Phil & Natalie were delighted to return to Chiltern Kills this year. The crime festival which raises funds for the homeless is in its second year, organised by writers Tony Kent and Paul Waters. Its a beautiful day out where crime fiction fans get to genuinely mingle with their print heroes.

Some things you need to know before listening:

*At the beginning every time we tried to introduce a guest, Tony Kent walked out onto stage, hence the laughter!

*Whilst we were doing our session, Jeffrey Archer was on the other stage, hence there's some references to him made by our author guests.

Our panel was just fabulous this year: Erin Kelly, Vaseem Khan, Tony Kent and C.L. Taylor (who you'll hear referred to as Callie in the chat)

Enjoy the live edition and we'll link to the authors' recommendations on our website bestsellerspodcast.com

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Phil and Natalie are delighted to welcome Sir Ian Rankin to BestSellers in the week where his new Rebus - the 25th Rebus thriller - goes straight in at No.1 in the Sunday Times Top Ten Hardback Fiction chart. In this ep, Ian talks about how hard this book was to write; why he's a frustrated Rock Star and why he's attracted to the darker side of the human condition.

You'll also find the books he recommends from other writers at our website: bestsellerspodcast.com

Enjoy!

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Can you believe it...? Not only are Phil and Natalie back for season SEVEN (cue Len Goodman impressions) but we have also been double nominated at this year's Independent Podcast Awards in Best Books and Best Arts & Crafts Categories.

Thank You for all of your support, virtual coffees on Ko-Fi and subscribing and downloading our podcast. It means a lot.

Enough Gushing! We're Back with a returning writer. A man whom we both love very much. It's the wonderfully modest Jason Rekulak. His new thriller sees a father receive a phone call from a daughter he hasn't spoken to for a few years, to say she's getting married. What he doesn't realise is that she's marrying the son of a billionaire and this wedding is dripping in wealth and weirdness in equal amounts...! It's such fun, will keep you guessing and you can hear Jason describe how he spent ages writing and re-writing the beginning of this novel so that he got it right; why film and tv rights can be such a laborious process and why he's doing it for the Dads...!

Enjoy. And can you help us by rating us, reviewing us and subscribing if you haven't already please. Thank you SO much.

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Tim Booth, yes that Tim Booth, singer with the band James, has a lot to say about writing his first fiction novel. He's well aware of the clichés about rock star books and is here to address them all. Nothing was off limits, so there's talk of sex and drugs and rock'n'roll, but also vulnerability and confidence and truth'n'lies. The genesis for the story came 28 years ago, but the catalyst was an LA writing group that frankly could make up the subject of an entirely different book! It's a thoughtful discussion but does get a bit sweary - goes with the rock band territory - just in case you've got young kids listening nearby.

Find Tim's reading recommendations and all past episodes of Bestsellers at www.bestsellerspodcast.com

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Phil first met Chris Whitaker on the radio during lockdown, when Chris published, 'We Begin At The End.'

His extraordinary new book, 'All The Colours of the Dark,' also features a strong teenage lead character, facing some pretty dire circumstances. Chris tells Natalie and Phil he drew on his own early years trauma to create his new hero, Patch. He also opens up about being arrested, accused of a financial crime, just as his last novel was coming out.

And he reveals he's come to love The Muppets' 'Rainbow Connection' song, since writing this book...!

All The Colours of the Dark is a superb book. Read it before you see it on TV, as Universal are currently making it as a three season event.

Trigger Warning: Chris speaks candidly about his own abuse as a child in this episode. This may be triggering for survivors of physical abuse, child abuse or domestic violence.

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Abir Mukherjee is the hugely successful writer of five historical crime novels. He created the Wyndham and Banerjee series of thrillers, starting in 1919 India, each book progressing towards Partition.

His brand new novel - Hunted - is a stand alone contemporary edge of the seat thriller which took Abir over three years to write and resulted in him forming a mentoring group with luminaries such as Val McDermid, Lee Child, Mick Herron and Ruth Ware who all gave different advice on how to craft a contemporary thriller.

Abir explains the writing process and 'turning things up to eleven,' with the action; why his starting point for his books is always his personal anger and he and Natalie bond over living in Surrey and share their fears about just how posh their kids are turning out..!

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Want even more book recommendations? We got 'em for you! There are 8 books to discover from Nat and Phil's reading stacks - ranging from an action thriller to a drama stepped in the '68 music scene, to short stories and a collaborative book featuring dozens of writers. These are all stories that have grabbed our attention, some we've read, some we're mid-read and some we've yet to start, but all sound fascinating and we hope might make choosing that summer read a little bit easier. Have a listen to discover more about:

Fourteen Days edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston

Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

The Memo by Lauren Mechling and Rachel Dodes

Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner

They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar

The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian

I Love You, I Love You, I Love You by Laura Dockrill

You Like it Darker by Stephen King

Full details on where to get these books and support the podcast at www.bestsellerspodcast.com

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Mark Billingham makes a welcome return to BestSellers. This is his second book in his brand new tragic-comic series of DS Declan Miller books. Book Two - The Wrong Hands - starts with a botched briefcase robbery inside of which is a pair of severed human hands!

In this edition Mark speaks candidly about how nervous he is of putting book two out there; he reveals when Tom Thorne will return and Natalie gives him the ultimate back cover blurb!

We Love Mark Billingham and we think after this episode, you will too... if you don't already. Which you probably do.

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