Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.comAnthony Horowitz may be best-known for his Alex Rider hit novels. But as a writer of adult crime fiction he has a unique and distinguished career.He was the first author entrusted by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle to reimagine Sherlock Holmes for a new book. And then he wrote three official James Bond novels.But his own inventions as an author and a screenwriter have now become parts of our cultural life: Foyle’s War, the Susan Ryeland books and TV shows and the Hawthorne and Horowitz series.Anthony also wrote on Midsomer Murders and Agatha Christie’s Poirot.He started working in advertising while writing books into the early hours. And his big break came in the mid-1980s when, after publishing a children’s book about Robin Hood, he was asked to write for the biggest TV show in Britain at that time.In this episode, Anthony breaks down what parts of crime writing he enjoys - and tries to avoid. And he describes the honour and pressure which came from being entrusted with two of crime writing’s most important literary estates.His latest book, A Deadly Episode, will be released tomorrow. You can discover more about Anthony here: anthonyhorowitz.com or @anthonyhorowitz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

Subscribe for FREE: robertmurphy.substack.comRichard Laxton discusses how he directed the ITV drama Gone.Why did he want to tackle the subjects of male repression and coercive control?What strengths did the lead actors Eve Myles and David Morrissey bring to the show? And how did his experience as a young gay man who didn’t come out until he was 21 inform this drama about an institution which has a public and private face?Richard also discusses his previous crime series including, Joan, Honour and The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe?If you enjoyed this episode, we have much more about the hit ITV drama in the last two episodes:The writer:In this episode series creator George Kay describes which true crimes influenced his writing - and his career more widely, including the hit shows Hijack, The Long Shadow and Lupin.The inspiration:Former detective Julie Mackay led the team which solved the 30-year-old murder of the teenager Melanie Road.In this episode, she describes what it was like starting her policing career in the 1980s and 1990s, juggling being a detective with being a mother and solving a high-profile cold case.If you want to learn more about the award-winning book, To Hunt a Killer, which Julie and I wrote - about that inquiry - you can grab a copy here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

Julie Mackay is the former detective superintendent who led the inquiry into the cold case of Melanie Road.For more than three decades, the killer of the 17-year-old schoolgirl evaded justice.For the final seven years, this inquiry was led by Julie Mackay at Avon & Somerset Police.Julie and I wrote To Hunt a Killer - an award-winning book about her tireless hunt for the murderer.The book was optioned by New Pictures, the creators of Gone. Screenwriter George Kay created a fictional world, using the book as inspiration, rather than making a straight adaptation.Gone centres on the domineering headmaster Michael Polly (David Morrissey) whose wife Sarah vanishes from his prestigious West Country school. Det Sgt Annie Cassidy (Eve Myles) is brought in to find her. Instead of being allowed to lead the hunt, she’s sidelined as the Family Liaison Officer. But her new position gives her unique access to the Polly family home. And the more she sees of this dogmatic, repressed and powerful man, the more she questions whether he was responsible for his wife’s vanishing.In this podcast episode, Julie describes starting as the sole woman on her police team, what it was like to work undercover, to have a loaded sawn-off shotgun pointed at her head, reflects on the challenges of the Melanie Road inquiry, and what it was like to run a team of nearly 200 detectives when she finally got the top job leading a regional Murder Squad.Gone is aired on ITV in the UK on Sundays and Mondays throughout March with all episodes appearing on ITVX on March 8th for the binge-watchers among you.Gone is written by George Kay and directed by Richard Laxton. It stars Eve Myles and David Morrissey and co-stars Jennifer Macbeth, Arthur Hughes, Nicholas Nunn, Elliot Cowan, Billy Barrett, Rupert Evans, Jodie McNee, Oscar Batterham, and Clare Higgins. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

Subscribe for free: www.robertmurphy.substack.comImagine you are a woman in 1659 Papal Rome. You can’t choose your husband, your job, your home. If your family had no money, you’d most likely end up in a convent or on the streets.And what if your life was ruled by a brutal husband, father or brother?Divorce? No chance.Anna Mazzola discovered the true case of Gironima Spana who supplied women with a potion known as Aqua Tofana to sort the problem: to kill the men.But the corpses didn’t decay as they should, and the authorities were alerted.‘The Book of Secrets’ reimagines this story from three perspectives: the poisoner, a survivor of domestic abuse and the prosecutor entrusted with catching the killers.The Book of Secrets won the 2025 Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award - one of the biggest accolades in crime writing.In this interview, Anna Mazzola describes the inspiration and research for the novel, how her work as a human rights lawyer informs her work, and her new venture writing crime/political thrillers set in the modern day under her pen-name Anna Sharp.You can find out more about Anna Mazzola here: https://annamazzola.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

Subscribe for FREE: robertmurphy.substack.comThe creator of The Snowdonia Killings talks true crime, pivoting from screenplays to novels (via teaching) and how his own publishing company has proved far more lucrative than being traditionally published.When, in 2020, Simon couldn’t get an agent or a publisher, he decided to self-publish his first novel, expecting just a few friends to buy it.But soon it was soaring up the Amazon charts.The Snowdonia Killings, with its lead character of Det Insp Ruth Hunter, seemed to touch a nerve with fans of crime fiction.Since then, Simon has written more than THIRTY books and has sold millions of copies.Simon’s books are fantastic reads, with great characters, evocative settings and terrific twists.You can find out more (and claim a free book) here: https://www.simonmccleave.comTo WATCH this interview - click here: https://open.substack.com/pub/robertmurphy/p/simon-mccleave-the-screenwriter-turned?r=1lsdh7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

The Detection Club, established in 1930, is the world’s first social network for crime writers. It’s founder fathers and mothers included Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and Anthony Berkeley.Its current membership includes Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Richard Osman.The current (and only the eighth) President, Martin Edwards, has released an updated edition of his book ‘The Golden Age of Murder’ in which he talks about the true cases which inspired the literary greats of the Inter-War years.And he describes how many of our classic crime novels riff around the subject of a ‘justified murder.’To WATCH this interview, click here: https://open.substack.com/pub/robertmurphy/p/video-interview-martin-edwards-president?r=1lsdh7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=trueMore about Martin Edwards : https://martinedwardsbooks.com/ and https://substack.com/@martinedwardsbooks/This podcast mentions an earlier episode about the Thompson-Bywaters with laura thompson case. You can hear that here: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

# Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com #Recorded at CrimeFest in Bristol, England, May 2025Lee Child on how his TV career helped him write, his favourite authors, how he ‘writes the fast stuff slow and the slow stuff fast’ and handing the Jack Reacher baton to his brother Andrew.Links mentioned in the show:https://www.jackreacher.com/us/https://www.crimefest.com/Decoy book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Decoy-secretive-historical-undercover-operations/dp/0008666814/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0To Hunt A Killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hunt-Killer-gripping-Longlisted-non-fiction/dp/0008507473/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0Want to watch the interview? Paste this into your browser: https://robertmurphy.substack.com/p/lee-child-talks-reacher-his-craft This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

On November 7th 1974, a children’s nanny Sandra Rivett was murdered at the home of the family in which she was in service.It was the Lucan family.Lord Lucan - her suspected killer - may have been targeting his estranged wife. But a man who had squandered his family fortune at Belgravia’s gaming tables proved to be as inept at murder as he was at gambling.And he killed poor Sandra. This is the perceived wisdom - and the finding of an inquest.But with so little known for sure, conjecture fills the gaps facts leave behind.What really happened on November 7th 1974?This is a compendium episode - a trilogy re-released to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Sandra’s murder.In the first two episodes, I’ve interviewed the brilliant author Laura Thompson - who has written a wonderful book A Different Class of Murder about the run up and aftermath of the killing.And in episode three, I speak with screenwriter George Kay about the nanny who could have been on-rota that night, managed to swap shifts - and cheated death.Yet Christabel Boyce met a dreadful end a decade later - leading some to believe there was a curse of the Lucan nannies. George has a personal connection with this second tragedy.You can find out more about Laura, her writing and her books here: http://www.laurathompson.co.uk/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.comIn Cold Blood started as a study in how a heartbreaking killing impacted a Mid-West community. But Truman Capote got sucked into the story.At first, the folk of Holcomb, Kansas, distrusted the flamboyant writer.But slowly, he won the small city round.And when the killers were caught, he built an unbelievable and controversial bond with them.In this episode, Capote’s friend and biographer, Gerald Clarke, describes the awful murders of the Clutter family in 1959, how Capote spent six years writing his masterpiece and its legacy on true crime and non-fiction literature.You can get a copy of In Cold Blood here.You can get a copy of Gerald Clarke’s Capote here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

Billie-Jo Jenkins was a talented 13-year-old schoolgirl who had found what appeared to be the perfect foster family: four daughters, a mum who was a social worker and a dad who was a deputy headteacher.Sion Jenkins was an upstanding member of an affluent town’s community. But he had secrets. Like the lies about his academic qualifications and the affair with a teenage girl who looked a lot like Billie-Jo.When Billie-Jo was found dead in her garden in 1997, it was Sion who called 999. Detectives first arrested a mysterious figure, known as Mr B.But then they turned their attention to Billie-Jo’s own foster father.He had just a three-minute window to have killed the 13-year-old. Could he have done it? And why?What followed was a roller-coaster of a police inquiry, prosecution and series of trials.For her series ‘Who Killed Billie-Jo’ podcaster Naomi Channell has gone back to the schoolgirl’s friends, family and the inquiry team to find out more about what happened.You can listen to her series here:To learn more about Naomi and her podcast, click here:https://linktr.ee/realtruecrimepodcast This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE: ROBERTMURPHY.SUBSTACK.COMBy the late 1980s, Jackie Malton seemed to have it all. She was one of only three female detective chief inspectors in the Metropolitan Police. She had worked on major inquiries and was a noted leader.But she had also stood up against the force’s grey male authority, against corruption, misogyny and freemasonry. Bruising encounters which left her unliked by some, stymied in her career and battling with alcohol.Then she received the phone call which changed her life.After retiring, Jackie has continued to work with television firms. She advises TV drama producers and is an expert used for crime analysis on shows and podcasts.She also works in prison to rehabilitate killers. In this episode she speaks about her work helping to reform murderers: how its done and the successes and failures she has encountered.Jackie’s book is The Real Prime Suspect. You can grab a copy here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

It was the early 1990s and Lynda La Plante was desperate. She had a few TV drama successes under her belt, but everything she was pitching was greeted with a ‘no’ from commissioners.Then, in a pitch meeting, she dreamt up Prime Suspect when the TV boss said she wanted a ‘cop show with a female detective and a murder.'But to create Det Ch Insp Jane Tennison, Lynda needed to research true crime. Enter Met detective Jackie Malton - and months of research.This interview coincides with the release of Lynda’s final Jane Tennison book, Whole Life Sentence which takes readers to the detective’s life before Prime Suspect.In this episode, Lynda talks Tennison, Jackie Malton, the importance of grounding her fiction in fact and research.Whole Life Sentence is released on July 4th 2024. You can grab a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whole-Life-Sentence-pulse-pounding-Detective-ebook/dp/B0CSTSGNS8To learn more about Lynda, click here: https://lyndalaplante.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

Janice Hallett has created three of the most inventive crime books of recent years. When I first started reading ‘The Appeal’ I was a bit dubious. How could a crime novel with big characters really be told through emails and messages?Then I got into the book…Next came The Twyford Code with a main character, a prisoner Steve Smith who can neither read nor write, who reveals his story through transcripts of audio recordings. It is GENIUS!And now there is the Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, told through research papers left by a journalist investigating a cult. Another triumph.In this episode Janice talks of how she is inspired by true crime, how she never plots her books and how her previous careers as a screenwriter and speechwriter have helped her as a fiction writer.To find out more about Janice and her books, click here.Her latest book, The Examiner, will be available from August 29th. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe