australian crime writer and a great friend of ours. She’s the powerhouse behind the Cormac Reilly series, as well as the gripping standalones The Murder Rule and What Happened to Nina?. Her novels have topped bestseller lists around the world and earned shelves of awards, and we’re thrilled to have her with us.

In this episode, we cover:

Dervla being a superstar.

What Dervla loves about Tana French’s writing.

The expectations of a crime novel.

Unreliable narrators.

What makes a great villain.

Authors reading their own reviews

📚 Books Mentioned on the Pod

Tanya French – The Likeness

Tanya French – Secret Place

Tanya French – The Witch Elm

Stephen King – The Outsider

Stephen King – Lisey’s Story

Marian Keyes – This Charming Man

Rhys Bowen – The Royal Spyness Series

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

Which way did the votes fall? You’ll have to listen in…

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 Welcome to Only Fans for Middle Aged Ladies in Glasses Cum-unity.

2.03 – Meet Dervla McTiernan – Just how many awards is it legal to win??

4.35 – Meet Tanya French – Into the Woods (not as many awards as Dervla..!)

6.45 – Anthea bans Dervla for all time – serves her right.

9.39 – Time to Kiss, Kill, Marry!

12.13 – Dervla’s favourite backhanded compliment (looking at you Lit-fic!)

13.44 – Rach tries to sort out Rob Ryan’s love life.

14.36 – What do you MEAN they don’t solve the crime??

18.43 – Just because people have been murdered, doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.

20.40 – Is Rob Ryan a bit immature?

21.41 – Rosalyn – DO NOT DATE.

24.20 – Rob – unreliable narrator? Liar? MURDERERERER??

24.40 – Dervla sensationally admits to ripping off Steven King and Marian Keyes.

(we’ll never tell…)

29.43 – The joy of reading to your (disinterested) partner.

35.12 – Dervla recommends reading the back of the Cornflake box.

39.24 – Demon Copperhead. What a pile of crap!

40.34 – Brutal honesty – is the best policy. Sometimes.

41.34 – Reading reviews – fun for ALL the family!

42.20 – Dervla’s favourites.

45.02 – Dust off Persuasion – and drag out your piano forte! Jane Austen rides again.

Did ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK live up to the hype?

This episode’s pick: ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK - a million-copy bestseller, this sweeping novel follows childhood best friends Patch and Saint, torn apart when Patch is abducted. Trapped in darkness, Patch forms an intense connection with a girl he never sees, and when they escape, she vanishes. As Patch spends years searching for her, Saint is determined to uncover the truth of what happened. A powerful story of love, obsession, and the cost of finding answers.

In this episode, we cover:

Weird twists and character decisions

Themes of friendship, love, women’s rights

Stories that take place across decades

Sexual love vs friendship

Chris’s intricate plotting

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

⏰ Timestamps

. 00 – Welcome to Episode 21!!

1.00– Rach goes on tour and Anthea hits the bottle.

4.50 – Blurb time, so you can pretend you’ve read it at parties.

6.40 – Chris Whitaker – Here’s his bio – he sounds hot.

9.22 – Do we Kiss, Kill or Marry?

10.45 – Jimmy – What a dick. (note to self – do not marry).

12.10 – Plot timeline – long, but in a good way.

13.11 – What a great cast of characters.

16.11 – Does Patch throw his life away? Discuss.

16.54 – Patch and Grace 4 EVA.

18.05 – A secret love story.

20.00 – Just how did Chris write this thing?

20.43 – Did Patch care too much? The search for Grace.

21.43 – Facing execution is pretty noble…I guess?

25.16 – Rachael starts blubbing..!

27.39 – What are we reading next? Ohhh… really!? WOW! I’ll defo listen in to the next episode!

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to Dervla McTiernan about In The Woods by Tana French. Then comes Persuasian by Queen Jane Austen, followed by A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman with author Sally Hepworth

In January we will answer our own regular reading questions for the first episode and the second episode we’ll discus Circe by Madeline Miller with Virtually Annie - can’t wait!

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

☕ We try to keep the podcast free and fun for everyone - but it does take time (and a lot of editing). If you’re loving the show, we’d be so grateful if you’d buy us a coffee (or a prosecco).

How would you survive the apocalypse? Would you need a talking pig?

This episode's pick: Set in the near future after a devastating pandemic, How High We Go in the Dark follows a series of interconnected characters as humanity tries to rebuild. From a theme park for terminally ill kids to a talking pig and space travel, the stories explore grief, resilience, and what it means to be human when the world keeps changing. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever read before!

This week’s guest - Kelly Rimmer is a bestselling Australian novelist, goat wrangler, and owner of Collins Booksellers Orange in regional NSW. She’s the author of The Midnight Estate as well as international hits The Things We Cannot Say, The Warsaw Orphan, and The German Wife. Her books have appeared on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Todaybestseller lists.

In this episode, we cover:

Kelly’s green thumb and Rach’s murder of cacti

Robodogs

Books about pandemics and dystopian fiction

Passion projects - writing a book just for you

Anthea’s brief liaison with sci-fi (aka Hans Solo)

And of life theme parks

Goat-dogs

Authors reading from their own books

📚 Books Mentioned on the Pod

Z For Zachariah by Robert C O’Brien

Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence

Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden

Mad Mabel by

Sally Hepworth

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

A Mother’s Confession by Kelly Rimmer

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai.

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

Which way did the votes fall? You’ll have to listen in…

⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – The Lucky Sisters releases this week and we intro our guest KELLY RIMMER04:00 – Judging Kelly’s bio - her latest release is THE MIDNIGHT ESTATE (Anthea raves)07:00 – Intro HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK and judging of Sequoia Nagamatsu’s bio10:00 – Kiss, Kill, or Marry verdict13:00 – Why Kelly loves this novel told in short stories16:00 – Anthea marries and chats her thoughts on sci-fi and the human experience18:00 – Rach is surprised by the interconnected stories23:00 – Do we like the world building?27:00 – Title chat - is it good?31:00 – Would we go to space?35:00 – Book recs40.00 - Where Kelly Reads/Book Clubs45 00 - What we’re reading next

Did Butter live up to the hype?

This episode's pick: Butter by Asako Yuzuki is a Japanese literary sensation that’s an unusual blend of murder mystery and food writing. Inspired by a true crime case, it’s about women, food, desire, and manipulation. Did it win us over, or was it all sizzle and no steak (or…butter)?

In this episode, we cover:

How hype and translation shaped our expectations

Food writing: sensory delight or just too much butter?

The themes of feminism, appetite, and self-denial

What worked (and what didn’t) in the structure and pacing

The real-life case that inspired the story

Cultural context: Japanese gender expectations, food, and shame

Why we both found the ending half-baked

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: travel tales, hotel room hijinks, and book club catch-ups03:00 – Book reveal: Butter by Asako Yuzuki07:00 – Author bio: awards, accolades, and first English translation10:00 – Our Kiss, Kill, Marry ratings reveal14:00 – First impressions: love, food, and frustration20:00 – Food obsession or feminist statement?28:00 – Thoughts on setting, style, and Japanese cultural nuance37:00 – That turkey chapter and the world’s longest ending40:00 – Real-life inspiration: the “Konkatsu Killer” case44:00 – Ethics of writing fiction based on true crime48:00 – Final thoughts: what was the point (and why butter, not margarine)?

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to Kelly Rimmer about How High You Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu. Then comes All The Colours of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker followed by In the Woods by Tana French with author Dervla McTiernan.

How far would you go back to save your child?

This episode's pick: Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister—a Reese’s Book Club thriller where a mother sees her teenage son commit a murder… only to wake up the next day and realize she’s gone back in time. As each morning takes her further into the past, she pieces together secrets about her son, her husband, and herself. It’s a murder mystery, a time-travel puzzle, and a meditation on motherhood all rolled into one. But did the high-concept premise deliver?

This week’s guest:

Rebecca Heath —thriller author and laser chemist turned novelist, party wrangler, and dog lover. She’s the author of The Last Encore and three other adult novels (The Summer Party, The Dinner Party, The Wedding Party). She lives in Adelaide with her husband, three children, and border collie.

In this episode, we cover:

The Reese factor: hype, Lisa Jewell blurbs, and whether the book club pick lived up to expectations.

That hook: a mother watches her son stab a man—and then starts living time backwards.

The pacing problem: did the constant “one more day back” structure get repetitive, or was it clever plotting?

Time travel, fate, and suspension of disbelief—fantasy or crime?

Plot twists we didn’t see coming: missing babies, undercover cops, and suspiciously convenient husbands.

The emotional punch: how McAllister balanced high concept with heart.

Rebecca’s reading habits: auto-buy authors, DNFs, hype regrets, and books that made her cry (one of them was Rach’s latest - out soon!)

📚 Books Mentioned on the Pod

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

1984 by George Orwell

Rebecca’s auto-buy authors:

Liane Moriarty

Taylor Jenkins Reid

Jane Harper

Gillian McAllistar

Lucy Foley

Every author Rebecca knows 😊

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

Which way did the votes fall? You’ll have to listen in…

⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: meet guest author Rebecca Heath04:00 – Setting up Wrong Place Wrong Time (and the Reese factor)08:00 – Gillian McAllister’s bio and book accolades11:00 – Kiss, Kill, or Marry verdict14:00 – Clever concept vs. pacing problems19:00 – Time travel, disbelief, and the “mum strength” theory24:00 – Plot Twists29:00 – Craft chat: avoiding clever-for-clever’s-sake32:00 – Rebecca’s reading life: DNFs, recommendations, hype regrets37:00 – Crying at Rachael Johns and TJR41:00 – What we’re reading next

Did Broken Country live up to the hype?

This episode's pick: Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall — a Reese’s Book Club favourite that’s been compared to The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing. It’s got love, loyalty, guilt, and a courtroom drama at its heart… but did it win us over?

In this episode, we cover:

Why this book caught our attention (and everyone else’s)

How hype and word-of-mouth shaped our expectations

Love triangles: satisfying tension or too much drama?

The role of setting, class, and family in driving the story

Our very different reactions to the main character

How tragedy and loyalty are woven through the narrative

The structure: past vs present, and how it builds suspense

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: travel tales, hotel room hijinks, and book club catch-ups03:00 – Book reveal: Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall05:00 – Why this pick + hype factor (Reese’s Book Club, bestseller lists)08:00 – Author bio + past works10:30 – Goodreads stats + ratings snapshot12:00 – Our Kiss, Kill, Marry ratings reveal14:00 – First impressions and what hooked us20:00 – Themes of loyalty, love, and loss28:00 – Thoughts on setting and style34:00 – Side characters that stood out37:00 – What other readers think: quickfire reviews40:00 – Would we read Claire’s next book?

Jungle fever or just fever dream?

This episode's pick: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett—a literary thriller set in the Amazon, complete with pharmaceutical intrigue, moral dilemmas, and one very unfortunate snake encounter. It’s lush, layered, and filled with anacondas, tarantulas, and questionable fertility science. But did it live up to the hype?

This week’s guest:

Pamela Cook —author, podcaster, and teacher. Pam writes contemporary women’s fiction that digs into relationships and psychology. She’s published six novels (traditionally and indie), hosts the Writes4Women podcast, and teaches through her business Wild Words. She also rides horses, wrangles dogs, and somehow finds time to keep her TBR stack alive.

In this episode, we cover:

Why State of Wonder felt both “plotty” and literary—and why that’s rare for Patchett.

The infamous anaconda boat scene (aka: the nightmare fuel we’ll never forget).

Fertility science, pharmaceutical greed, and the ethics of 73-year-olds having babies.

The big twist: Anders is alive (!), but was it too convenient?

The controversial ending—trauma sex, bark chewing, and possible surprise pregnancies.

The unanswered question: who’s the father of Dr. Svensson’s baby?

Desert Island picks, DNFs, hype regrets, and why Pam cries at Emily Henry.

📚 Books Mentioned on the Pod

Ann Patchett:

State of Wonder

Tom Lake

The Dutch House

Commonwealth

Bel Canto

Other fiction faves:

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Seven Skins of Esther Wilding by Holly Ringland

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Pam’s Auto-buy Authors:

Emily Henry

Hannah Richell

Ann Patchett

Taylor Jenkins Reid

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

Which way did the votes fall? You’ll have to listen in…

⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: meet Pamela Cook, our guest author04:00 – How State of Wonder came to be (and the Big Magic story)08:50 – Kiss, Kill, or Marry verdict13:00 – Fertility, pharma, and Patchett’s plot power18:00 – Anacondas, tarantulas, and nightmare fuel22:00 – The Anders twist—too neat or just right?25:00 – The controversial ending (trauma bonding or life affirmation?)28:00 – Who’s the father? Milton, Easter… frozen sperm??32:00 – Writing craft: seamless backstory, moral dilemmas, and jungle research37:00 – Pam’s DNF rules, hype regrets, and wish-I’d-written titles42:00 – Guilty pleasures, crying at Emily Henry, and auto-buy authors45:00 – What we’re reading next—and why no one’s going to the Amazon anytime soon

Is this space book really about space?

This episode's pick: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid—a book that is rumoured to have made her an $8 million dollar advance but may have come at the price of her personal privacy. Part space epic, part love story, part unbelievable side characters and strange snacks. We blast off into TJR’s most interesting book yet.

In this episode, we cover:

Why Atmosphere is a love story that took us by surprise

How the high stakes created good tension

Why we felt we were ‘told’ how the secondary characters felt about each other

Was Joan just too goody-two-shoes for us?

How difficult being gay would have been for two female astronauts

Was it media or reader pressure that forced TJR to come out as bisexual around the time of the novel’s release?

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: hair disasters, Kununurra trip, The Lucky Sisters tease03:02 – Book reveal: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (spoilers)05:51 – Why this pick + TJR reading history08:58 – TJR bio theory + Goodreads stats10:27 – Quickfire worst reviews12:09 – Kiss, Kill, Marry ratings reveal14:53 – Our ratings explained18:18 – Ending breakdown + epilogue debate24:18 – 1980s setting, taboo love, NASA culture28:01 – Gender politics in space31:00 – Romance vs love story discussion📖 Coming up next:

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

☕ If you’re loving the show, we’d be so grateful if you’d buy us a coffee (or a prosecco). It helps keep the pod fun, frequent, and free.

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to Pamela Cook about State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.

Maeve Binchy’s Evening Class—comfort fiction or structural masterclass?

This week, bestselling author Tess Woods joins us to discuss her all-time favourite Maeve Binchy novel: Evening Class. It’s a quiet, sprawling book with no clear protagonist, barely a plot, and somehow...it works.

In this episode, we explore:

- Why “quiet” doesn’t mean boring

- The weirdly satisfying moment when a character locks her mum in the bathroom

- How Maeve’s “everyday” prose masks big emotional arcs

- What makes a book comforting enough to reread

- The surprising real-life person Tess became friends with because of this novel

Plus:💋 We rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?📚 Book recs from Tess, including The Bridges of Madison County, Looking for Alibrandi, and The Paper Palace

Next up: The Names by Florence Knapp

Can a Name Change Your Fate?

This episode's pick: The Names by Florence Knapp—a 2025 debut that’s been dubbed the best in years. It’s a literary “Sliding Doors” novel, but with three parallel lives instead of two. The question at its heart? What happens when a single choice—a baby’s name—changes everything?

In this episode, we cover:

Why The Names is more craft experiment than comfort read

The DV scenes that had us stunned (and one that had food on faces)

Who’s really the main character here—Cora or her son?

Why “Hugh” might have changed everything

How names shape identity—and your high school romance

The emotional distance that kept it from being a “Marry”

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?

⏰ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro, T-shirts, and caffeinated chaos05:00 – The Names recap: three timelines, one decision12:00 – Bear, Julian or Gordon? Which name gave the best life?18:00 – DV, death, and dinner plates: the novel’s heaviest scenes24:00 – Why we rated how we did28:00 – Naming your kids: Sue, Anthea, and the sliding doors of Starbucks34:00 – Gordon’s (the father) final POV and a haunting ending38:00 – Would “Hugh” have changed the course of fate?40:00 – Next up on the pod and where to grab our merch

📖 Coming up next: