Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall

Episode 500! In Conversation with Val McDermid and Jo Sharp: This Door of the Seas
A huge milestone — this is episode 500 of Quick Book Reviews! Thank you to everyone who's been listening since the very start (sadly the first few episodes were lost in a platform move years ago, but the memories remain).
To celebrate, I'm joined by Val McDermid and Jo Sharp to talk about This Door of the Seas, their first book written together, and the latest in Polygon's Darkland Tales series. It tells the true and largely forgotten story of the Darien Scheme — Scotland's disastrous 17th-century attempt to found a trading colony in Panama, an event so significant it helped push the country into union with England, yet one neither of them were taught in school. We talk about how the idea was born on a very long drive down the A9, why they chose to tell the story entirely through letters (including real historical figure Dr James Wallace), and the moment Val discovered — almost as an aside — that there was a murder in the story she hadn't been told about. Jo also describes the genuinely moving experience of holding one of the original 1698 letters in the National Library of Scotland, and we talk about what it's actually like to co-write a book with your spouse.
Plus: the Darien colonists' extraordinary questions from the era's leading scientists (yes, including one about an animal that breathes through its navel), what Val and Jo are both reading right now, and their verdict on the classic Quick Book Reviews question — the biscuit that powered the words.
Featured book:
This Door of the Seas, Val McDermid and Jo Sharp
This episode is available as video on Apple Podcasts — watch it here.
Get in touch - links:
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
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This episode is a special one — Kate Atkinson joins me to talk about Our Noble Selves, her wonderful new novel set at the 1951 Festival of Britain. We talk about her traumatised journalist hero Harry Flynn (nearly named Quinn, and nearly given a much darker backstory), the real dog behind fictional character Mrs Betty, and the working title she changed at the very last minute. Kate also reveals her dream writing location is not a beach or a cabin, but Specsavers, and delivers the most devastating answer in this podcast's history to the crucial biscuit question.
Before that, a spoiler-free look at three books I've been reading:
Endless Night, Agatha Christie — no Poirot, no Miss Marple, a slow start that turned into one I couldn't put down
Call Me By Your Name (graphic novel edition), André Aciman — a beautiful, reflective illustrated edition of the love story, not one for the kids
Whistler, Ann Patchett — a book everyone else is raving about; I liked it, didn't love it, and that's entirely on me
Featured book:
Our Noble Selves, Kate Atkinson
That's this episode — spoiler-free reviews of Endless Night, Call Me By Your Name, and Whistler, plus Kate Atkinson on Our Noble Selves.
This episode is available as video on Apple Podcasts on your browser — watch it here.
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.

A shorter episode this week, but a packed one. Philippa has an announcement, a question to answer honestly, and a book-related confession she has been sitting on for a while. Brace yourselves.
October Book Club: The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway
Philippa is launching a relaxed, no-pressure book club in October. Each week she'll read 96 pages and share her thoughts at the end of that week's episode. You can join in, get in touch with your thoughts, or simply skip that section if it's not for you — it'll always be at the end of the episode so nothing is missed.
The book: The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway. Katie is a barmaid in Derry who is approached by two detectives wanting her to become their informant. Trapped between the police and the dangerous brothers she works for, her only hope is to remain the one nobody suspects.
Available in paperback, audiobook, and at most libraries. No quiz. No dress code. No deadline. Just books.
Am I Being Paid to Review Books?
Someone recently asked whether Philippa charges for book reviews — prompted by another reviewer apparently charging $200 to listen to an audiobook and $800 for a video review. The answer is no. Philippa receives books for free and earns a small amount from podcast advertising, but has never been paid to review a book and would never recommend something she didn't genuinely love. She also declines paid video offers — partly on principle, partly because she suspects publishers would be politely horrified by the result.
The Confession:
She said it. She means it. She is ready for the hate mail.
Prologues grind her gears — the running-through-a-forest opener followed by a gentle chapter one that has nothing to do with it, the bones discovered in a field that are never referenced again until page 300, the dramatic peril that is forgotten by the time the story gets going. Philippa's view: just start the story. She acknowledges you may disagree. She welcomes the debate.
Get in touch — whatever your views are on prologues
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.

Victorian Women Weren't Allowed to Play Football. They Did It Anyway.
In 1897, a woman calling herself Nettie Honeyball founded Britain's first ladies' football club — and doctors wrote to the newspapers warning it would make women infertile. Author Frances Quinn joins me to talk about The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club, her brilliant historical fiction novel inspired by that true story, and the real Victorian scandal of women simply choosing to play the game.
We talk about inventing a fictional rival team to give the real history its missing plot, writing three women each trapped by Victorian society in different ways, and the friend who told her a 70,000-word draft was "a little bit rubbish" — and was right. Frances also tells me about her dream writing retreat with three fellow authors in a Norfolk cottage, why a sea view would ruin her concentration completely, and what powered the words this time round (a chocolate digestive, eaten strictly undunked).
Before that, a spoiler-free look at three books I've been reading:
Not Quite Myself, by Mike and Claire Gayle — a body-swap story about a couple who separate the morning after dropping their youngest at university, told in alternating chapters by a husband-and-wife writing team
The Butler, by Clare Mackintosh — a shorter, glamorous whodunnit set at a French villa during Cannes, a real change of pace for the author
In Deep Water, by Elle Blair — a cruise-ship murder mystery that didn't land for me, though the reviews suggest it may well land for you
Featured book:
The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club, Frances Quinn
That's this episode — spoiler-free reviews of Not Quite Myself, The Butler, and In Deep Water, plus Frances Quinn on the real history behind The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club.
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 went to Harrogate Crime Festival and came back with an alarming number of books. Here is everything she picked up, was given, or had rescued from the ladies' toilets on her behalf.
Out Now
The Angel of Death - Trevor Wood
DCI Jack Parker has a secret early onset dementia diagnosis. When a mercy killer begins targeting the terminally ill in Newcastle, and the killings are traced to a carers group his wife has been attending in secret, Jack faces a question he cannot ignore.
The Fifteenth Man - William Cook
A Cold War thriller hunting the last Nazi war criminal alive to have signed off on the final solution. Rescued from the women's toilets at Harrogate. Out October.
The Man Comes Around - Caimh McDonnell
Smiling Johnny — charming, monstrous, long thought dead — is back in Dublin with scores to settle. Bunny McGarry must find him before he reaches Pamela Cassidy. Also: someone has nicked a bonfire.
Her Last Move - John Marrs
Reissued with a bonus chapter. DS Becca Vincent hunts a killer with the help of a super-recogniser — while the killer watches her every move.
The Museum of Second Chances - Jo Leevers
Evelyn Silver has spent sixty years gathering objects the tide leaves behind. At the heart of her small museum is a fragment of lace found in her blanket when she was abandoned as a newborn. Already out.
The Housewife - Natalie Borelli
Jodie has the perfect life. She is also convinced her husband killed his first wife. Out since June.
Seeing Red - Damien Boyd
Book 16 in the DI Nick Dixon series. A body staged too neatly in a Somerset churchyard. Dixon is certain someone is being silenced. Already out.
Coming Soon
The Domino Man - Helen Jones (January 2027)
Cardiff, 1972. Six bodies, each a decapitated corpse with a different head sewn on. Case never solved. Cardiff, 2022. A cold case unit reopens it. Philippa met the author in the food truck queue.
Bitter Fruit - Tempest Black (March 2027)
A debut. A ritualistically posed body in a Dublin churchyard. A detective. A woman haunted by visions. The publisher handed out branded fruit boxes.
Face First Case - Jeffrey Boakye (February 2027)
Faith Apponsa runs the Met canteen with an iron fist — until a shocking discovery pulls her into the middle of a murder investigation. Sharp and darkly funny. One of Pan Macmillan's big books for 2027.
Extraordinary Correspondence - Robert Hutton (June 2027)
Sycamore Bell answers letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes — until one arrives begging Holmes to save a man on death row. The proof arrives in the shape of an actual envelope you can open.
It Didn't End There - Charlotte Dolman
New Year's Eve 1999. A threat. A decision. Twenty-three years later, six estranged friends are summoned to a manor house and everything buried comes back up. Discovered in the beer tent.
Almost the Whole Truth - Robin Stevens (June 2027)
Robin Stevens's debut adult novel. Alice Dearlove's ex is convicted of murdering the woman he left her for. Then a podcast starts pointing the finger at Alice instead.
Confessions of a Crime Writer - Louise Mangos
Crime writer Nigel Inchcock attends a literary festival and things go badly, funnily wrong. Louise signed Philippa's copy with hope you have a laugh.
A Christmas Mystery - Katie Lumsden (November)
December 1884. A country estate. A family. Guests. And a body. 478 pages. Philippa is completely here for it.
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.