In this second episode of season two, Sean is joined by debut authors JD Pennington and Yemi Dipeolu.

John Pennington is the author of "The Othello Club", a gripping psychological thriller which has been adapted into "The Revenge Club", and is available to stream now on Paramount+.

Yemi Dipeolu is the author of "Kiss Marry Kill", a thriller about love, marriage, and obsession. Yemi blends crime and romance elements in her work, which is an interesting take on crime fiction.

You can find out more about JD Pennington here:

John's website.

You can find out more about Yemi Dipeolu here:

Yemi's website.

Yemi's Instagram account.

In this second episode of season two, Sean is joined by a true titan of crime fiction: Louise Welsh. She launched her career with an outstanding debut in 2002, has published eleven books, three plays, an opera, edited three volumes of prose and poetry, and contributes to journals and anthologies. She has been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction award and has won the Crime Writers’ Association Creasey Dagger for the best first crime novel. She is the Honorary President of the Ullapool Book Festival and an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. As if that’s not enough, she has created one of the most memorable characters in crime fiction: auctioneer and amateur detective, Rilke!

Her latest novel, “The Cut Up” was released on 29 January 2026.

You can find out more about Louise Welsh here:

Louise’s Wikipedia page

Louise's Amazon author page

Louise's Instagram page

In this first episode of season two, Sean is joined by two icons of the crime fiction world: Caroline England and Guy Hale.

Caroline is the CWA Short Story Dagger shortlisted author of psychological suspense thrillers "Beneath Her Skin", the best-selling "My Husband's Lies", "Betray Her", "Truth Games", "The Sinner", "The Stranger Beside Me". Her new novel, "Behind Her Smile" was released 3 November 2025. And we’ll hear a little more about that in a second.

Guy Hale has been a professional golfer, a rugby player, raced motorcycles, runs a record label, and somehow has found the time to create The Comeback Trail Trilogy and The Shakespeare Murders Series, including "The Croaking Raven", "All Our Yesterdays", "Put Out The Light", and more recently, "Sleep No More" on 11 November 11 2025.

You can find out more about Caroline England here:

Caroline's website

Follow her on X

Follow her on Facebook

Follow her on Instagram

Follow her on TikTok

You can find out more about Guy Hale here:

Guy's website

Whitefox Publishing website

Gulf Coast Records website

Follow him on Instagram

Follow him on Facebook

Sean introduces the 2025 Christmas Special episode with Chris McDonald (Erika Piper series, the Stonebridge Mysteries, and Little Ghost), Chris also writes as Chris Frost (The Killer's Christmas List and The Christmas Tree Killer).

Sean is also joined by Mark Edwards (The Magpie, Follow You Home, The Wasp Trap, and The Christmas Magpie) whose novels have sold over four million copies and have been translated into 12 languages.

Rounding off the festive group is Chris Willocks from Serenity Booksellers. Serenity is an independent family-owned bookstore aimed at growing the book-loving community in Romiley, Stockport, Greater Manchester and beyond. They host Noir at the Bookshop and Bar and co-direct Stockport Noir with Christ McDonald.

You can find out more about Chris McDonald below:

• Chris's Amazon author page
• Chris's DHH Literary Agency page
• Stockport Noir

You can find out more about Mark Edwards below:

• Mark Edwards's website
• Mark Edwards's Amazon author page

You can find out more about Chris Willocks and Serenity Booksellers below:

• Serenity website
• ⁠Stockport Noir⁠

With an introduction from Bloody Scotland Festival Director Bob McDevitt, Sean Watkin is joined by David Goodman (author of A Reluctant Spy and winner of Bloody Scotland's 2025 Debut Prize), Tariq Ashkanani (author of The Midnight King and winner of Bloody Scotland's 2025 McIlvanney Prize), and Marco Rinaldi (author of Dark Waters and the winner of Bloody Scotland's 2025 Pitch Perfect).

With discussions ranging from the Scottish crime writing scene, the pressures of success, and the most writer thing in their homes, this episode is packed in with insights and laughs.

You can find out more about David Goodman below:

David Goodman's website.

David Goodman's Instagram.

You can find out more about Tariq Ashkanani below:

You can find out more about Marco Rinaldi below:

Marco Rinaldi's website.

Marco Rinaldi's Instagram.

Marco Rinaldi's BlueSky.

Page One podcast.

Sean Watkin is joined by multi-million selling author, Simon McCleave (DI Ruth Hunter Series), and instant New York Times bestselling author Cara Hunter (Murder in the Family), where they talk about how tiny details bring writing to life - and maybe Sean should be on a lifestyle programme instead of writing crime.

You can find out more about Simon McCleave below:

Simon McCleave's VIP Club. If you sign up, you can get two free novellas!

Simon McCleave's The Snowdownia Killings Amazon page.

You can find out more about Cara Hunter below:

Cara Hunter's website.

Cara Hunter's podcast, Watching the Detectives.

Sean Watkin is joined by Anna Britton (Left in the Ashes), Danielle Devlin (Burnt Offerings), and Sarah Maclennan, programme leader of Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University.

In the second part of this double-episode, the four discuss crafting that first novel, struggles in writing, building tension, and more!

You can find out more about Anna Britton below:

Anna Britton's ⁠website⁠

You can find out more about Danielle Devlin below:

Danielle Devlin's Amazon ⁠author page⁠

You can find out more about Sarah Maclennan below:

Sarah Maclennan's ⁠LJMU profile

Sean Watkin is joined by Anna Britton (Left in the Ashes), Danielle Devlin (Burnt Offerings), and Sarah Maclennan, programme leader of Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University.

In this first part of this double-episode, the four discuss crafting that first novel, struggles in writing, building tension, and more!

You can find out more about Anna Britton below:

Anna Britton's website

You can find out more about Danielle Devlin below:

Danielle Devlin's Amazon author page

You can find out more about Sarah Maclennan below:

Sarah Maclennan's LJMU profile

Join Sean Watkin as he chats with Daniel Aubrey (Dark Island, The Dying Light), R.S. Burnett (Whiteout) for a chat about their journey to publication, and somehow a conversation about the merits of Alien vs. Aliens. Catherine Yaffe (The Shadow Killer, Catch Me Twice) joins Sean to discuss nature vs. nurture and the importance of that in crime fiction.

You can find out more about Daniel Aubrey below:

Daniel Aubrey's Amazon author page

The Orcadian Bookshop where you can buy copies of The Dying Light

You can find out more about RS Burnett below:

Whiteout Amazon page

RS Burnett's Instagram account

RS Burnett's X account

You can find out more about Catherine Yaffe below:

Catherine Yaffe's website

Catherine Yaffe's Instagram account

This week, Sean Watkin is joined by 2025 debut authors Christ Bridges (Sick to Death) and Kingsley Pearson (Flat 401) as they discuss their experiences as new authors on the crime scene from getting an agent to publication day and everything in between.