The Richard and Judy Book Club, exclusive to WHSmith

Travis Devine, the character at the heart of this week’s Book Club novel The 6.20 Man, has survived combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, but soon finds himself wrapped up in a different kind of danger in the cut throat world of high finance.

Author David Baldacci joins Richard and Judy to explain why he was ready to get out of his comfort zone as a writer by creating new characters and exploring new worlds through them. They also talk about some of the real life events that inspired parts of the storyline – namely the Pandora and Panama Papers – and how real world politics is being impacted by vast sums of money.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Spring Book Club collection, and use the code SPRING23 for a 10% discount.

Geologist Amanda Geard has written her debut novel, The Midnight House. Immersive, with an incredibly strong sense of place, the book tells the story of Lady Charlotte Rathmore who went missing in 1940, and that of Ellie Fitzgerald who looks to unravel the mystery in 2019.

Amanda joins Richard and Judy to discuss how her geology knowledge helped her write both the novel’s central grand house, and south-west Ireland, in such vivid detail. Plus, Amanda talks about how the renovation of her own home in County Kerry unearthed some moving local history.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Spring Book Club collection, and use the code SPRING23 for a 10% discount.

How well do you sleep at night? We all go through periods when we’re not sleeping as well as we might like, but for the protagonist in this week’s Book Club novel, Insomnia, her sleep deprivation is particularly disturbing... Sarah Pinborough’s unreliable narrator Emma is petrified of meeting the same fate as her mother who had a psychotic breakdown when she turned 40.

Richard, Judy, and Sarah chat about which big milestone birthdays they found difficult, and how they cope with early morning and lack of sleep. Plus, with a history as a horror writer, Sarah explains why she likes to add an paranormal element to her thrillers.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Spring Book Club collection, and use the code SPRING23 for a 10% discount.

What happens to the families of serial killers? How do they reflect on the memories they shared? These are the questions Victoria Selman asks in Truly Darkly Deeply. Sophie was 12 when Matty Melgren came into her life as her mother’s much-loved partner; 20 years later he’s in prison for murder and Sophie must question everything she thought she knew.

Richard, Judy, and Victoria explore whether they think people are born evil, and why our fascination with true crime might speak to a need to understand the things that scare us so we’re better prepared to face them. Plus Victoria explains why she’s keen not to celebrate killers in her work, instead focusing on the victims.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Spring Book Club collection, and use the code SPRING23 for a 10% discount.

Are there any circumstances under which it’s ok to leave a young child alone? What should the punishment be? In Jessamine Chan’s The School For Good Mothers, such recklessness demands you spend time being re-educated as a parent by the state.

Joining Richard and Judy, Jessamine tells the real life story that inspired her semi-dystopian novel, and they wonder whether parents are subject to more judgement now than ever before.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Winter Book Club collection, and use the code WINTER22 for a 10% discount.

What is a woman to do when staying with her abusive husband is dangerous, but leaving could be worse? Leah and McKenna, both women with apparently perfect lives, have never met, but their home lives look incredibly similar in this week’s Book Club novel, The Favour.

Debut author Nora Murphy joins Richard and Judy to talk about how her law degree informed the way she chose to cover intimate partner violence in her novel. They also explore how, although the book is dark and chilling, Nora has written with a compelling sense of cheer and adventure.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Winter Book Club collection, and use the code WINTER22 for a 10% discount.

In October 1966, a landslide at a colliery spoil tip buried a school in Aberfan. In A Terrible Kindness, this real life event is the back drop for Jo Browning Wroe’s fictional story. 19 year old newly-qualified embalmer William is one of many who volunteer to attend the disaster, and the novel follows his life as it continues to unfold.

Jo, who grew up in a crematorium in Birmingham, joins Richard and Judy to explain why undertaking is often a family business, and why the process of embalming is so important at disasters in particular.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Winter Book Club collection, and use the code WINTER22 for a 10% discount.

Isolation is a key theme in this week’s Book Club novel, The French House. Set on the remote island of Guernsey during WWII, we meet a deaf Guernsey native, a woman trapped in a fearful marriage, and a German lieutenant whose isolated worlds will all collide, changing their lives forever.

Author Jacquie Bloese joins Richard and Judy to talk about the parts of the book that are inspired by her own life, including the fact that she used to work at the real ‘French House’ in the title. They also discuss the ways in which the Nazi occupation of Guernsey was a microcosm of what could have happened had the mainland been occupied.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Winter Book Club collection, and use the code WINTER22 for a 10% discount.

Thriller writer Harlan Coben joins Richard and Judy to talk about his new novel, The Match. A sequel to previous Book Club novel The Boy From The Woods, Harlan explains that the two books can be read in either order if you’d like to think of The Boy From The Woods as an origin story.

Similarly, Harlan talks about how the joy of writing for him is that each reader will conjure up an entirely different world, so his characters exist in hundreds of thousands of iterations across the world. The Match is set in the New Jersey mountains, so Richard and Judy explore this wilderness through Harlan’s descriptions.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Winter Book Club collection, and use the code WINTER22 for a 10% discount.

A terrible child murder is at the heart of the first novel in Richard and Judy’s Winter 2022 Book Club collection. Considering himself a ‘failed journalist’, author Robert Gold chose to write a protagonist who is an investigative journalist instead. In Twelve Secrets, Ben Harper’s job means he begins to uncover secrets about the murder of his brother when they were children.

Joining Richard and Judy, Robert talks about his time as an intern at CNN in Washington DC during Clinton’s presidency, as well as the process of writing with James Patterson. They also trade stories about desperately hoping people would turn up to their book signings.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Winter Book Club collection, and use the code WINTER22 for a 10% discount.