Charlie and Amy Engel (I Did It For You) discuss her literary thriller wherein the killer did it but it isn't that simple, wherein both the victim's and killer's families are given empathy, and wherein the sister of the victim and the brother of the killer start a romance.

Please note that whilst there are no references to detailed violence, this episode looks at various issues surrounding murder cases.

A transcript is available on my site

General references:
It was indeed Elmore Leonard who said, "You take out the parts that people skip when they're reading". This link has more information.

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Amy Engel: The Familiar Dark
Amy Engel: I Did It For You

Release details: recorded 17th December 2024; published 28th April 2025

Where to find Amy online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || Facebook

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:15 The inspiration - location and character
02:37 Creating Greer
04:50 Creating Ludlow and the well-drawn townspeople
07:53 How Amy works with secrets and reveals
09:24 How was it writing Greer in terms of her being an unreliable narrator?
11:10 The different extra narratives
12:33 Roy, the killer's, difference, his potential neurodivergence, and the importance of looking at this
15:41 Did you ever consider not having Roy 'do' it?
17:33 The grief in the book, including a look at the different sets of parents
19:46 Including Dean and humanising the family of the murderer
22:30 Amy tells us more about how her career in law influenced her writing
24:35 The slower pacing, which isn't so usual for a thriller, and how Amy categorises her novels. We then move on to what Amy added to the novel in editing
27:59 Amy's thought process and planning in regards to the bad guy (different person to the killer)
34:03 Amy deciding to end Greer and Dean's romance
36:29 Where Greer and Dean may end up, separately, beyond the pages of the book. We then move on to Greer's parents in the same vein
39:03 What Amy is writing and planning now

Charlie and Nydia Hetherington (Sycorax) discuss the witch Shakespeare's Prospero hates so much and Nydia's reimagining slash prequel to The Tempest. This involves conversation about chronic illness, attitudes to women in regards to the occult, and on a seemingly unrelated subject, the tendency of pirates to leave problematic people on isolated islands.

A transcript is available on my site

General references:
W H Auden: The Sea And The Mirror

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Libby Colman: Trixie - The Childhood Of Sycorax, Witch Of Algiers
Margaret Atwood: Hag-Seed
Marina Warner: Indigo
Nydia Hetherington: A Girl Made Of Air
Nydia Hetherington: Sycorax
Tad Williams: Caliban's Hour
William Shakespeare: The Tempest

Release details: recorded 4th December 2024; published 14th April 2025

Where to find Nydia online: Website || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:20 The initial inspirations - theatre and Nydia's chronic condition
10:23 Research and inspirations in regards to other adaptations
12:58 More on Nydia's dedication to Shakespearean writing
13:58 Disability and women being witches put together
20:01 The good women in the book, Yemma and Zari
24:11 Including Barbarossa the pirate and the way pirates left criminals isolated
28:26 Afalkey the Beautiful and charming men
30:05 The role the Crow plays
32:48 What Nydia is writing at the moment
34:30 Nydia's William Blake novel she mentioned earlier

Charlie is joined by Alex Hay, Lucy Barker, Stacey Thomas, and a wonderful audience at Goldfinch Books in Alton. You want a writing deep dive? You've got it!

Please note that this episode has a whispered swear word in it - we were all adults!

The next live event will be at P&G Wells in Winchester on Friday 4th April. Tickets are available here If you can't click the link, go to pgwells.co.uk

Full show notes and a transcript to follow shortly.

The video of the main conversation is on YouTube here

Charlie and Maggie Brookes (The Prisoner's Wife) discuss her stunning story which was inspired by a real happening - a woman who hid in plain sight as a British soldier in a prisoner of war camp.

A transcript is available on my site

General references:
Maggie's previous episode with me is episode 92
Now The War Is Over
Time Watch
All Our Working Lives
The Sphinx, Maggie's poem version of The Prisoner's Wife
Colditz
The party episode with Maggie is Milestone 01 (also with Elizabeth Fremantle, Gill Paul, and Amanda Geard)

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre
Maggie Brookes: The Prisoner's Wife
Maggie Brookes-Butt: Wish
John Nichol and Tony Rennell: The Last Escape

Buy the books: UK || USA

Release details: recorded 23rd September 2024; published 24th February 2025

Where to find Maggie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:29 The inspiration - a woman who hid as a man in a Nazi prisoner of war camp and how real it might be
09:49 How Maggie's work as a BBC producer helped her write The Prisoner's Wife
11:49 How the book started as a poem and then Maggie's journey to Czechia to do research into the Long March
20:19 The inspiration of Maggie's father, a prisoner of war who never spoke about his experience
26:58 What Maggie cut from the novel
28:52 Izzy's character development, language progression, and 'Algernon Cousins'
34:38 Adding in Bill's chapters later
36:53 Ralph and his fate being left open
41:24 Scotty's character and his sacrifice
43:28 The real Rosa Rauchbach and her lover
44:32 What are you writing now?

Photo credit: Lyn Gregory

Disclosure: If you buy books linked to my site, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Charlie and Éric Chacour (What I Know About You) discuss Egypt in the 1970s for the Levantine community and LGBT people, the famous French-Egyptian singer Dalida, Romeo and Juliet, Éric's use of the second person, and author and translator working together on writing that had been in place for 15 years.

A transcript is available on my site

General references: Dalida's Helwa ya Baladi

Books mentioned by name or extensively: Éric Chacour: What I Know About You

Buy the books: UK || USA

Release details: recorded 20th September 2024; published 10th February 2025

Where to find Éric online: Facebook || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

02:09 Éric's initial inspiration, Romeo and Juliet, for What I Know About You (he'd been writing the book for years)
05:18 The writing itself, including the use of the second person (Charlie has pointed out Éric's dedication to syllables and language) and the translation
10:31 The political backdrop, the use of it, and the decades chosen
13:29 The time period in terms of the LGBT community and Tarek's choices in that context
14:55 Entangled protons and love
16:25 Could Tarek have stayed with his family?
18:24 More on reader's interpretations and reactions
20:53 Nesrine and Mira and their importance
26:35 The servant, Fatheya
29:16 Talking of the impossibility of another point of view and the ending
31:20 Éric tells us why he included Vivienne
33:11 More about theatrical inspirations, and then we get on to how Éric wanted to be a songwriter
37:44 Dalida
39:22 Should we blame the grandmother?
41:54 Reality and fiction in terms of Rafik's narrative owing much to imagination and interpretation
45:41 What's next?

Photo credit: Justine Latour

Disclosure: If you buy books linked to my site, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops