What's behind the enduring popularity of the 'locked room' mystery? Agatha Christie was without question the queen of the genre, but they remain a mainstay of crime publishing. Our guest this week, Heather Fitt has published two modern takes on the locked room mystery, setting her novels on an airliner and a transatlantic yacht respectively. So what's the secret to writing a successful one? In this great interview, Heather shares her journey from managing car mechanics to literary editor and crime author.

Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca discuss the trend for big name authors to skip the festival circuit and stage their own theatre talks/book signings, and we relay the heartwarming story of how one Hobeck author has inspired a wonderful friendship between two of his fans.

Download a transcript of our interview with Heather here

Heather J. Fitt — Bloodhound Books

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You might imagine we've lost our minds here at The Hobcast Book Show with an episode title like this, but, believe it or not, it's a common Icelandic phrase, such is the power and popularity of literature there. Our guest this week is one of the most influential figures in Icelandic fiction, Jónína Leósdóttir. Jónína is a playwright, journalist, and author of twenty-one books. Her most recent book, Deceit, is her sixth crime novel. She was also the founder of the Women's Prize for Fiction in Iceland. As we discuss in this wide-ranging interview, Jónína is no stranger to having to withhold the truth; it was 15 years before her relationship with her now wife, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became public. Johanna was Iceland's Prime Minister between 2009 and 2013, and the world's first openly LGBT+ in modern history. This is an inspiring interview.

Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca absorb the impact of changes at Amazon, and discuss if a book's formatting and type-setting should really be a factor in a reviewer's rating?

Download a full transcript of our interview with Jónína at https//www.hobeckbooks.net/hobcast

Find more details of Jónína Leósdóttir here

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In a departure for The Hobcast Book Show we're bringing you a special episode celebrating the launch of one of our latest Hobeck titles, The Bad Neighbour by Jennie Ensor which has raced to number one in two Amazon categories already. Set in an English village at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, it's a sparkling pschological suspense mystery laced with dark humour. Adrian and Rebecca are joined by Jennie to discuss the challenges of writing a novel set during such an unusual and challenging period in recent history, and we have two exclusive readings from The Bad Neighbour by Diana Berriman as Tara, and Miranda Hampton as Elspeth.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Neighbour-deliciously-entertaining-psychological-ebook/dp/B0C4FRSP1

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We all know how a crime is investigated don't we? After all, we've read enough books, watched enough TV cop shows and read the papers. Interviewing a suspect? We'd all give it a fair go wouldn't we? But would we? How quickly would we commit an elementary mistake of procedure or due process? How soon would a soon would a savvy lawyer unpick our case or cast enough suspicion on our evidence to have their defendant freed? Former Detective Inspector Kim Booth is here to help authors get the key details right. An author himself, he knows how hard it can be to balance authenticity and dramatic licence in fiction. This is a fascinating interview, drawing on Kim's 35-year policing career during which he investigated every type of major crime and worked on cases that took him around the world.

Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca welcome a familiar face as the new chair of the Crime Writer's Association, announce a new Hobeck author, and they reveal how close AI came to recreating the magic of Sir Ian Rankin's Rebus novels...

For the episode show notes visit: https://www.hobeck.net/hobcast

A Cruel Deception eBook : Booth, Kim: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

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There's no doubt that editing can make a huge difference to any finished work of fiction or non-fiction. Our guest this week, Abbie Rutherford, describes her move from social worker to copy editor and proofreader as a mixture of necessity and fulfilling her passion too. Abbie now one of the UK's most established editors, and specialises in crime fiction from her home base in Sunderland. In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss the impact on AI on the publishing world, and how authors need to do more work on their manuscripts before they send them off to their editors.

Also this week, Adrian reflects on his visit to the world's biggest podcast show in London, and we discuss the news that the big publishers are finally acknowledging that with costs rising fast, the price of books will also have to rise to reflect the new situation.

About (abbie-editorial.com)

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We've linked up with Japan this week to speak to our guest, sci-fi author Jude Austin. As Jude tells us, her dreams of becoming an actress ended when a bad knee injury forced her to abandon her training at a Japanese film school, where physical challenges and combat classes were a key part of the curriculum. Jude has since turned her creative passions towards sci-fi and fan fiction, and she has a passion for map-making as part of that creative world-building process.

Also this week, we reflect on the shock waves reverberating around the UK crime fiction community following events at Crimefest '23, where comments made at the festival's gala dinner have caused uproar on social media. As Adrian explains, the polarised nature of the debate has opened up some very personal scars for him.

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It's always a delight to share launch week with a debut novelist on The Hobcast Book Show. Rachel Corsini once dreamed of Broadway and ballet success, especially during her teenage years as a student at one of Manhattan's famed performing arts high schools. While she watched friends and contemporaries reach their dreams, Rachel's path to creative success was far longer and tougher. It was an aunt who suggested she express herself as writer instead, and the result is her debut novel, Sushi and Sea Lions, which launches on Tuesday 16th May. This is a delightful and inspiring interview.

Also this week, we present the show from Crimefest 2023 in Bristol, where concerns about the impact of AI dominated discussions.

Rachel Corsini - Writer

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Crowdfunding is becoming a  growing factor in independent publishing. You have a book you would like to publish, but need funds to cover the editing, production and promotion. The solution? Ask your readers for support. Our guest this week, Matt Adcock has taken this route to support some of his writing projects, converting his cyberpunk novel Complete Darkness into a graphic novel version, and developing his own comics. It's just one of the topics we cover in this fascinating interview.

Also this week, we discuss how the Coronation has made an impact on the UK book charts, and reveal a huge change in independent publishing thanks to a new approach to printing and distributing books.

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It's one of the sadder realities of modern publishing: the traditional market for well-told short stories is drying up with the closure of magazines all over the world. That's certainly the case in the UK, where a host of household name titles have closed down in recent years. Jude Hayland cut her teeth as an author for women's weekly magazines, enjoying a steady income and much of her work being translated for the wider world market. But that's all changed now, and Jude moved to writing full novels, with three published to date and another in the pipeline. So how do you move from writing to a 3000 words limit to full-length fiction? Jude's journey is a fascinating one, not least because she also teaches English too.

Also this week, Rebecca reveals how the organisers of London Book Fair are defending the lack of chairs at this year's event, and we discuss just what should first-time authors expect from their publishers?

Jude Hayland - Writer and Tutor

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We're all storytellers at heart in the fiction publishing world, right? Our guest this week, thriller author Amer Anwar's personal story though is truly astonishing. Brought up in Southall in West London, Amer always assumed that someone from his background could never become a writer, until he won the coveted CWA Debut Dagger award for the opening 3000 words of a novel he'd begun writing at a creative writing workshop. Agents immediately clamoured for his signature. The only issue was, those 3000 words were all he had to offer. It would take him a further five years to finish that novel. His agent stuck by him, but couldn't find a traditional publisher to take it. So Amer published it himself, using every trick he could think of to promote the novel. It paid off, and that first book, Brothers in Blood, was picked out by both The Guardian and The Times newspapers as one of their books of the year. This is an interview you will not want to miss.

Also this week, Rebecca reflects on a busy day at the London Book Fair, and there's news of Hobeck Books new approach to judging submissions...

Amer Anwar | Author | Writing and Random Stuff

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