Femi Kayode's debut 'Lightseekers' was a book of the month in many national newspapers, it was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award, and was a commercial success.

His follow up is 'Gaslight', it's the second in the Phillip Taiwo 'Whydunnit' series. Following the investigative psychologist who has been urgently called in to investigate the disappearance of the 'First Lady' of a Nigerian mega-church.

We discuss why he's interested in the why, rather than the who or what, also what he's learned from a varied life of work and studies all around the world. You can hear how his family take him leaving the home to write alone, also what he tells himself when he's struggling getting the draft done, and the boring fonts that keep him focused.

We chat about chapter titles, why he's perfectly happy with where he is right now, and what a Nigerian spin on crime fiction really means.

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This week, we're chatting to Katie Marsh. Katie has published 5 romantic fiction novels, ‘Unbreak your Heart’, ‘The Rest of Me’, ‘The Beautiful Life’, ‘A Life Without You’ and ‘My Everything’, and has now completely switched genre. You can find out why in the podcast.

Her new novel is 'How Not To Murder Your Ex', and tells the story of Clio, who opens the door to find her hated ex Gary dead on the lawn in front of her. It's no accident, and the eyes of blame quickly fall on her.

We discuss why she holds herself back for 2 months before starting to write, also why she strives to be distraction free above all things, and why the genre switch really needs to work out for her.

DISCLAIMER - sorry if your name is Gary.

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Terry Hayes started his career as a journalist before heading to Hollywood. He found real success there, writing on 'Flight Plan', 'Payback', and penning, 'Mad Max II'. In 2013, he published 'I Am Pilgrim' to international acclaim and success.

10 years later, he's written his second novel, 'The Year of the Locust'. It tells the story of Kane, a CIA spy who can go where other's can't. We discuss the pressure of following huge success, why he's taken 10 years to publish a new book, and why that combination of thoughts made him chuck out hundreds of thousands of words.

You can hear what Hollywood is really like for a writer, why writing novels is more validating than penning screenplays, and why the easiest way to stave off boredom... is to create challenges.

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Freya Berry's debut, 'The Dictator's Wife', was a bestselling, critically acclaimed hit, and was a BBC 2 'Between the Covers' pick. She's back with 'The Birdcage Library'.

It tells the story of Emily Blackwood, a young adventuress tasked by an exotic animal hunter to track down a lost treasure hidden in a castle... it becomes a deeper, darker hunt into secrets best left untold.

We talk about the article that gave her the inspiration for the novel, also the research around Scottish Castles she called work. You can hear about why it's the themes of a story that keep her going, how much she knows about the road ahead of her as she writes it down, and why she likes to leave herself space to seize ideas.

ALSO hear why listening to the same song works, how to change things if lockdown is still affecting your work day, and how things change through the second novel.

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Denzil Meyrick has published 11 bestselling DCI Daley books, many standalones, and is back with, 'Murder at Holly House'.

Set in 1952, it takes Inspector Frank Grasby despatched to investigate a strange body discovered at historic Holly House. When snow strands him there, and another body is found, we find ourselves in a locked room mystery.

We talk about why Denzil doesn't like being limited by genre... he is a writer of all sorts, as that's what writers should be. Also, you can hear how working in the police, and also as the director of many companies, influenced his writing.

We chat through why his routine is to simply sit down and get on with it, how to deal with missing the word count, and why he wanted to take a break from the DCI Daley stories.

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Dann McDorman is an Emmy-nominated news producer, working for MSNBC in New York. His debut novel is 'West Heart Kill', which is something particularly unique. It places the reader at the heart of the mystery. Dann invites you in to an exclusive country club to be an active guest over a holiday weekend... when the bodies start dropping.

We discuss the decision to put a singular twist on the crime mystery genre, and how it wasn't supposed to end up that way at all. You can hear how he began writing with no idea what would happen... only for his detective to ask questions he, as a writer, had to answer.

Dann runs through why he doesn't write linearly, why he likes to write outisde, and how he might change the way he writes as he publishes more novels.

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This week, we're chatting to D.L. Douglas and Donna Hay at the same time. For D.L. see Donna, and Donna see D.L. Donna Hay has published many saga novels, and worked as a journalist across magazines. She's now dipping her ink into historical crime mystery, as D.L. Douglas and her novel, 'Dr. Spilsbury and the Camden Town Killer'. It features the real life 1920's forensic pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury. It's a golden age mystery that meets CSI.

We discuss how structuring crime stories and saga books are completely different, and how she refocuses her mind when switching genre, and how she deals with a year of writing stories for different audiences.

You can hear what she always tells herself when she begins a book, how she found the voice of Dr. Spilsbury, why her dream of a white board soon got overwhelming, and we get a new acronym to live by!

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This week we're chatting to Claire Daverley. Her new novel is 'Talking at Night', which tells the story of Will and Rosie, two polar opposites who fall in love and are destined to be together forever, until a tragedy shatters their future.

We discuss how much Claire thought about genre, and how she learned from working in the industry. Also, you can hear how she dealt with rejections and went to a writing course which helped her move into a new frame of writing mind. We run through why she takes time to create the right mood, how a house move has switched things up for her, and how Claire is dealing with a full day's worth of writing.

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Sarah Moorhead is busy. She's a doer who wants to achieve. She's been a teacher, a Chaplain, started youth-groups, has a black-belt in kickboxing, and writes novels. She published 'Witness X' in 2020, and is back with 'The Treatment'.

The novel is all about the future of law enforcement. It looks at how ground-breaking technology could alter what we think of criminals... only psychiatrist Grace Gunnarsson discovers it could let people get away with murder.

We chat through the 'what if?' that started the whole plot off, also why her creativity with books extends to more than just writing them, and why she likes to keep busy. You can hear extensively about her writing desk, why she keeps advice from other authors in her mind, and how much she thought about genre.

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This week, we're joined by Nick Hunt. He's worked as a journalist and travel writer, publishing 'Outlandish', 'Where the Wild Winds Are', and 'Walking the Woods and the Water'. We discuss how he fell into becoming a travel writer, and how in reality it got in the way of his novel writing.

He's published 'Red Smoking Mirror', an alternate history set in 1521, in the Mexican City of Tenochtitlan, in which 29 years earlier, Islamic Spain never fell to the Christians, and Andalus launched a voyage of discovery to the New Maghreb. We talk about how he blended his own experiences travelling, with historical fact, to create fiction.

Also you can hear why it surprised him to not be in control of everything, why writing and plotting feels like travelling, and why he's passionate about page-setups.

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