This is a very special one off Episode of Bestsellers.

Dan Brown joins us to discuss his first new book in around eight years: The Secret of Secrets. The Da Vinci Code guy has sold over 250 million books..! And now his latest explores the human conscience and whether there's more going on with our brains than we know about.

Dan's very candid here about the heat his books get; why mind altering drugs aren't completely off the menu and what Netflix wants to do with his series of novel adaptations.

We loved talking to Dan and you can find all of is book recommendations on our website: bestsellerspodcast.com

Mike Craven is celebrating his tenth anniversary in crime fiction. The Final Vow is an absolute humdinger of a book with which to celebrate.

His long standing sleuth Washington Poe is back with Tilly Bradshaw as a random sniper's on the loose across the UK. It's a pulse raising heart stopper of a thriller and in this interview we discuss Mike's extensive research for each novel; why women' s pubes make good flyfishing ties and his next venture into the world of James Bond, for 9-12 year olds.

We're honoured to have one of Britain's finest writers join us on Bestsellers this week: Irvine Welsh. The man who brought us Trainspotting three decades ago is back with a brand new novel which follows on immediately after Trainspotting and Renton legging it with the cash.

They're all here: Renton, Spud, Begbie, Sick Boy...Trying to turn into Men in Love.

Enjoy!

We kindly thank Irvine Welsh for permission to use two tracks from the accompanying album to this book: Men in Love - Irvine Welsh and the Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra:

You Gotta Be Strong - Irvine Welsh, The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, Louise Marshall.

A Man in Love With Love - Irvine Welsh, The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, Shaun Escoffrey

Phil spent last weekend in Harrogate at the Old Swan hotel for the world famous Theakstons Crime Writers Festival. The Old Swan is where Agatha Christie emerged, after going missing in 1926, so what better place to stage a Crime Writing festival.

This is a shorter than usual ep just to give you a flavour of how well the writers get on with each other and the lovely atmosphere in The Drinking Detective outdoor bar, as writers and crime fans mingle freely.

This episode features cameos from Shari Lapena, CL Taylor, Vaseem Khan, MW Craven, Luca Veste and Doug Johnstone.

You know when a book comes along and just grabs you so you don't want to put it down? One Yellow Eye is one of those books. It's a thriller, a love story, it's also really witty oh and almost forgot, it does feature a zombie at its pulsing (just about) heart too. If you're concerned zombies are not for you (unless you're Natalie who wrote her uni dissertation about zombie movies) then do not fear - it's all about love, actually. Debut author Leigh shares how real life events inspired this tale, and how supportive the writing community has been. Long may that continue!

Find Leigh's book recommendations at bestsellerspodcast.com

Associate Professor of English, Alison Espach joins Phil and Natalie this week, to discuss her break out third novel, The Wedding People. This went straight into the New York Times Top Ten and has been picked up by Tristar to become a movie.

It walks a tightrope of heart wrenching and seriously funny. Alison talks about posh hotels, weddings and her time working the photo both at them, plus her role as an Exec Producer on the movie of her own novel.

TRIGGER WARNING: The plot of this book involves a woman turning up to a hotel where everyone except her is part of a wedding party. The woman has gone there with the express intention of taking her own life. Whilst we don't discuss methods of suicide, it is clearly a theme in this novel and if you might be triggered by that, we'd like very much to direct you to organisations such as the National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK at 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight every day), or the Samaritans, who areavailable 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call 116 123, or email: jo@samaritans.org.

Looking for your next read to take on holiday, or the commute, or to read before bed? Then Nat and Phil have got you covered. Here they talk you through 10 new books they are either currently reading, or want to read - that's 5 choices from Nat, and 5 from Phil. There's a range of genres from mystery to memoir, love story to thriller, and hopefully at least one of these will be the next book you want to reach for too.

The recommendations are:

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Never Flinch by Stephen King

The Compound by Aisling Rawle

Must You Go by Antonia Fraser

The Director by Daniel Kehlmann

Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi

City of Night Birds by Juhea Kim

What the Night Brings by Mark Billingham

Swept Away by Beth O'Leary

Galway Confidential by Ken Bruen

With a special mention to Books Are Magic, a Brooklyn bookstore, whose hat Nat was coincidentally wearing for this recording!

On this episode we're talking the joy of thrillers as Iris Mwanza opens up about what inspired her debut page-turner, The Lion's Den. From growing up in a household where people would drop off boxes of books they couldn't take abroad, to channeling the themes of her day job at the Gates Foundation into her fiction work, Iris shares the challenges and rewards with getting a novel out of her brain and into a bookstore. She's currently working on not one, but two novels, one of which is a sequel to the story we discuss here, so prepare to meet rookie lawyer Grace Zulu and strap in, it's a fascinating ride.

To go straight away to Iris's book recommendations, just head to www.bestsellerspodcast.com

Please note, Bestsellers Podcast is an Amazon Associate, and so earns from qualifying purchases

OK, so we love a book where music plays a key role but it's so hard to do that well, and make you truly believe in a made-up musician. Thankfully, Holly Brickley has played it brilliantly with Deep Cuts, about a music obsessive and a musician who meet at college and deeply impact each other's lives. Hopefully you trust our instincts, but just in case, actors Saoirse Ronan and Austin Butler are already on board to play those two roles in the upcoming movie adaptation. This chat with Holly covered a lot of ground, from merging literary and commercial writing styles, to making music sing on the page, and getting the seal of approval from director Cameron Crowe (who elevated Elton John's Tiny Dancer to the legend status it deserves thanks to his movie Almost Famous).

There's a Spotify playlist to accompany the book which we also highly recommend! You can listen to that here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ZN7YF1Kn24S2kaEGF5JOz?si=4136a5dd2cc44fec

And for more episodes and info on author's recommendations, check out www.bestsellerspodcast.com

The Master Crime Writer and Phil's all time favourite writer, Michael Connelly, returns to Bestsellers to talk about his 40th novel. NightShade features a brand new character, Detective Stilwell, whom Michael loves so much, he's going to return to in future books.

We chat to him about the challenges of creating a brand new series when you're forty books in; where Stilwell fits into the Connelly Universe that already includes Bosch, Ballard and The Lincoln Lawyer and why his characters who all work around law enforcement, seem to be Anti Establishment!

We love Mike here at Bestsellers and wish him well with the unforeseen medical procedures his doctors have ordered, which have led to the cancellation of his UK and US tour. This information was not in the public domain at time of recording, hence why we don't talk about it.

Chris Chibnall is responsible for writing some of the biggest moments in British television. From Broadchurch to Dr Who, you'll have seen his work on screen. Now he's turned his attention to novel writing and speaks to Phil and Natalie about his debut, Death at the White Hart. It's a Christie-esque whodunnit with a follow up already in the works and he's adapting his own novel himself for ITV.

Here he speaks about the challenges of page versus screen, the joy of acquiring new skills later in his career and how he has to be very careful not to wipe the entire plot off his whiteboards when things aren't going his way!

The bestselling author of Elizabeth is Missing is back with a brand new chilling thriller called Sweat. Set around gyms and exercise, the book features a woman who gets the opportunity to exact revenge on a controlling ex-boyfriend. But will she get away with it and at what cost..?

It's a deeply personal book for Emma. She talks openly about obsessive fasting and over exercising after pregnancy and how both these things influenced this novel.

There's also plenty of laughs and no amount of persuasion is ever getting Natalie into the gym!

This is the book for you if you've ever wanted to know what it's *really* like to do a job that is very different to yours. Charlie Colenutt has interviewed and collated the work stories of 68 employees, from a range of backgrounds, at varying stages in their careers, who all share the truthfulness of their working lives. There's joy and stress and sadness and life-changing moments to enjoy here, and Charlie himself is a gifted storyteller.

Charlie also shares the books he loves that you might like to read as well, so head to www.bestsellerspodcast.com and click on 'Author Recommends' to see those now.

You can also support the production costs of making this podcast by purchasing Nat and Phil a metaphorical coffee at https://ko-fi.com/bestsellerspodcast

This book has so much to offer. It delves into cultures of silence within families, how that affects relationships between mothers and daughters, and draws on Tara's exoticism, as she describes it, being a child of divorce growing up in Kolkata in the 1980s. And we haven't even mentioned the descriptions of food yet, which are many, all deserving of their place here and might make you hungry. A most excellent combination in storytelling.

Plus for more detail on the books Tara has loved as a reader, just head to www.bestsellerspodcast.com and click on 'Author Recommends'.

You can also support the production costs of making this podcast by purchasing a metaphorical coffee at https://ko-fi.com/bestsellerspodcast

Julia Raeside is no stranger to writing or comedy, having written for a number of UK broadsheet newspapers. But this is her debut novel which she's set in the world of stand-up comedy. It explores the sometimes toxic nature of male comedians using coercive controlling behaviour with women and is adroitly observed.

Julia tells Phil and Natalie why she thinks Comedy needs it's own HR department; she talks about what it was like completing and editing a novel for the first time and she reveals the moments from her own life, that made into the lead character's life in the book.

This is fiction, pure fiction, but Asia Mackay has a particular skill for making this tale about a married couple who happen to be serial killers, relatable. There's so much humour in her writing, and it feels incredibly cinematic which is why it's being adapted for the screen already. Asia has also started a parallel career as a screenwriter too, which we get into in this episode as well, so plenty to enjoy whether you're a reader, a writer or aspiring to be in the future.

Plus Asia has a stack of book recommendations to share, and you can get previous season's authors' recommendations on our website at bestsellerspodcast.com

Bestsellers is back for Season 8. Phil & Natalie have sweat blood and tears to bring some of the bestselling writers in the world to your ears for this season.

And we start with the master of the courtroom thriller, making a welcome return to Bestsellers: Scott Turow. Scott created Rusty Sabich forty years ago for Presumed Innocent. Now he's back in the final of the Presumed triumvirate, titled Presumed Guilty, where the lawyer finds his life turned upside down when his lover's son is accused of murder.

It'sh a brilliant epic Courtroom drama and Scott explains here how he put it together, why the sleeve notes give too much away for him and he updates us on whether this book will follow in the footsteps of Jake Gyllenhaal to Apple TV+ or signal a return for Harrison Ford to the big screen.

Our final episode of Season 7 is a cookbook special. But TENDERHEART is so much more than just a cook book. It's Hetty Lui McKinnon's way of processing the loss of her father aged just 15. He was the fruit n veg man, the father who left crates of exciting fresh produce in the hallway for his children to investigate. And now a parent herself to teenage boys, Hetty uses her brand new vegetarian and vegan recipes combined with an autobiographical narrative, to share her love of vegetables with us alongside the legacy of family dishes cooked at home.

This is a labour of love and for once Phil agrees with Natalie: This is a cookbook you can also read as a book!

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This week's episode is the multi best selling Irish writer, John Boyne. You will almost certainly have read The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas or The Heart's Invisible Furies and the latest venture for John is a quarter of books which he's been releasing every six months. Next year, he'll release them in one compendium called The Elements. But hot on the heels of Water and Earth, comes Fire: a disturbing novella which looks at child sexual exploitation from the point of view of a female abuser of young boys.

During our conversation, John explains that the idea for this quarter of books came after he himself was inspired to report his own abuse at the hands of one of his teachers to Police, following a high profile trial of a different abuser in Ireland.

He hopes this book - whilst a work of fiction - might help others to come forward and report their abuse.

Trigger Warning: Whilst this episode does not talk in detail about sexual abuse, there is conversation about John's first hand experience of abuse and the reporting process he went through. But there's no description of the abuse that took place and neither is there any description of the abuse depicted in the novel.

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Here are Phil and Natalie's Books of the Year for 2024.

Five picks each. You'll find all of them with links to buy each book on our website

Thanks so much for listening. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to our podcast and don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list on our website, to hear about Season 8 exclusively...!

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