Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall

Philippa is joined by three brilliant crime writers — Abir Mukherjee, Jane Casey, and Sarah Hilary — to talk all about St Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend, the unique Oxford crime fiction event running 4th–6th September. Each guest is allotted a school role (head girl, school council rep, and chair stacker) which determines the questions they're asked — and the chaos that follows is exactly as fun as it sounds.
🎓 St Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend 🔗 Book tickets for St Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend
What makes St Hilda's different from every other crime festival — long-form talks on themes rather than authors plugging their own books
This year's theme: Bad Apples: Crime Fiction's Enemies and Antiheroes
The legendary annual Whodunit, costumes, accents, and Abir's reputation for staying in character (and wig) all weekend
The Friday Night Special ticket — drinks on the lawn, a talk on Bond villains, a three-course chef-prepared dinner, and an after-dinner speaker
Guest of honour Andrew Taylor, and returning speaker Natasha Cooper
The online option for people joining from Australia, Japan, and beyond
Punting mishaps, Jimi Hendrix-via-laptop disasters, and other backstage panic stories
The on-site Blackwell's bookshop and the chance to win a rare first edition at the Whodunit
📚 The Books
The Pinnacle – Abir Mukherjee
A failing Hollywood actor moves to Mumbai with his Bollywood star wife, wakes up after a bender to find her murdered, and becomes suspect number one to 1.4 billion people. Described by Abir as "exotic satire crime fiction."
Everything She Didn't Say – Jane Casey
Set on the windswept west coast of Ireland — a woman wakes covered in blood with no memory of what happened to her missing best friend. A twisty, modern gothic thriller.
The Drowning Place – Sarah Hilary
Seventeen years after a school bus tragedy drowned everyone aboard except one survivor, DS Joseph Ash investigates a murdered family in a small Peak District town — accompanied by a best friend who may or may not be a ghost.
🍎 The Final Question (Bad Apples Edition)
No biscuits this time — favourite apples instead (Golden Delicious, Braeburn, and Pink Lady all get a mention) — though the conversation inevitably swings back to biscuits anyway, sparking a full-blown debate about thin arrowroots, fig rolls, dunking etiquette, and the legal status of the Jaffa Cake.
🔗 Book tickets for St Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend
💬 Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

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Philippa opens with a much-requested update on the Barcelona Kindle story — specifically, the one detail everyone wanted to know: did the Kindle survive? (It did. The case did not.) Then it's three book reviews and a wonderful conversation with debut novelist Amman Brar about Mr. Sidhu's Post Office — one of BBC News's 12 books to read in 2026.
📚 Three Book Reviews
The Burning Tide – William Shaw (out 16th July)
The second Eden Driscoll mystery sees the ex-Met detective pulled into a case involving a stranger who claims someone is trying to kill him — only to vanish before Eden can ask more questions. Beautifully written, with Shaw's signature warmth in portraying adult-child relationships.
The Tailor – Tim Sullivan
A bespoke tailor is found murdered on the Bristol to London train. DS George Cross deduces immediately it's an execution, not a robbery — and finds himself in personal danger for the first time. Tim Sullivan joins Philippa next Monday to discuss it in full.
Eyes on You – Adele Parks (out next month)
A woman whose father murdered his secret lover when she was 15 meets a man with his own dark past — and what feels like love may be something far more dangerous. Philippa opened it intending to file it away and couldn't put it down. Adele Parks joins the podcast soon.
🎙️ Amman Brar on Mr. Sidhu's Post Office
Mr. Sidhu is a widower in his 60s, quietly devoted to his post office, his two willful grown-up children, and his coworker Rose — with whom he's unexpectedly falling in love. When money starts going missing from the till, his carefully built life begins to unravel.
Written as a tribute to Aman's father, who ran a post office in Richmond for decades, the book also quietly acknowledges the devastating Post Office Horizon scandal and its human cost.
Amman and Philippa discuss:
Growing up around his father's post office in the '80s and '90s, and wanting to capture a world that's slowly disappearing
Writing the book as a way of spending time with his father after he passed away eight years ago — and why finishing it felt like letting him go all over again
His background in theatre (Royal Court, Soho Theatre, Tamasha) and how writing a novel is completely different — more solitary, less terrifying than opening night
The original working title: Dave and Rose (which made him laugh, which is why he chose it)
Why his dream writing location is the South of France — and why his black Labrador is his best untangling tool
His nightmare: the quiet carriage, one man on his phone, and the moment Aman became that guy
What he's reading: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniel Murtagh
The second book: another family drama, this time about his own generation
Biscuit answer: French Normandy butter and almond biscuits, dunked in coffee — with rosé on the side if Philippa's paying.
💬 Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Eberle's debut novel If Books Could Kill sparked a 10-way bidding war, sold film and TV rights, and is being published in over 14 countries — and it's easy to see why. This rom-com-meets-thriller follows Roxy Mitchell, a romance novel superfan who wishes herself into her favorite author's next book... only to discover the author has swapped genres to crime thriller, and her dream date is now trying to kill her.
In this episode, Kate joins Philippa to talk about:
The meme that sparked the entire idea (yes, an Emily Henry meme)
What it's actually like to live through a 10-way book auction in real time
Writing a genre mashup nobody knew how to categorize — and why publishers loved it anyway
Creating Grant Hoffman, the know-it-all love interest readers can't stop talking about
Her dream (a library with snacks) and nightmare (a concert with FOMO) writing locations
Why she's been hearing from readers whose partners think they've lost it from laughing so hard
Plus: the book that's keeping Kate up at night right now, and the cookie that powered every word of If Books Could Kill.
Mentioned in this episode: If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle, Beach Read by Emily Henry, In Every Possible Way by Alicia Thompson
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Philippa welcomes back Alison Barrow, PR director at Transworld, fresh from Capital Crime, for a fascinating look behind the curtain of book publishing and promotion.
The Business of Book PR
Alison shares insights from a recent masterclass on author publicity, including the eye-opening shift in how many times someone now needs to see a book before buying — and why there's no single magic trick to a successful launch.
They discuss:
Why book promotion is "an amalgamation of things" rather than one big lever to pull
How publishers start thinking about a book's positioning years before publication
The enduring power of bookseller advocacy and word-of-mouth recommendation
Why traditional media still matters even in a podcast and social-media-saturated world
What Transworld Is Publishing Now
Not That Sort of Girl – Andrea Mara
Getting Away With Murder – Shari Lapena
The Creative Compass – Emma Gannon
Data Empire – Roopika Risam(a history of data — and an unsettling glimpse at where AI is headed next)
What Alison's Been Reading
An Unlikely Visitor – Joanna Cannon (no, it's not about a dog — Philippa needed reassurance)
It Could Have Been Her – Lisa Jewell (a dark, Barbara Vine-esque departure)
The Whistler (Tom Lake) – Ann Patchett (on connection, memory, and a chance reunion four decades in the making)
Meet Me at the Museum – Anne Youngson, plus a celebration of novels-in-letters, including The Correspondent by Virginia Evans and the classic 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Listener Question: The Unlimited Budget
A listener asks what Alison would do with an unlimited budget to launch a book. Her answer goes well beyond money — covering proofs with sprayed edges, nationwide bookseller tours, and why most of the real value comes from time and human connection rather than spend. (A branded helicopter is briefly considered and wisely abandoned.)
Billboard advertising and marketing myth-busting are saved for a future episode — watch this space.
Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philippa opens with a genuinely unbelievable true story — how a friend trapped in a locked Barcelona hotel toilet used her Kindle to prise the door open and escape. Reading saves lives, people.
Then it's three book reviews and a brilliant listener Q&A with crime fiction favourite M.W. Craven, talking about book eight in the Washington Poe series, The Killer's Mark, out 13th August.
📚 Book Reviews
The Midnight Train – Matt Haig
A beautiful, emotionally rich audiobook about love, regret, and the moments that matter. Uplifting rather than sad, and perfect for fans of Matt Haig's reflective style.
Octagon – C.J. Merritt
A fast-paced spy thriller following former MI6 agent Stella McCrae and ex-SAS operator Tommy Kane as they race to stop a devastating plot against the West. Cinematic and action-packed.
Rivals – Jilly Cooper
Philippa picked this up after the TV series left her on an emotional cliffhanger with five months until part two. 720 pages later, she has both more and fewer answers than she started with. Enjoyable — especially at the beginning — but perhaps a lesson in patience.
🎙️ Author Interview: M.W. Craven on The Killer's Mark
Poe and Tilly are back — this time as private investigators, drawn into a case that begins with a young American woman who has seen her supposedly dead mother in a porn film. Darker than some recent entries in the series, but with the trademark humour firmly intact.
Mike and Philippa discuss:
Why this book starts smaller and more personal than previous Poe adventures
The deliberate shift in the Poe/Tilly dynamic across the series — and who relies on whom now
A new teenage character and the questions only a 15-year-old will ask directly
The Martin Clunes passage that made Philippa nearly choke on her coffee (no spoilers, but it's brilliant)
His favourite in the series (The Mercy Chair) and the underrated Black Summer
Lessons learned writing a James Bond children's book — including deaf sensitivity readers, footnotes in place of deleted chapters, and why you can't spend three chapters setting up a single joke
Poe's Croft: completely fictional, despite what several convinced readers insist
Listener questions from the Quick Book Reviews Facebook group — including whether Tilly's mum is okay, who Poe's Croft is based on, and Mike's fantasy convention costume (spoiler: Gimli)
What he's reading: The Man with the Golden Compass by Vaseem Khan and the Vinyl Detective series by Andrew Cartmel
The biscuit answer: chocolate-covered Battenberg, fig rolls and Jammie Dodgers from Castle Chocolates in Carlisle — links in the show notes
The Killer's Mark is out 13th August — pre-orders matter!
🍫 Castle Chocolates, Carlisle
📚 📚 Pre-order The Killer's Mark by M.W. Craven at Waterstones
💬 Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.