Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

Val McDermid is one of the world’s most celebrated crime writers. She’s sold more than 20 million books with her series which include Karen Pirie, Tony Hill and Kate Brannigan. But before becoming a literary powerhouse, she spent years as a newspaper journalist covering some of Britain’s most notorious cases.
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In this episode of Behind the Crimes, Val reflects on her path from newsroom reporter to bestselling novelist.
Val speaks candidly about her years in journalism, which included covering stories such as Lockerbie, Hillsborough and the Peter Sutcliffe investigation. She describes the emotional toll of witnessing tragedy at close quarters and the difficult balance reporters must strike between empathy and professional distance. Her reflections offer a fascinating insight into what crime reporting was like in Britain during the 1970s and 80s.
The conversation also explores how those experiences shaped her fiction. Val explains why she avoids directly “ripping stories from the headlines”, arguing that real cases carry consequences for victims, families and even ongoing investigations.
We discuss her latest novel, Silent Bones, the newest instalment in the Karen Pirie series. Val reveals how the story emerged from an unusual book club, Scottish political history, and her long fascination with cold cases. She also shares her thoughts on pacing, plotting and how she builds the intricate multi-strand narratives that have become her trademark.
As always with Val McDermid, forensics is never far away. She talks about her deep friendships with leading scientists, the research behind her acclaimed non-fiction book Forensics, and some of the real-life cases and scientific discoveries that have most fascinated her over the years.
https://www.valmcdermid.com/


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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



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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.


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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.



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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:



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