Crime Time FM

JOHN VERCHER chats to Paul Burke about his new novel AFTER THE LIGHTS GO OUT , identity, racism, Mixed Marshal Arts, mental health - CTE/Alzheimer's and carers, noir/tragedy and propulsive storytelling, and fear for the dog (Loki) AFTER THE LIGHTS GO OUT : How do you save yourself when you’re the person you trust least of all? Xavier "Scarecrow" Wallace is a biracial Black MMA fight...

Paul Burke takes a look at the latest crime fiction for August. From a top notch comedy thriller-come-meta-fiction to a slice of southern rural noir, from a dysfunctional family drama to a tense heist, and from the US and Mexico to the UK with brief spells in Crete and Dublin. Books reviewed: Anthony  Horowitz.    A Twist of the Knife                                                     top cosy /c...

JANET EVANOVICH chats to Paul Burke about THE RECOVERY AGENT , GAME ON, Stephanie Plum and Gabriela Rose, humour and sex, The Mummy, Midnight Run, Teslas and having a mouth like a truck driver. THE RECOVERY AGENT Lost something? Gabriela Rose knows how to get it back. As a recovery agent, she’s hired by individuals and companies seeking lost treasures, stolen heirlooms, or missing assets of any ki...

BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES & ENDS: An On The Sofa With Victoria Special. PART 3: ENDINGS Victoria Selman chats to Dominic Nolan about novel endings. The importance of the twist in a crime novel, why first sentences stand out more than last, or do they/, what makes a satisfying ending? DOMINIC NOLAN is the British the author of 3 crime fictions. His latest VINE STREET is a superb London set historical...

BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES & ENDS: An On The Sofa With Victoria Special. PART 2: MIDDLES Victoria Selman chats to Dominic Nolan about the middle of the novel. Why are middles challenging for authors? What do readers want? What are the tools that help make a good middle?  DOMINIC NOLAN is the British the author of 3 crime fictions. His latest VINE STREET is a superb London set historical mystery, it i...

BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES & ENDS: An On The Sofa With Victoria Special. PART 1: BEGINNINGS Victoria Selman chats to Dominic Nolan about novel openings, what makes a great opening, how to hook your readers and getting a character in. DOMINIC NOLAN is the British the author of 3 crime fictions. His latest VINE STREET is a superb London set historical mystery, it is available now in paperback. VICTORIA...

SHERRYL CLARK chats to Paul Burke about her new Judi Westerholme novel MAD, BAD AND DEAD . Melbourne, poetry, structure and pace, the innocents caught up in crime, keeping it grounded and Finland. MAD, BAD AND DEAD : A dead employee. A missing child. Anonymous phone calls in the dead of night. Judi Westerholme's troubles aren't over yet... Already struggling to juggle co-running Candleba...

MARK ELLIS chats to Paul Burke about the latest Frank Merlin mystery DEAD IN THE WATER , wartime London, the American army in the UK, what makes good historical writing and the richest man in the world at the time Calouste Gulbenkian. DEAD IN THE WATER : Summer, 1942. The Second World War rages on but Britain now faces the Nazi threat with America at its side. In a bombed-out London swarming with...

TOM VAUGHAN MACAULAY chats to Paul Burke about his new novel COUNTDOWN TO A KILLING , meta-fiction, writing with a full time career as a lawyer, the modern epistolary novel and quirky characters. COUNTDOWN TO A KILLING : Wen Li, an anxious young woman who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, is tormented by an incessant fear that she might have homicidal impulses. Wen falls for her self-abs...

TOXIC FRIENDSHIPS: In the season 2  finale POLLY PHILLIPS (THE REUNION), HARRIET TYCE (IT ENDS AT MIDNIGHT),  TM LOGAN (THE CURFEW), discuss bringing out the worst in each other, long held resentments, trigger events, gaslighting, crabs in a bucket and the white sock incident (wince). VICTORIA SELMAN SundayTimes bestselling author of Truly Darkly Deeply Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3xmvMeS...

BEVERLEY JONES , aka B.E. Jones, chats to Paul Burke about her novels The Beach House and The Wilderness and the Firebird Pictures/Amazon Prime adaptation of The Wilderness starring Jenna Coleman and Oliver Jackson Cohen . Shout outs for Ferndale and Storyville Books in Pontypridd. THE BEACH HOUSE : When Grace Jensen returns to her home one day, she finds a body in a pool of blood and a menacing g...

HEADS TOGETHER - the WE ARE NO LONGER REAL PEOPLE Episode - with a special feature on St. Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend . Paul Burke chats to Sarah Hilary about this unique event 12th-14th August in Oxford. BOOKING for ST. HILDA'S For general details and full programme here To attend in person here To join in online here SARAH HILARY is a best selling author and winner of the Theakstons...

SCOTT BLACKBURN chats to Paul Burke about his Southern Rural Noir IT DIES WITH YOU character, influences, the amazing Mountainview  MFA (JOHN VERCHER, TED FLANAGAN), picking an agent, getting out there and selling your book. IT DIES WITH YOU For nearly a decade, twenty-nine-year-old Hudson Miller has made his living in the boxing ring, but a post-fight brawl threatens to derail his career. Despera...

BARRY FORSHAW chats to Paul Burke about SIMENON: THE MAN, THE BOOKS, THE FILMS . A 21st Century re-examination of SIMENON, Maigret and the Romans Durs novels, a wide ranging discussion of everything from Simenon's place in French literature to Robert Newton and Spartacus. SIMENON: THE MAN, THE BOOKS, THE FILMS The legendary Georges Simenon was the most successful and influential writer of cri...

THE ORION INCIDENT ROOM ON CRIME TIME FM FEATURING: CATE QUINN BLOOD SISTERS JOE IDE THE GOODBYE COAST OSCAR DE MURIEL THE SIGN OF THE DEVIL & MJ ARLIDGE CAT AND MOUSE Four top Orion authors discuss their latest novels with Paul Burke as the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writers Festival gets under way. Produced by Junkyard Dog Music courtesy of Southgate and Leigh Crime Time Paul Burke...

Paul Burke takes a look at the latest crime fiction for July. From surprisingly entertaining financial thriller to the daring wartime rescue of a cow, via a Californian sniper, a Japanese locked room, a couple of serial killers with a plan and a narcissistic pensioner. With apologies for any mispronunciations of Japanese, Spanish, French or even English! THE FRACTURED TREE Justin Wheatley         ...

KARIN SLAUGHTER chats to Craig Sisterson about her new novel GIRL FORGOTTEN , twenty years of crime writing, the Netflix series of PIECES OF HER, crime fiction as a perfect vehicle for writing about social issues, particularly violence against women, male authors who write strong female characters & the Aussie series Neighbours & British student audience. GIRL FORGOTTEN : A girl with a sec...

GORDON KERR author of BRITISH TRAITORS : Betrayal & Treachery in the Twentieth Century chats to Paul Burke about soy hysteria pre-WWI, the men and women who betrayed their country for money and ideology, The Cambridge spies, Lord Haw Haw and George Blake, not to mention his novel A Partisan Heart. BRITISH TRAITORS Capital punishment for murder was suspended in Great Britain in 1965, an Act fin...

THE JOURNEY OF A BOOK : STEF BIERWERTH (publisher - Quercus), BETHAN FERGUSON (Head of Customer Insight - Hachette) & DAVID HEADLEY (agent, bookseller, festival organiser et al) discuss the journey of a book from submitted manuscript to positioning on the bookshop shelf.  Why a great book may just not be right for the market and how much book covers matter to sales. VICTORIA SELMAN Sunday Time...

MARK OLSHAKER (MINDHUNTER) chats to Victoria about TRULY, DARKLY, DEEPLY , serial killers and profiling the criminal mind. Mark Olshaker (born February 28, 1951) is an American author from Washington DC who frequently collaborates with FBI agent John E Douglas  in writing books about criminal and investigative psychology. In 1995, they formed Mindhunters Inc. and later released MIndhunter: Inside...

Sunday Times Bestselling author and Richard & Judy pick VICTORIA SELMAN chats to Paul Burke about her new psychological thriller TRULY, DARKLY, DEEPLY , ( UK link ), serial killers and their families, Mindhunter and losing a beloved pet. TRULY, DARKLY, DEEPLY (US link) Twelve-year-old Sophie and her mother, Amelia-Rose, move to London from Massachusetts where they meet the charismatic Matty Me...

Jack Lutz chats to Paul Burke about his new novel LONDON IN BLACK , dystopian murder mysteries, London's past, thriller pace, Cleopatra's Needle and a guest appearance by Jack's Mum's cat. LONDON IN BLACK : THE ATTACKS WON’T STOP. NEITHER WILL SHE. LONDON 2027 Terrorists deploy London Black, a highly sophisticated nerve gas, at Waterloo Station. For ten percent of the populatio...

Police Advisors : Kate Bendelow - THE REAL CSI (Fact) DEFINITELY DEAD (Fict.)  & Graham Bartlett - BAD FOR GOOD (Fict) discuss weaving authenticity into crime fiction and common mistakes writers make. Kate Bendelow has been a serving Crime Scene Investigator with Greater Manchester Police for fifteen years, during which time she has worked on countless crime scenes ranging from burglary and ar...

Canadian author LAURIE PETROU chats to Paul Burke about her new novel STARGAZER , Toxic Friendships, the limits of art and canoes. STARGAZER Diana Martin has lived her life in the shadow of her sadistic older brother. She quietly watches the family next door, enthralled by celebrity fashion designer Marianne Taylor and her feted daughter, Aurelle. She wishes she were a 'Taylor girl'. By...

ALAN PARKS chats to Paul Burke about his new novel May God Forgive , winning an Edgar, Glasgow and boredom in the music business. MAY GOD FORGIVE Glasgow is a city in mourning. An arson attack on a hairdresser's has left five dead. Tempers are frayed and sentiments running high. When three youths are charged the city goes wild. A crowd gathers outside the courthouse but as the police drive th...