The Hobcast Book Show

Episode 82: Harrogate Crime Festival ’22 Special - with Mick Herron, Will Dean and Denise Mina

It's the big one! This week The Hobcast Book Show comes from the world's biggest crime writing festival, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Festival set in the grounds of the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate. Back to full capacity for 2022, the event was a huge success, attracting some of the biggest names in global crime fiction. As you'll hear in this special show, Adrian and Rebecca caught up with some star guests, including this year's winner of the Crime Novel of the Year award, Mick Herron. We also speak to Will Dean, who draws inspiration for his Tuva Moodyson novels from his own life deep in the Swedish forests. And we also catch up with Dame Denise Mina who was the festival's programme director this year, and ask her where she feels Harrogate needs to go next to maintain it's position as the world's most prestigious crime fiction festival. So settle back and enjoy the energy, the sounds, and the gossip from Harrogate 2022.

Episode 81: Harrogate preview special - with Vaseem Khan

It's that time of year again. The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Festival begins this week in Harrogate, bringing together the great and good from the UK and international crime writing scene. It's like Glyndebourne for the morbid, or Henley for those whose rivers run with blood. One of the highlights of the four day event is the announcement of the Theakstons award for Crime Novel of the Year. In this special edition of The Hobcast Book Show, we speak to one of the six authors nominated for this hugely sought after prize, Vaseem Khan. Vaseem has established himself as one of the most popular and talented crime authors of his generation, with first his Baby Ganesh series set in present day India, and now the Malabar House series of novels set in 1950s India. In this fascinating interview, we learn about Vaseem's long road to publication, his views on improving and widening diversity within publishing, and his passion for cricket. 

Episode 80: Malta, Malt and Murder - with A J Aberford

We're delighted to be launching a new series of wonderful thrillers this week - the Inspector George Zammit series by A J Aberford. Set in Malta, George is an unlikely hero. He's not ambitious, carries too much weight, and enjoys the quiet life, but events conspire to place our hero at the centre of a series of complex international conspiracies. As author Tony Gartland, (writing as A J Aberford), tells us, Malta is the perfect location for his novels that combine gripping action, compelling characters, and no little humour. The first novel in the series, Bodies in the Water, is published by Hobeck this week.
Also in this edition of the Hobcast, we discuss how failing up can lead to riches if you're a certain departing UK Prime Minister, and we look ahead to a special edition of the show as part of our build up to the Harrogate Crime Writing festival.

Episode 79: Does fiction do journalists an injustice? - with Sarah Sultoon and Holly Watt

One half of the Hobcast presentation team has spent half his life in journalism, and Adrian has lost count of the number of times he's sworn at the TV over the depiction of his former trade. But do journalists get a bad rap in fiction? Isn't it fair enough that writers use their creative licence to depict journalists in a way that suits their own stories? Or should writers work harder to get the details right and better reflect the reality of what it's like to chase down stories, often in harsh environments? In this episode of The Hobcast Book Show we speak to two leading UK journalists and crime authors, Sarah Sultoon and Holly Watt. Sarah worked as an international news executive and producer for CNN, a role that placed in some of the world's most challenging war zones. Holly has also faced similar challenges working for The Sunday Times and The Telegraph, and drew widespread acclaim for her work on the MP expenses scandal.
Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca reflect on a big proposed change to the UK book distribution scene, and bemoan the decision to end the coveted Blue Peter book awards after 22 years.

Episode 78: CWA Daggers Awards special

One half of Hobeck, (Adrian), put on their glad rags this week to head to the prestigious CWA Daggers Gala Dinner in London. Our very own Mark Wightman was nominated for the John Creasey New Blood Dagger for Waking the Tiger. Sadly, Mark wasn't successful, the award going to Janice Hallett's The Appeal. As you'll hear in this special show, the night was a celebration of the UK's most popular fiction genre, crime, capping off a successful Crime Reading Month across the country. 

Episode 77: History and mystery - with Mary Kendall

We're constantly drawing inspiration from history here on The Hobcast Book Show, and the same is true for our guest this week, U.S author Mary Kendall. As Mary explains, it was whilst delving into her own family history that she discovered the real life events that inspired her debut novel, the The Spinster's Fortune. Set in Washington D.C, Mary draws on her experiences growing up in the city to bring the setting to life, but she still had to embark of months of research to ensure she captured the events of 1929 correctly.
Also this week, we celebrate another major award nomination for a Hobeck author, and we ask why so many universities are suddenly launching Masters degrees in publishing? 

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.

Episode 75: Passing the torch - taking over Jack Reacher - with Andrew Child

100 million copies sold. Two Tom Cruise movies and a wildly successful Amazon Prime TV series. Jack Reacher is one of those fictional characters that everyone has heard about. So what's it like to take responsibility for the future of the character? Our guest this week Andrew Child has done just that, taking over from his brother Lee to write Reacher's 26th adventure, Better Off Dead. The brothers collaborated on the direction of the novel, but as Andrew explains to us, he's now responsible for the words on the page. It's a far-ranging and fascinating interview.
Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca reflect on more upheaval in UK publishing with the announcement that the Costa Book Award is coming to an end, and the call from a former head of Blackwells for publishers to finally have an honest conversation with retailers about the price of books in the UK given the huge rise in production costs in recent months.

Episode 74: Crime in a city of culture - with Nick Quantrill

When it comes to cultural significance, the city of Kingston upon Hull is often overlooked in favour of the likes of London, Edinburgh, Liverpool or Manchester. But that's unfair for a city that was the home of poet Phillip Larkin, David Bowie's most famous backing band The Spiders from Mars, and the setting for Ted Lewis's seminal crime novel Jack's Return Home which was adapted to become Get Carter starring Michael Caine. That reputation changed when Hull became the UK's City of Culture in 2017, attracting an estimated five million visitors. Our guest this week, Nick Quantrill, harnessed the buzz to co-create the Hull Noir crime-writing festival. He's the author of four novels featuring private investigator Joe Geraghty, and has enjoyed spells as a writer-in-residence at a leading rugby league club and the National Railway Museum in York. It's a fascinating interview.
Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca congratulate former Hobcast guest Ian Rankin on his knighthood, and we ask - just why are male readers reluctant to read books by female authors? 

Episode 73: Hobeck’s latest launch - with Jonathan Peace

There's very little more satisfying in publishing than bringing a great new talent and their debut crime novel to print. We loved Jonathan Peace's submission to Hobeck Books, and we're delighted to be releasing Dirty Little Secret this week. Set in 1987, it's set in Jonathan's home town of Ossett in West Yorkshire, and features WDC Louise Miller, who not only faces a tough investigation into the death of a young girl, but also the challenges of small-town small-mindedness and misogyny from her male colleagues. It's a brilliant debut for a series which will continue with From Sorrow's Hold in July this year. We went to meet Jonathan at his local pub near Nottingham.
Also this week we hear from another Hobeck author, Harry Fisher about his latest novel Yes, I Killed Her, and we discuss the big winners at the National Book Awards this week.