Podcast News: Simon Mayo's Books of the Year

I used to download the podcasts for Simon Mayo's book group back when he was on Radio 5. I missed out on the Radio 2 book club,  which has now disappeared.

Simon Mayo and Matt Williams, have set up an independent podcast, called Simon Mayo's Books of the Year. It's been running for a few months and has included appearances from crime writers, Lynda La Plante, DB John and Manda Scott.

I'm enjoying it though I would like to see more women writers on the show, currently twice as many men have appeared.

You can download it via iTunes and I have been using the Acast app to listen to it on my android phone. Here's the Acast website listing all the episodes so far. The author interviews are every fortnight with a teaser episode in the gap. Also on twitter: @BooksOfTheYear.

BBC Radio 4 Drama: Foreign Bodies: Keeping the Wolf Out

I think this is a repeat but I missed it first time around. Listen now or download via the BBC Radio iPlayer app - a three parter called Keeping the Wolf Out. Available for the next 20 days, each episode is 45 minutes long.

Episode One - Behind the Wall

Special Investigator Bertalan Lázár returns in Philip Palmer's crime drama set in communist Hungary in 1963. Fighting the criminals is hard enough but there are other more sinister battles raging in higher places.

Parts two and three are Waiting by the River and Heroes.

Two Podcasts - Sartarelli & Staalesen

Two podcasts to listen to next week on the commute:

Firstly, I'm grateful to Jose Ignacio from The Game's Afoot for posting the following to the wonderful crime and mystery fiction friendfeed group (all are welcome):

Australian radio interview with Stephen Sartarelli, translator of Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series and Marco Vichi's Inspector Bordelli series.

And secondly, I received an email pointing me towards the Yarncast interview with Euro Crime favourite, Norwegian crime writer Gunnar Staalesen:

Norwegian crime writer Gunnar Staalesen, creator of the private detective Varg Veum (www.vargveum.no) discusses his career, how plots are constructed, and the influence of Norway, and especially his hometown of Bergen, on his brand of 'nordic noir.' With readings by Staalesen from the English-language translations of his Varg Veum novels.

Both interviews can be downloaded and saved as mp3s. (NB. I haven't listened to them yet.)

Tartan Noir on Open Book

Here's another podcast I missed until recently, where Dreda Say Mitchell interviews Allan Guthrie and Denise Mina and goes round Aberdeen with Stuart MacBride. Download it or listen to it at the Open Book website.

26 August 2012
"Dreda Say Mitchell presents a special Open Book programme on Tartan Noir, exploring the appeal of the Scottish crime novel. Glasgow based author Denise Mina joins Edinburgh writer and publisher Allan Guthrie to discuss the importance of place in this increasingly popular genre, while Stuart MacBride, writer of the DS Logan McRae books, takes us on a tour of his inspirational Aberdeen setting."

Front Row Does Harrogate 2012

I'm a bit behind the times with these. Radio 4's Front Row have issued two podcasts recently about the last Harrogate Crime Writing Festival including an edited down reproduction of the infamous ebooks panel. You can hear Stephen Leather's comments but not all of the audience reaction. (The original session was an hour.)

E-book debate special 29 AUG 12

Thu, 30 Aug 12

Duration:
29 mins

Mark Lawson chairs a debate on whether e-books and digital distribution represent a terminal threat or a new chance for authors, traditional publishers, agents and bookshops, in a session recorded at the Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

plus this one which I've not listened to yet:

Harrogate Crime Writing Festival Special 24 AUG 2012

Fri, 24 Aug 12

Duration:
29 mins

Mark Lawson reports from the annual Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, with guests including Harlan Coben, Ann Cleeves and John Connolly.

Listen or download both podcasts from the Front Row website.

Sarah Death on Book Cafe

If you're a visitor to the FriendFeed Crime and Mystery Room (and if not do come along) then you'll have heard about this a few days ago.

I downloaded the podcast after Maxine at Petrona had mentioned it but only got round to listening to it last night.

16 January 2012
Jo Nesbø says that Per Wahlöö was the 'godfather of Scandinavian crime writing', creating the archetypical disillusioned, troubled but somehow dedicated detective now familiar to us from the work of Steig Larsson, Henning Mankell and Nesbø himself. Sarah Death, the translator of two new editions of Wahlöö's classic crime novels, explains why now's the time to discover him for ourselves.

Sarah Death, editor of Swedish Book Review, who as well as retranslating Per Wahlöö's Murder on the Thirty-first Floor and The Steel Spring is also working on Kristina Ohlsson's series, the first of which Unwanted was published in English last September.

In the 10 minute interview which begins the podcast, as well as discussing the Wahlöö books, Sarah suggests a refresh in translation of the Martin Beck series might not go amiss and also recommends Hakan Nesser and Lars Kepler. If you want further reading suggestions, have a look through the Euro Crime list of Swedish authors, many of whose books are reviewed on the site.

There is a little more information on the Per Wahlöö retranslations here.

To get the podcast - as well as subscribing through iTunes you can download the podcast here or you can listen again (for 3 more days only) here.

Donna Leon - Podcast

I haven't had chance to listen to this yet but Authors on Tour, who recently produced a podcast featuring Camilla Lackberg, which I wrote up here, has released one featuring Donna Leon speaking about her twentieth Brunnetti novel, Drawing Conclusions. You can listen to it here or you can subscribe via iTunes (search for Author on Tour).

World Book Club - Podcasts

Two new podcasts which may be of interest to Euro Crime readers have become recently available courtesy of BBC World Book Club:

World Book Club invites the globe's great authors to discuss their best known novel.

This monthly programme, presented by Harriett Gilbert, includes questions from World Service listeners.

The most recent author to feature is Val McDermid and prior to that, Boris Akunin. The interview with Jo Nesbo is still available as well as several more at the BBC website.

Camilla Lackberg Podcast

Recently I downloaded the Authors on Tour podcast featuring Camilla Lackberg. It's thirty minutes long and includes the author reading from The Ice Princess and answering questions from the audience. I've just finished listening to it and:

snippets include the fact that she's recently submitted her eighth book in the Erica & Patrik Fjallbacka series and that due to increasing demands on promoting and writing other books (including two cook-books and a children's book) she'll be dropping the pace to one crime book every other year. Patrik was based on her husband at the time and she made Erika very different to herself. She also gives an explanation as to the appeal of her novels around the world.

Listen to the podcast on the website or download it via iTunes (Authors on Tour - Live!).

The Ice Princess has recently been released in paperback in the US and The Preacher was published last week in hardback in the US. In the UK we are up to the fourth book, The Gallows Bird. The fifth and sixth (The Hidden Child and The Mermaid) should be out in the next twelve months.

The first four books have been translated by Steven T Murray but the later ones will be translated by his wife Tiina Nunnally. Steven has translated Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell and Tiina translated Smilla's Sense of Snow/Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg which was one of the instrumental titles in getting translated crime fiction to a wider audience. Tiina's work will also be familiar to readers of Karin Fossum (translating as Felicity David) and most recently Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Crime Writers on Open Book

The current edition of Radio 4's Open Book has a plethora of crime writers in it:

Dreda Say Mitchell talks to former bookseller Tim Waterstone about his new novel. Writer Fay Weldon discusses how she has used Maori myths in her new book. And crime writers NJ Cooper and Tania Carver* explain why they have been encouraged to write under names which mask their real gender.

You can listen again or download the podcast.

N J Cooper=Natasha Cooper
Tania Carver=Martyn Waites and wife

Mark Billingham will be on the next show (Sunday).

Henning Mankell on Open Book

Here's another programme to listen to online or download the podcast of, from the BBC Open Book website:

James Naughtie talks to Sweden’s most celebrated literary export: Henning Mankell. He talks about his creation, the detective Kurt Wallander – and his appearance in his fifth novel Sidetracked.

Here is Henning Mankell's Euro Crime bibliography with links to reviews.

Queenan's Crime Scenes

There are a couple of podcasts still available on the BBC World Service website from when American writer Joe Queenan went to first Washington DC and then to Stockholm to look at crime fiction set there and speak to local residents, including crime authors. In the Stockholm edition he speaks to Jens Lapidus, Camilla Lackberg and Hakan Nesser as well as two (female) police officers, and if you haven't already come across the proper way to pronounce Larsson - it's more like Larshon.

The podcast is only 23 minutes long and well worth a listen. Download it from here.

Simon Mayo's Book Review Show

The latest edition of the Simon Mayo's Book Review podcast - hosted by Richard Bacon this week - reviews The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi -the 'true crime' story of Italy's notorious serial killer. Interestingly, none of the panel had heard about the story before. The Euro Crime review, posted in January, is here. One of the senior policeman in the case, Michele Giuttari, now writes a crime series set in Florence and his bibliography is here.

The books podcast can be downloaded or listened to here.

Philip Glenister interview on Radio 5

Philip Glenister was Simon Mayo's guest on Monday talking about all things Gene Hunt.

If there is a third series of Ashes to Ashes then that will be the last.

They discussed the US version of Life on Mars and what Philip's up to next.

Listen or download the podcast here.

OT: Doctor Who - podcast

The Doctor Who panel at the Celtic Media Festival as described in this BBC article will be broadcast on Radio 7 at midnight Saturday and will then be available as a podcast:

The Story Of Doctor Who
A distinguished panel of television talent, including Executive Producer Julie Gardner and Director Euros Lyn, reveal how the popular sci-fi show is transferred from script to screen.
Saturday at 12 Midnight
Also available as a podcast

Sign up for the podcast, here.

Crime Fiction in recent podcasts

In the last Clauda Winkleman's Arts Show podcast there was a 5 - 10 minute interview with Alexander McCall Smith to coincide with the release of the newest in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built. The podcast link is here though it seems the episode can only be obtained via iTunes or equivalent.

And, on last week's Book Reviews with Simon Mayo, one of the titles covered was Daniel Depp's Losers Town. The episode can be downloaded from here. Losers Town was described as a gumshoe mystery, the reviews were fairly positive though the book was thought to be not particularly original.

Balancing the reviews/Simon Mayo's book programme

When I'm putting together the weekly reviews, I try and get an equal balance of books by male and female authors. There's a strong feeling amongst female writers (and is probably supported by empirical data) that they do not get reviewed as much as men, at least in the mainstream press. Lizzie Hayes along with a couple of female crime writers set up Mystery Women over eleven years ago to promote female writers (a la Sisters in Crime in the US).

I've only been listening to Simon Mayo's Book Review Programme podcast for three weeks, so maybe this isn't a fair sample, but the authors whose books were reviewed, were as follows:

Week 1: Martin Davies and Joanna Trollope
Week 2: Nicolo Ammaniti and M R Hall
Week 3: Nick Brownlee and Stephen Leather

As well as Simon and the featured authors, there are normally three reviewers. Weeks 1 and 3 had one female reviewer. So that's 1 out of 6 books by female authors and 2 out of 9 female reviewers. Perhaps this week there will be two books by female writers and a panel of female reviewers...

Radio 5 Live - Podcast

I'm getting into this podcast business and I've now subscribed to 'Book Reviews with Simon Mayo'. The latest edition is of particular interest to crime fiction fans:

Books: Niccolo Ammaniti & Matthew R. Hall, 15 Jan 09

Simon is joined by the book reviewers Charlie Fletcher, Boyd Hilton and Joel Morris to take us through this weeks picks which include Niccolo Ammaniti’s The Crossroads and M.R Hall’s The Coroner.

I listened to about 3/4s of it on the train to work and the reviewers were very keen on The Crossroads and I've only just got to the reviews about The Coroner. Maxine at Petrona is enjoying the review copy we've received.

The Crossroads has already been made into a film and has won the Italian equivalent of the Booker Prize.

The Coroner carries a cover quote from Lynda La Plante - M R Hall has created a wonderful heroine in a genre we haven't seen before.

Publisher's blurb: I'm a Coroner. I spend my life laying things to rest...When small-town lawyer, Jenny Cooper, is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she's hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death of a young boy in custody be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? In the face of powerful and sinister forces determined to keep both the truth hidden and the troublesome coroner in check, Jenny embarks on a lonely and dangerous one-woman crusade for justice which threatens not only her career but also her sanity...

Priscilla Masters also has a series featuring a Coroner and her second book in that series, Slip Knot (2007), revolved around the death of a young boy in custody.

The programme's definitely worth a listen, especially for a definition of 'muscular writing' :)

Podcasts - Behind the Mic

Sorry I've been a bit quiet on the blog. I've just acquired an MP3 player which is taking all my spare time at the moment. I'm not technologically minded and wrestling with windows media player has not been much fun. I've finally managed to load an audio book (The Sixth Wife by Suzannah Dunn, about Catherine Parr) on to it. I've also added a few podcasts that I've been downloading via itunes over the last few months in preparation for this momentous event.

One of the things I'm subscribed to in itunes is "Behind the mic" which is about audio books and which first came to my attention when a David Tennant podcast about Pest Control was mentioned. I've saved that one for now, but today I listened to the programme from 18th August called Men's Fiction on Audio which has well known audio book narrators/actors Clive Mantle and Christian Rodska being interviewed and gives a bit of behind the scenes gossip about how they go about the narration, and Mantle muses on how dedicated crime fiction readers are, and how they read everything a writer's written and in order :).

I came across Rodska when I listened to The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis. The programme played a clip of the full cast rendition of The Silver Pigs with Anton Lesser (recently seen in Little Dorrit) as Falco.

To get to these programmes search in itunes under "Behind the mic" in podcasts.