Episode 76: Slaughter in Southwold - with Cara Hunter and William Shaw

The Hobcast Book Show has been on its travels again, this time to the charming Suffolk coastal town of Southwold for its annual crime-writing festival, Slaughter in Southwold. It brought together a host of crime fiction fans and heard from eight leading writers, including our own Hobeck author Lin Le Versha, whose Steph Grant mystery series is largely set in the town. As we hear in this special episode, Lin was joined on stage by Adrian to share insights about writing her novels Blood Notes and Blood Lines. We also hear from two of the most successful UK crime authors, Cara Hunter and William Shaw.

Cara moved from working in the City of London, via PR, to finally a hugely successful novelist. Her DI Adam Fawley series is set in Oxford, but as she explains, she tends to avoid using the university as a setting for her books, preferring to reflect the wider city.

William Shaw has been shortlisted for this year's Golden Dagger at the CWA Dagger Awards, one of the highest honours in UK crime fiction writing for his novel The Trawlerman. He lives in Brighton, UK, and sets many of his books in the unique coastal community of Dungeness in Kent, with it's other-worldly setting that inspired the work of the late film director, Derek Jarman. William began his writing career in the febrile world of pop magazines in the 80s, and frequently spiced up his interviews with the era's biggest stars by asking: "Have you ever seen a dead body?" His fascination with death on the human psyche shines through in his work, and his brilliant talk at the festival.

Settle back for our special from the wonderful Slaughter in Southwold, featuring of course not one, but two amazing examples of Rebecca's random questions.