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Season 10
TIP - Click on the authors name for their website.
Vicky is a British author, teacher & story coach. She lives on the Kent coast, with her crazy cockerpoo. She is passionate about the power of stories to inspire and change lives.
Vicky grew up in a sleepy village outside Chichester in West Sussex. At seventeen, she swapped green fields and mud for city pavements, and studied French & German in London. After working in sales and fundraising after that, and running various successful businesses, she followed her heart’s desire and began her Psychology degree. In 2002, she began teaching GCSE/A-level Psychology.
Vicky stopped teaching in schools in 2012 and began an MA Creative Writing at Kingston University. She moved to the Kent coast in 2013 and has made her home there.
She teaches in person and online, and writes fiction and non-fiction.
THE WOOTTON WINDMILL MYSTERIES
This is a cozy mystery series set in a fictional village called Lower Wootton in Kent, in the area between Deal and Dover. The main character is Ellie Blix who is a busy mum who has lived in Wootton all her life.
The first in the series, Murder at the Christmas Carols, was published on 21st November 2022 and quickly reached the top 100 kindle chart on Amazon. It’s currently in the top 300. The second book will be out in the spring of 2023.
This is the blurb:
A dead carol singer. Three women sleuths. Not your average village Christmas.
All Ellie Blix wants is to make it to New Year without any more disasters. She's juggling jobs and looking after a sick daughter. Then her mother-in-law moves in and won’t stop interfering.
It’s the week before Christmas in the snowy village of Lower Wootton. When Andrea Burdett, Ellie's estranged schoolfriend, collapses at the village carols, it quickly becomes clear she’s been murdered. Feeling guilty about the recent row she and Andrea had, and under suspicion herself, Ellie teams up with her daughter and mother-in-law to follow the clues and solve the mystery - much to the annoyance of Ellie's detective inspector ex-husband.
Then a second villager is found dead. Can the three Blix women find the killer and return the community to safety?
#VickyNewman #IzzieHarper #Murderatthechristmascarols
Join us for an in-depth conversation with bestselling author Dom Nolan as we delve into the world of his novel "Vine Street." Set in the gritty streets of Los Angeles, this intense thriller follows a former detective as he unravels a web of corruption and violence that threatens to consume the city. Hear from Nolan himself as he discusses the inspiration behind the book and the challenges of bringing its complex characters to life. Don't miss this exciting opportunity to learn more about one of the most gripping novels of the year. VINE STREET: **BEST CRIME BOOKS OF 2021 - THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES** **CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH - THE TIMES** 'Savage, beautiful, mesmeric...a very special book.' CHRIS WHITAKER, AUTHOR OF WE BEGIN AT THE END 'Extraordinary...a career-defining performance.' THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES 'This is crime writing of the highest quality' DAILY MAIL SOHO, 1935. SERGEANT LEON GEATS' PATCH. A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code. The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early. But Geats - a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay - knows the dark seams of the city. Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer - a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect. 'A stirringly ambitious novel that pairs the scope of James Ellroy's LA CONFIDENTIAL with the psychological depth of Graham Greene's BRIGHTON ROCK. Extraordinary.' A. J. FINN 'A tour de force. A brilliant marriage of tension and rich detail.' HARRIET TYCE 'An epic, brutal, blockbuster of a crime novel. It's the best film noir you've never seen complete with a love story that might just rip your heart out.' TREVOR WOOD 'An enthralling tale that takes you into the seamy heart of Soho's past. Written in Nolan's visceral, muscular prose, it is a joy to read.' LESLEY KARA 'A rich, ambitious, masterpiece of a crime novel' OLIVIA KIERNAN 'Poetic and tragic...but also vibrant, with a great depth of world and character' JAMES DELARGY Praise for Dominic Nolan: 'Nolan is set to become Britain's Michael Connelly' DAILY MAIL 'This powerhouse novel is not for the fragile-hearted...one hell of a debut' HEAT #DominicNolan #Crimebooks #crimefiction
How to write 'Mad, sad and funny' with author Bobby Palmer.
Bobby Palmer is the author of the Saturday Times bestselling novel Isaac And The Egg. His writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, Men's Health, Time Out, Cosmopolitan and More. He is also co-host of the Book Chat podcast with Pandora Sykes! You can find a link to that, and his book below.
Book chat:
https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/book-chat-with-pandora-and-bobby
Isaac And The Egg: https://amzn.to/3VE294d
Isaac And The Egg:
⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐
The love story of a lifetime, over in a phone call.
Two strangers who meet at exactly the right moment.
Hope, it seems, can come in all shapes and sizes...
When Isaac Addy walks into the woods on the worst day of his life and finds something extraordinary there, he already knows he's going to take it home.
A grieving Isaac and his curious new friend are unlikely companions. They don't even speak the same language. But their chance encounter will transform Isaac's life in ways he cannot yet imagine. And maybe he will finally be able to tell the truth.
The only way to find out what happens next is to begin.
#Isaacandtheegg #BobbyPalmer #Authorinterview
Alexandra Heminsley is a Sunday Times bestselling author, journalist, broadcaster and speaker. Her work has included writing Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers, interviewing names as diverse as Courtney Love, Billie Jean King and Kate Atkinson, and her work has been nominated for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. She has also written about the incalculable value of LGBT+ families, Valley of the Dolls, and Strictly Come Dancing.
She is author of three books about women, bodies and sport, including bestselling memoir RUNNING LIKE A GIRL, which has now been published in thirteen countries, and the recently published SOME BODY TO LOVE: A Family Story (March 2022).
She continues to be a sought-after ghost-writer, having co-written Judy Murray’s bestselling and William Hill Sports Book of the Year nominated KNOWING THE SCORE, Sara Davies’ WE CAN ALL MAKE IT, and a handful of other bestsellers. She has also worked with brands such as Nike, American Express and Unilever.
Her debut novel UNDER THE SAME STARS is published by Little, Brown in July 2022, and her introduction in included in the recent reissue of Jackie Collins’ LOVERS AND GAMBLERS (March 2022), which is being adapted for Netflix by Sarah Phelps.
After 8 years as the books editor at Elle, and 10 years at BBC Radio 2’s Claudia Winkleman Arts Show, she is now focussed on her own books. She continues to write features and interviews for the nationals including the Guardian, Telegraph and Sunday Times, as well as women’s magazines such as Vogue and Kinfolk magazine.
Buy her latest book here: https://amzn.to/3HgeAiA
Charles Ardai is an entrepreneur, writer, editor and producer. He is the founder of the early internet service Juno and of Hard Case Crime, a line of pulp-style crime novels by authors ranging from Stephen King, Michael Crichton and Gore Vidal to Cornell Woolrich CC 1925 and Brian De Palma ’62. Ardai himself is the author of five novels, among them the 2007 Shamus Award-winning Songs of Innocence, set partly on the Columbia campus and which The Washington Post called “an instant classic.” In addition to the Shamus, he has also received the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Ellery Queen Award for mystery writing. Ardai was a writer and producer on the TV series Haven, and in 2016 produced the acclaimed all-female Central Park production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
His latest novel, Gun Honey Vol.2 is due for release in April 2023.
Blurb:
Fans of the first graphic novel and classic pulp crime fiction will get a thrill out of this fast-paced, mystery thriller.
Joanna Tan is back, sexier and deadlier than ever… She’ll get you the weapon you need, when you need it, where you need it -- no matter how impossible. But this time, somebody else is planting the weapons. Somebody who’s causing a lot of trouble. And with Joanna’s MO, the authorities are making her their number one suspect.
It’s now up to Joanna to prove her innocence, and find the woman responsible for framing her for murder!
BUY IT HERE: https://amzn.to/3Y1glWQ
#HardCaseCrime #CrimeFiction #CharlesArdai
Rachel Harrison is the National Bestselling author of CACKLE, SUCH SHARP TEETH, and THE RETURN, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Guernica, Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, as an Audible Original, and in her debut story collection, BAD DOLLS.
Her next novel, BLACK SHEEP, is out September 12th 2023.
Her latest novel, Crackle, was released 23 Sept. 2022.
Crackle:
All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her long-time boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching job that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. Her new home is picturesque and perfect. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is lovely too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.
Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the town seems… a little afraid of her. And, okay. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power… but she couldn’t be… could she?
Crackle book link: https://amzn.to/3iwGwp9
Formerly a bar owner, a criminal defense investigator, and an English teacher, James Kestrel is now an attorney practicing throughout the Pacific. His writing has won advance praise from Stephen King, James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Meg Gardiner, James Fallows, Pico Iyer, and numerous other authors. A sailor and world traveler, Kestrel has lived in Taiwan, New Orleans, and a West Texas ghost town. He lives in Volcano, Hawaii.
Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Novel
FIVE DECEMBERS:
“War, imprisonment, torture, romance…The novel has an almost operatic symmetry, and Kestrel turns a beautiful phrase.” -New York Times
NOMINATED FOR BEST THRILLER IN THE 2022 BARRY AWARDS
FINALIST FOR THE HAMMETT PRIZE 2021
December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever. Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn't know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor.
This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.
#JamesKestrel #FiveDecembers #Writers
This week we invite a new type of creative onto our show. A podcaster! Yes, that's right, Talking Scared Podcast will chat to us about the creative life of a podcaster, plus horror! The genre in which Neil McRoberts' podcast focuses on. He has also written articles on horror for Esquire. Neil is the host of Talking Scared, which has conversations with the biggest names in horror fiction. A podcast for horror readers who want to know where their favourite stories came from . . . and what frightens the people who wrote them. We will have fun with our audience and we will enjoy our Friday night. So, why not tag along and be part of it?
You can find Neil's podcast, Talking Scared, here: https://talkingscared.buzzsprout.com/
#Horror #Horrorfiction #TalkingScared
Sophie Flynn is a Cotswolds based psychological thriller author with an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes. Her debut novel ALL MY LIES (SImon & Schuster, 2021) was hailed 'a real page-turner' by Sophie Hannah. Her latest novel, KEEP THEM CLOSE (Hera, 2022) was called 'A splendidly twisty psychological mystery' by the Daily Mail.
Alongside writing, Sophie is the Head of Marketing at Jericho Writers. After being awarded a place at Swanwick Writers’ Summer School on the TopWrite scheme for young writers in 2017, Sophie began writing short fiction. She has since had many stories published and placed in competitions with organisations such as Writing Magazine and The Cheltenham Literature Festival.
She is represented by Kate Nash of Kate Nash Literary Agency.
If They Knew:
(A completely gripping, twisty and unputdownable psychological thriller)
A twisty, utterly addictive psychological thriller that fans of Adele Parks and Lisa Jewell won't be able to put down.
Buy it here: https://amzn.to/3EYYIjB
This is a bonus WCCS chat show! We invited #ChrisMcDonald back onto the show to celebrate the release of his new book, #LittleGhost. Chris McDonald is the author A Wash of Black, the first in the DI Erika Piper series, as well as Whispers In The Dark and Stonebridge Mysteries. He has also recently dabbled in writing cosy crimes, as a remedy for the darkness.
LITTLE GHOST:
Irving Ash is a private investigator down on his luck. His life's in the gutter and work has dried up. With bills mounting, he's forced to take a job working security detail at a porn studio.
He's barely started the job when the porn company's highest earning star, Brandi Dyvine, goes missing. Irving can't resist digging deeper into her disappearance, and trails Brandi through the dive bars and deadly streets of Denver—the Mile High City.
A dark #noir, in the classic style, with a taste of Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett and Ross MacDonald.
Author Tim Glister talks spy books, writing and life, on The WCCS. This weeks guest is author Tim Glister. Tim spent his career working behind the scenes for some of the world’s most famous and infamous brands, and his free time reading spy novels and espionage histories.
RED CORONA, the first Richard Knox Spy Thriller, is set at the dawn of the surveillance age with modern resonances about privacy, identity, and loyalty. It won The People’s Book Prize First Time Author Award.
Tims second novel, A LOYAL TRAITOR, explores how the Cold War descended into paranoia, mistrust and betrayal on all sides. It was a Times Thriller of the Month and a Choice Hardback of the Month,
The third Richard Knox Spy Thriller, A GAME OF DECEIT, will be published in spring 2023.
Tim is represented by Curtis Brown, and published in the UK by Point Blank and in the US by Open Road.
#TimGlister #Spybooks #Author
NT Anderson has lived in multiple countries and states and is currently hunkered down in the Endless Mountain Region of the Northeast US. Her chosen professional path was restaurant management and hospitality services until 2009 when she turned her passion for writing into a career as a content creator. In 2019, she took it several steps farther by diving into the world of fiction.
She is also the founder of Indie publishing imprint, Tepris Press. And also the DJ for an audio production company that creates quality content for radio.
Her latest novel is Acts of Commitment (The Acts Series Book 3) which was released in July 2022.
Acts of Commitment:
What if endings really are...new beginnings?
It all started with a simple need. A desire to seek closure on a passionate crush that burned within me for decades. Incendiary memories drove me to the doorstep of the sexy and mysterious Jack Perry.
That fateful night led to another, exactly one year later, where the backdrop to a dreamlike romance was exposed…and confessions were made.
But that is all in the past. A closed book, complete with an ending and an understanding from both of us that we had our moment. Cherished and full of love…but over.
However, fate has intervened, bringing all that came before sharply into focus. Now I must decide…should I dwell on the past or embrace the future? Fear threatens to hold me back from the man who is the sentry at the doorway to my every fantasy. Will I let it keep me from a love more passionate than I could ever have imagined?
#Writingromance #Romanticfiction #Actsofcommitment
Gytha Lodge is a multi-award-winning playwright, novelist and writer for video games and screen. She is also a single parent who blogs about the ridiculousness of bringing up a mega-nerd small boy.
She has a profound addiction to tea, crosswords and awful puns. She studied English at Cambridge, where she became known quite quickly for her brand of twisty, dark yet entertaining drama. She later took the Creative Writing MA at UEA.
Her debut crime novel, She Lies in Wait, has been published by Penguin Random House in the US and UK, and has also been translated into 12 other languages. It became an international bestseller in 2019, and was a Richard and Judy book club pick, as well as a Sunday Times and New York Times crime pick.
Her latest novel, Little Sister: Is she witness, victim or killer?, is being called a nail-biting thriller with twists you'll never see coming. It was released in April of this year (2022).
Buy the book here: https://amzn.to/3VoWEr3
A K Benedict read English at Cambridge and Creative Writing at the University of Sussex. She writes in a room filled with mannequins, clowns and teapots.
Her debut novel, The Beauty of Murder (Orion), was shortlisted for an eDunnit award and is in development for an 8-part TV series. Her second novel, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts (Orion), was published in February 2016 and The Stone House, a tie-in novel for Doctor Who spin-off Class, was published by BBC Books in October.
Before becoming a full-time writer in 2012, A K Benedict was an indie-rock singer/songwriter, playing with her band The Black Tulips and solo as Pimpernelle. She was also a composer for film and TV, with music played on BBC 1, Channel Four, Sky, XFM, Radio 1, Radio 3 and in award-winning films. She still composes occasionally and now sings with The Slice Girls, a group of female thriller writers singing songs of sex, death and criminal activities.
MURDER ON THE CHRISTMAS EXPRESS
CAN YOU SOLVE THE CASE?
Eighteen passengers. Seven stops. One killer.
In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again.
Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again? https://amzn.to/3UZG3sP
#AKBenedict #Murderonthechristmasexpress #Christmas