The Hobcast Book Show

Crime fiction has come a long way from simply discovering a body in the library, a handful of clues and the revelation of the killer over dinner. Developments in forensics have advanced at a ferocious rate in recent years, and our guest on the Hobcast Book Show this week has witnessed them all for real. Kate Bendelow has been a scene of crime officer for Greater Manchester Police for the past 19 y...

Murder. The word on everyone's lips in Stirling this past weekend as some of the world's greatest crime authors gathered for the Bloody Scotland Crime writing festival. Held in person and online, it showed once again that the crime writing community knows how to put on a show, and we at Hobeck Books enjoyed every moment of this special event. It was our first Bloody Scotland, as it was for our gue...

How often do you suspect that not everything you read in a crime novel is as accurate as possible? Alongside experts in policing, the legal system and forensics, Brian Price has established himself as one of the UK's leading consultants for authors who want to ensure the science  of crime is correct. Brian's expertise is much sought after by some of the UK's leading authors, but now he's switching...

Like it or not, to sell books you need to advertise. And if our experience at Hobeck Books is anything to go by, this is a time consuming process that requires nerve, knowledge, skill and no little investment too. Our guest this week on  The Hobcast Book Show,  Matthew J Holmes , has achieved sometimes spectacular results using Facebook, Amazon and Bookbub ads. As he tells Rebecca and Adrian, ther...

Sue Shepherd 's first novel for Hobeck Books,   Swindled , is published on 7th September, but as we discover on this week's  Hobcast Book Show,  this is not her first rodeo. Sue is a successful author of romantic comedy novels, but has decided that now's the right time to plunge into the world of crime and suspense. As she tells Adrian Hobart and Rebecca Collins, her fiction is based on creating c...

Our guest this week on The Hobcast Book Show will cheerfully admit that he's had a varied career, before finally settling on the life of a hugely successful crime author. Writing under his pen name J.M Dalgleish, Jason Dalgleish has successfully launched not one but two crime series: The Dark Yorkshire novels and The Hidden Norfolk series. Three years after his first book was published, Jason has...

The UK Crime writing scene is the envy of the world. No other country can boast the range of talented crime authors that the UK does, and that's not least down to the incredible support the reading community offers them. Donna Morfett is at the vanguard of this support. Her Facebook group, Donna's Interviews, Reviews and Giveaways has grown in recent months to become one of the most influential pa...

Once a writer, always a writer - someone wise once said. Becoming a published author though is a different matter altogether. That's been the 40-year-long dream of this week's Hobcast Book Show guest, Lesley McEvoy . Like so many writers, life, family and work combined to prevent her from pursuing a literary career. Instead, she built a successful freelance career as a psychologist and profiler, w...

Snowdonia is one of Britain's most popular National Parks, beloved for it's ruggedly beautiful mountains and forests, and provides the inspired location for Simon McCleave's crime novels. His DI Ruth Hunter series only launched in January 2020, but Simon has already sold 800,000 books. Drawing on the skills he sharpened as a script editor on some of the UK's most popular TV shows, Simon writes qui...

It's back! The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival survived months of uncertainty to return to Harrogate in spectacular fashion, and the Hobcast was there to join in the fun. In this week's bumper episode, we speak to the godfather of British crime fiction Ian Rankin about the challenge of finishing another writer's work. S J Parris reflects on how the pandemic has affected her creative...

Twelve years since her first novel was published, Leigh Russell has established herself as one of the UK's leading crime authors, selling almost two million books. She's published fourteen novels in her Geraldine Steel series, and successfully launched two spin-off series too. As Leigh admits in her inspirational interview with Adrian and Rebecca, she's probably made every mistake there is to make...

In the past few years Tartan Noir has become one of the dominant forces in UK crime fiction, with Ian Rankin and Val McDiarmid leading the charge up the charts. At the core of this movement is the Bloody Scotland festival, now entering its tenth year. With its two major awards, the McIlvaney Prize and the Debut award, Bloody Scotland has helped launch the careers of some of the most innovative and...

How difficult is it to master a new genre when you've built your writing career around another? That's the challenge that faced our guest on The Hobcast Book Show this week, Terri Nixon . She publishes Crossfire with Hobeck Books this week, after establishing herself as one of the leading authors in the UK of family sagas. She's also a leading fantasy writer. So what made her add crime to her port...

In this week's episode, we hear again from Jenny Parrott in the second part of an interview first featured in episode 17 of The Hobcast Book Show from Hobeck Books , and discuss the impact of technology on the publishing industry, and what it means for authors. Adrian and Rebecca reflect on the growing campaign from literary agents for a fairer deal for their clients from audiobook royalties, and...

This week,  The Hobcast Book Show  speaks to Alison Morgan on the eve of the publication of the second of her Quirk Files Series novel,  Throttled .  What are the challenges to overcome second time around? How has she avoided the pitfalls of sequel syndrome? And what obstacles has Alison faced narrating the first novel in the series,  Over Her Dead Body ?  Adrian and Rebecca also discuss the excit...