5 July 2017
It's a fiendish trio of award-winning crime writers as Mark Billingham is joined by fellow Crime Novel of the Year winners and best-selling authors Sarah Hilary and Belinda Bauer.
They discuss the creation of Sarah's complex heroine Marnie Rome, Belinda's unique and vulnerable heroes and settling the matter once and for all of whether the countryside or the city is the most dangerous place for both murder or cheese-related deaths.
And with series four about to start on UKTV, our man with spy glass and his ear to the ground, Paul Hirons, gets the scoop on Luther from former head of BBC Drama, Kate Harwood.
Teaser clip
Teaser clip
Guest recommendations
Belinda recommends an oldie but a goodie - the legendary Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me - for a good read, while Sarah also has an old-school flavour to her suggestion - The Hours Before Dawn, by Celia Fremlin. Written in the 1950s, Fremlin was a contemporary of the late, great Patricia Highsmith, and this reissue tells the story of Louise Henderson: a young housewife and mother, trying her best to tend to a husband, two small daughters and a constantly crying baby. Her fatigue is such that she fears she is nearing psychosis; and she can't help but feel that a new lodger in the house, a seemingly respectable schoolmistress, poses a threat to her and her family.
When it comes to telly, Belinda admits that she's way behind the curve when it comes to new TV, so recommends Breaking Bad. Sarah, on the other hand, is an avid TV watcher, and recommends Netflix's crime documentary series, Casting JonBenét.