The Book Show

Before Knives Out, escape rooms and true-crime podcasts, there was Agatha Christie. The 'Queen of Crime' perfected the murder-mystery format and, 50 years after her death, we still can't get enough of her trailblazing take on cosy crime.Each episode we solve a case together. What made her mysteries so propulsive? What happened when she was the star of her own missing-persons case? And would The Thursday Murder Club, or Only Murders in the Building exist, without Agatha Christie?Plus, each episode we'll put your little grey cells to work with a cryptic puzzle brought to you by David Astle, the ABC's resident Puzzle Master.

Conservative politician and bestselling author, Jeffrey Archer has died at 86. In one of the final interviews of his life, he recounts how his changing financial, personal and political fortunes propelled his writing career.Jeffery Archer's own life story was just as colourful as those in the pages of his books. He was a British MP until he went bankrupt, then in 1976 he published the novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less which began his 50 year career as a novelist. He was made a British Lord, worked for Margaret Thatcher and went to jail for perjury.With his days in politics long behind him, Jeffrey Archer was in a reflective mood for this interview. He told Claire Nichols that his new novel, Adam and Eve, was the best thing he'd written and it would be his last.

Geraldine Brooks explains how she stumbled across the story that inspired her 17th century plague novel, Year of Wonders and Zoe Foster Blake channels her favourite getaways and strong female friendships in her latest novel Group Chat.For Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books vote, Geraldine Brooks takes Claire Nichols back to the beginnings of her beloved debut Year of Wonders and reflects on whether it's an Australian novel despite being set in 17th century England. Now, 25 years after publication, Geraldine is amused by how she depicted horses in the novel (she's now a keen horserider), but she's still proud of it and offers wise words about the importance of accepting our younger selves. Will you be voting for Year of Wonders? Vote now in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books.Zoe Foster Blake describes to Claire Nichols how holidays in her favourite Greek island of Mykonos and her enduring friendships with women over decades inspired her latest novel. Group Chat is about five women in their forties who gather for a week of extravagance to support a girlfriend who's discovered her husband is cheating. As they dance till dawn, sip cocktails at beach bars or on luxury yachts, the women also question their own suburban lives and ask themselves, is that all there is? We want to know what you think of Radio National's book podcasts (The Book Show and The Bookshelf). Help us understand what's working, what's not, and how we can make our book programs even more useful, relevant and unmissable. Please take this quick survey.

Tim Winton explains why his beloved Cloudstreet is not a nostalgic novel, while Holly Ringland admits she was "nostalgia sick" for the 1990s while writing The World Beneath Her Feet.Cloudstreet follows the Lamb and Pickles families, who live under the same roof but move in very different circles. Loosely based on the two sides of Tim Winton's family, the novel's distinctive vernacular grew from the stories he heard as a child. In this interview for Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books, Tim tells Claire Nichols why the book's enduring popularity remains a mystery to him more than 30 years after its publication. Ahead of the release of his memoir, Songs from the Firefront, Tim also shares some of the true stories that feature in this classic including the heartbreaking story of his grandmother.Will you be voting for Cloudstreet? Vote now in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books.Holly Ringland's debut The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was voted into the inaugural Top 100 Books in 2025 and now she's published her third novel The World Beneath Her Feet. It's about the troubled past of a gemstone expert growing up in the 1990s which is significant to Holly as the last time teenagers grew up unrecorded without social media and a camera in their pocketListen to Claire's interview with Holly about her second novel The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding. We want to know what you think of Radio National's book podcasts (The Book Show and The Bookshelf). Help us understand what's working, what's not, and how we can make our book programs even more useful, relevant and unmissable. Please take this quick survey.

Settle in for some classic storytelling with actor Bryan Brown who's written his third novel, Hidden. Plus Angela O'Keefe tells Claire Nichols about Phantom Days, a book about a book.Bryan Brown has been a fixture of our screens since the 1970s but he recently became a writer too. In 2021 his first book of short stories, Sweet Jimmy came out and he's now penned two novels including his latest, The Hidden. He joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival and shared his path to writing. He had the audience laughing at "hello".Claire also speaks to Angela O'Keefe whose award winning second novel The Sitter was told from the perspective of a painting. In her new novel Phantom Days, another object is a character, in this case, a book. Angela speaks about the importance of letting go after a book is published and how she found the "voice" for the book character in her latest.

Fresh from the Oscars for Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell joins Claire Nichols to discuss her book Land. Plus, Robert Forster of iconic indie band The Go-Betweens shares the musical influences behind his debut novel Songwriters on the Run.Maggie O'Farrell is best known for her novels Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait and her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am. Her new novel Land takes place soon after the 19th century Irish famine and follows an Irish map maker and his son as they take part in the first official mapping of the country. Maggie shares her personal connection to this venture and how she's now obsessed with maps (and identifies as a 'neek') and the Irish tradition of holy wells. She shares some Oscars gossip too.Before Robert Forster's (The Go-Betweens) debut novel Songwriters on the Run was a book, it was a song from his solo album, Songs to Play. The story follows a couple of jailbreaking musicians evading the law. Robert shares the genesis of the song and how it became a story he couldn't let go.

Bestselling author Ann Patchett joins Claire Nichols to discuss her novel Whistler and its unexpected take on step-parents, while Romy Ash unpacks her intimate, sexy and strange new book, Mantle.American author Ann Patchett is the bestselling author of Commonwealth, Bel Canto and Tom Lake. She tells Claire Nichols how her own experience of growing up in a large, blended family influenced her new novel Whistler which is about a reunion between a woman and her stepfather, 40 years after losing touch. Ann Patchett is also a bookseller and shares the books she's excited about this year: John of John by Douglas Stuart and Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li.Skin, strange rashes, the climate crisis and salmon farming all come together in Romy Ash's follow up to her Miles Franklin shortlisted novel, Floundering. Mantle is about a woman who's travelled to Tasmania to care for her dying mother, meanwhile a bizarre skin rash is spreading through the population. Romy shares her love of geology and why fiction is the perfect avenue to explore this passion.