Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com Anthony 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.com David Baldacci was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1960. What was it like growing up amidst the legacy of the Jim Crow laws? How did becoming a Washington lawyer finesse his storytelling skills? And how did he write his breakout debut Absolute Power while working 90-hour weeks as a litigator? David has written more than 60 books in the last three decades and has become one of the world’s best-selling crime-writers. His latest novel, Hope Rises, is the second part of David’s Walter Nash series. It tells how an everyday businessman seeks revenge after being plunged into the dark world of organised crime and security agencies. In this conversation we speak about David’s inspiration from true crime, his literary heroes… and about his hometown hotel which had alligators in the reception. You can learn more about David here: https://www.davidbaldacci.com/ You can grab a copy of Hope Rises here in the UK. And here in the USA. 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

Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com How - and why - did celebrated screenwriter George Kay take a true crime story and create a tense, claustrophobic thriller set in an English private school? ‘Gone’ stars Eve Myles as overlooked detective sergeant Annie Cassidy brought in to investigate the disappearance of the wife of domineering headmaster Michael Polly (David Morrissey.) In this interview, George describes how he was inspired by the detective Julie Mackay (last week’s episode) and her book To Hunt a Killer. But the series was influenced by two other real-life investigations. George speaks about how he moved from writing episodic scripts for Killing Eve and other series to becoming one of the UK’s most bankable and acclaimed drama showrunners. And he touches on some of the big themes raised in Gone: masculinity and how some institutions fail to nurture generations of boys. George has featured in two previous episodes of Behind the Crimes. He talked about how he created The Long Shadow, about the crimes of Peter Sutcliffe: And of his previously unknown connection to the Lord Lucan nanny who evaded the murderous earl: 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: robertmurphy.substack.com Doctor Who, Spooks, Luther: some of Britain’s best-loved TV crime dramas have scripts written by Neil Cross. The Bristolian who now lives in New Zealand created Idris Elba’s beloved London detective on a spur-of-the-moment during a meeting with BBC managers. And, more recently, he devised the fast-paced, twisty, laugh-out-loud thriller The Iris Affair, featuring Niamh Algar and Tom Hollander. In this interview, Neil describes how his life changed in a chance-moment at a careers advice meeting at university. He describes the difference between writing for an established show with an engaged following - like Doctor Who - compared with creating his own series. And, in this open, confessional interview, he talks about his tough upbringing in Bristol and Scotland, being expelled from school, spending years unemployed, before getting into university and embarking on his writing career. You can find out more about Neil here: http://www.neil-cross.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: www.robertmurphy.substack.com Imagine 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.com # Journalist and crime author Andrew Wilson spent half a decade researching and writing Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith. When she died, aged 74 in 1995, Highsmith left one of the world’s largest literary estates. Inside her notebooks, or cahiers, Andrew found never-before-seen reminiscences of her many (and I mean many) love affairs, notes about the dark crimes which prompted her stories and people she had watched which inspired her characters. Highsmith rarely sold more than 8,000 copies a year in the USA. She was far more celebrated in Europe, to where she moved in the 1970s. But now, following the superb Netflix series ‘Ripley’ as well as the 1999 film ‘The Talented Mr Ripley,’ interest in Highsmith has never been higher. Who was Patricia Highsmith? A lesbian writer who wrote a queer classic yet was deeply misogynistic. A political liberal who held profoundly racist views. A writer of psychological thrillers who hated people. And how did she manage to persuade quite so many married women into bed? And what her fascination with snails? Why did she keep them in her bra? Andrew Wilson describes all of this and about why he spent five years writing ‘Beautiful Shadow.’ You can find more about Andrew Wilson here: https://www.andrewwilsonauthor.co.uk/ Andrew’s Agatha Christie mysteries are available here: https://www.andrewwilsonauthor.co.uk/the-agatha-christie-mysteries His new biography of Marilyn Monroe I Wanna Be Loved By You is here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wanna-Be-Loved-You-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B0FB496Q27/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0 In this episode we refer to Truman Capote. You can hear more about In Cold Blood here: And Andrew talks about Highsmith’s interest in the Lord Lucan case. You can hear more about 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 The 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.com To 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 would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com

Mark Gatiss’s new crime drama is set in 1946 London: a city recovering from the Blitz, when gangs ran wild and gun crime was rife. Bookish is inspired by both true crimes and the Golden Age of Detective Fiction which preceded the Second World War. But what were the true crimes of this period? And how does Mark, who works across so many genres (comedy, horror, sci-fi, action, period-drama) and platforms (TV, books, theatre, film) create a show which resonates? Bookish is already posting big audience numbers on U&Alibi in the UK. You may know Mark from The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Dracula - and MANY other shows. But what is it that brings him back to crime? To watch this interview, click here: https://open.substack.com/pub/robertmurphy/p/sherlocks-mark-gatiss-true-crime?r=1lsdh7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com

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=true More 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 would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com

How do you take on one of the biggest literature legacies of the past half-century? That’s what Nick Harkaway was asked to do after his father, David Cornwell (aka John Le Carré) died in 2020. Karla’s Choice, Nick’s latest in the George Smiley world puts us in a sinister world of subterfuge, Hungarian agents and 1960s London. In this interview, Nick tells us how he approached the writing of Karla’s Choice, what he learned from his father - and what he had to learn on-the-job, and how he balances writing in the Le Carré world with his own books. You can get Karla’s Choice here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karlas-Choice-John-Carr%C3%A9-Novel-ebook/dp/B0CZPPHPCR?ref_=ast_author_mpb PLUS: My book ‘Decoy’ won ‘Book of the Year’ at the True Crime awards in London last week. Judges praised the quality of the writing, the high-end research and journalism and the issues raised. You can grab a copy here: UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Decoy-secretive-historical-undercover-operations/dp/0008666814/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 USA: https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Decoy/dp/B0CS6XNB54?ref_=ast_author_dp Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Decoy-secretive-historical-undercover-operations-ebook/dp/B0CLTGQDQJ?ref_=ast_author_dp Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Decoy-secretive-historical-undercover-operations-ebook/dp/B0CLTGQDQJ?ref_=ast_author_dp Want to watch this interview? Check it out here: https://robertmurphy.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/165538997/share-center This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com

# Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com # Recorded at CrimeFest in Bristol, England, May 2025 Lee 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_0 To Hunt A Killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hunt-Killer-gripping-Longlisted-non-fiction/dp/0008507473/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 Want 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 would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com

Neil Woods spent fourteen years as an undercover police officer, helping dismantle some of Britain’s most notorious drug gangs. Yet after his biggest victory he came to the conclusion: was it worth it? He started to feel that the problem was helped by repeated failures of governments to tackle the cause of Britain and America’s drugs epidemic. In fact by handing control of drugs supply to criminals governments were the cause. ‘A doctor controlling it (drugs supply) with a prescription pad has no incentive to find new customers and so the market doesn't develop. So what happened is it becomes a pyramid scheme. If you're organised crime, you want to find new customers, you find someone who's addicted and you say, ‘Look, if you find five more customers and you sell to them, they'll pay for your habit’ and the pyramid scheme explodes.’ Neil’s views are controversial views. But they are compelling. In this interview Neil describes: * How the world used to experience two competing drug policies: The American System and The British System - with the American System winning. * How following criminalisation in the 1960s, addicts fell into the hands of organised crime. * How some schemes decriminalising drugs have worked in recent years. To find out more about Neil and to get copies of his books ‘Good Cop, Bad War’ and ‘Drug Wars’ click here: https://www.neilwoods.net/ 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

Neil Woods spent years as an undercover police officer. He says his techniques in included ‘weaponising empathy’ - using the good nature of society’s most vulnerable. And as Britain was being hit by a wave of cheap drugs and a rise in heroin and crack cocaine addicts, Neil had the most staggering results. In just one operation against Britain’s most notorious gang - The Burger Bar Boys - his work led to 96 arrests. But what impact did living a double-life have on this family man? What was it like having knives held at his throat? And why does he now believe undercover policing should only be used in the rarest and most extreme cases? Neil Woods has written two thought-provoking books. Links to them and him are here: https://www.neilwoods.net/ 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 In 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

Subscribe for free at Robertmurphy.substack.com Maxim Jakobowski has sold millions of books. But you may not have heard of him. After releasing a book aged 16, he moved into publishing and worked with Patricia Highsmith (‘an incredible talent… a very difficult lady…’) he then turned to crime writing. When ‘50 Shades of Grey’ was released, he was drafted into writing a series of erotica - which sold millions of books. And how did he sell the rights of a novel to Nicole Kidman… for a fortune? A quick warning… if True Crime is your thing, this episode may not be for you. But fiction fans may find it fascinating. But Maxim speaks in detail and depth about how to publish crime, the state of the book industry and fiction trends which have come and gone. 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.com # Jackie Kabler met one of Britain’s most notorious killers for her job as a breakfast TV correspondent. Years later, she used her experience covering crime for her fictional thrillers. Her psychological drama The Perfect Couple has sold over 400,000 copies and she has sold nearly a million books in total. Her latest story, The Life Sentence, is based on a case of wrongful prosecution which she heard about on a true crime podcast. You can find out more about Jackie here: www.jackiekabler.com @officialjackiekabler and @jackiekabler Subscribe to robertmurphy.substack.com to watch the video interview. 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