Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie. So she shouldn't be surprised when an author's manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime. Karen can't ignore the plot's chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished from her own doorstep. The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there's a problem: the author died before he finished it. As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a spiralling game of betrayal and revenge, where lies are indistinguishable from the truth and with more than one unexpected twist.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Val McDermid about why 'Tartan noir' is so much part of Scottish culture, and why DCI Karen Pirie has to take up reading crime thrillers to solve a murder.

Val McDermid on the latest in the DCI Karen Pirie series of crime thrillers, 'Past Lying'

Twelve-year-old Billy Pyke has a talent for sorting things out, whether it’s his chaotic family home or the busy book stall at Paddy’s Market. In 1871, the market is the loud, smelly, marvellous heart of Melbourne, and Billy is delighted to work at the book stall there for the eccentric Mr Cole. When his new friend Kezia warns him of a sinister magician called the Obscurosmith, Billy can’t believe her stories of magical deals gone horribly wrong – until he sees them happening. And the night that the Obscurosmith crosses a terrifying and dangerous line, Billy realises something: if he wants the Obscurosmith stopped, he’ll have to do it himself.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Amelia Mellor about her fascination for 19th century history and Melbourne's Paddy's Market, how magic and history converge at Coles Book Arcade, why digging around in the vault of history can turn up the strangest things.

Amelia Mellor on her 2023 Historical Novel prize-winning YA book, 'The Bookseller's Apprentice'

Crown Resorts, the Bond Group, James Hardie, HIH Insurance, Geoffrey Edelsten’s Allied Medical Group, 7-Eleven and Rio Tinto, the list goes on…

Australia has suffered from the continual sting of business scandals since corporate cowboys like Alan Bond and Christopher Skase wrought so much damage during the 1980s. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Australians have been affected, with many left traumatised when corporations collapse due to gross mismanagement and profits being put before people.

Award-winning author Quentin Beresford takes us inside corporate Australia’s highest-profile scandals and the factors that drive them — the rise of celebrity CEOs, timid regulators, inept boards, the murky links between big business, governments, banks, media and lobby groups — and explores a path towards higher ethical standards from organisations. It’s a wild ride into the heart of corporate Australia.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Quentin Beresford about the continuous string of corporate scandals that has plagued Australia over the last forty years, the gallery of rogues who have been at the helm of these scandals, and the scourge of crony capitalism and the lack of regulation that has allowed these scandals to proliferate.

Quentin Beresford goes inside Australia's biggest corporate scandals in 'Rogue Corporations'

On a Bright Hillside in Paradise, tells the story of a family of convict descendants in the back-blocks of Tasmania, on a farm in a place called Paradise. They lead hard-scrabble lives. The drama begins when strangers arrive, Christian Brethren evangelists who hold big revival meetings in local barns.

On a Bright Hillside in Paradise tackles big questions of faith and family but remains grounded in the dreams and strivings of its beautifully drawn characters. Higgs takes lives that history might have judged as small and imbues them with immense dignity and complex and compelling inner lives.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Annette Higgs about the long journey from idea to great story in a first novel, the fascinating family connection she has to the characters in the story and the social impact of the arrival of the Christian Brethren on the isolated communities of north-western Tasmania.

Annette Higgs on her first novel set in 19th-century Tasmania, 'On A Bright Hillside in Paradise'

In 1940, as the Nazis sweep toward Lithuania, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara defies his government and secretly issues visas to fleeing Jewish refugees. After the war, Sugihara is dismissed and disappears into obscurity.

Three decades later, in Australia, Rachel Margol is shocked when her engagement reveals a long-held family secret: she is Jewish. As she grapples with this deception and the dysfunction it has caused, unspoken tragedies from the past begin to come to light. When an opportunity arrives to visit Chiune Sugihara, the man who risked his life to save the Margols during World War II, Rachel becomes determined to meet him. But will a journey to Japan, and the secrets it uncovers, heal the family or fracture them for good?

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Linda Margolin Royal about the origins of this story in her own family history, the plight of Jewish refugees in Lithuania in 1940, and the remarkable Japanese diplomat who risked his own life to save others.

Linda Margolin Royal on a story inspired by the Japanese Schindler, 'The Star on the Grave'

Most of us have done our time in the retail trenches, but service stations are undoubtedly the frontline, as Melburnian David Goodwin found out when he started working the weekend graveyard shift at his local servo.

From his very first night shift, David absorbed a consistent level of mind-bending lunacy, encountering everything from giant shoplifting bees and balaclava-clad goons hurling cordial-filled water bombs from the sunroof of their BMW, to anarcho-goths high on MDMA releasing large rats into the store from their matching Harry Potter backpacks.

Over the years, David grew to love his mad servo, handing out free pies and chocolate bars on the sly as he grew a backbone and became street smart. Amidst the unrelenting chaos, he eventually made it out of the servo circus - and lived to tell the tale.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to David Goodwin about what drew him to working in the wee hours at his local servo, the myriad of characters and space cadets he encountered along the way, and the how the people he met and the stories they had to tell changed his life.

Sound effects by zapsplat.com

David Goodwin on working at the coal-face of retail in 'Servo: 'Tales from the Graveyard Shift'

Compassion continues Julie Janson’s emotional and intense literary exploration of the complex and dangerous lives of Aboriginal women during the 1800s in colonial New South Wales, which she began in Benevolence as a counter narrative to colonial history in Australian literature. Compassion is the dramatised life story of one of Julie Janson’s ancestors who went on trial for stealing livestock in New South Wales, and it is an exciting and violent story of anti-colonial revenge and roaming adventure. A gripping fictive account of Aboriginal life in the 1800s, Compassion follows the life of Duringah, AKA Nell James, the outlaw daughter of the Darug hero of Benevolence, Muraging.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Julie Janson about shaping the character of her ancestor Duringah, and charting her exploits as “the wild native thief”, and how juxtaposing the natural and spiritual worlds of the Darug nation with the terrible reality of life during colonial times illuminates the rich shared history of New South Wales.

Julie Janson on the dangerous lives of Aboriginal women in colonial New South Wales in 'Compassion'

Named after a famous fictional character, librarian Bridget Jones was raised on a remote cattle station, with only her mother’s romance novels for company. Now living alone in Fremantle, Bridget is a hopeless romantic. She also believes that anyone who doesn’t like reading just hasn’t met the right book yet, and that connecting books to their readers is her superpower. If only her love life was that easy.

When handsome Italian barista Fabio progresses from flirting with love hearts on her coffee foam to joining the book club she runs at her library, Bridget prays her romance ‘curse’ won’t ruin things. But it’s the attention of her cranky neighbour Sully that seems to be the major obstacle in her life. Why is he going to so much effort to get under her skin? She soon discovers that not all romances start with a meet-cute, but they might just end in happily ever after…

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Rachael Johns about how our idea of libraries as dull places is now a thing of the past, how exploring relationships and friendships are at the heart of what she writes, and why romance fiction endures by changing with the times.

Rachael Johns on love, romance and the power of books in 'The Other Bridget'

'All Time High' is a comprehensive guide on how to enter the cryptocurrency market as a complete beginner and to prosper. Cryptocurrencies have the power to radically transform not only our financial lives, but our personal freedom, sovereignty and mindset. Powered by blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies offer a new way for investors to create wealth and a potential early retirement without having to be a trader, have financial knowledge or a prior skill level. Sydel Sierra has documented this success blueprint in five easy steps and within each part are the practical tools to discover the power of this asset class.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Sydel Sierra about what exactly is cryptocurrency and why it is so important in the financial world of the future, why Bitcoin is the foundation of this asset class but why holding a portfolio of cryptocurrencies is crucial in finding success in investment, and why good research is critical when exploring this investment class.

Sydel Sierra on the power of cryptocurrencies and how to invest the right way in, 'All Time High'

During the years of the Great Depression, Cressida Morley and her eccentric family live in a weatherboard cottage on the edge of a wild beach. Outsiders in their small working-class community, they rant and argue and read books and play music and never feel themselves to be poor. Yet as Cressida moves beyond childhood, she starts to outgrow the place that once seemed the centre of the world. As she plans her escape, the only question is: who will she become?

The End of the Morning is the final and unfinished autobiographical novel by Charmian Clift. Published here for the first time, it is the book that Clift herself regarded as her most significant work. Although the author did not live to complete it, the typescript left among her papers was fully revised and stands alone as a novella. It is published here alongside a new selection of Clift’s essays and an afterword from her biographer Nadia Wheatley.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Nadia Wheatley about the life and times of the Charmian Clift and George Johnston 'author couple', the charming story of life on the NSW South Coast during the years of the Great Depression, and what 'The End of the Morning' could have been.

Nadia Wheatley on Charmian Clift's final, unfinished novel, 'The End of the Morning'

Book talk and author interviews aimed at helping you discover your next favourite read, presented by Good Reading Magazine.

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