Our inspection of John Gardner's continuation novels rolls on with his fifth 007 adventure. Here, James Bond is forced to jettison his annual leave in Europe when he's made aware of a SPECTRE contract on his head. Some of the bounty hunters hope to lure Bond in by kidnapping May and Moneypenny, two heart-shaped targets for the noble agent. Gardner …

Part satire, part crime adventure and part screwball comedy, Donald E Westlake's heist caper follows an eclectic team of European baddies vowing to aid (then betray) a beautiful freedom fighter in a plot to restore (and then steal) her nation's purloined treasures. "Castle in the Air" is driven thematically by an insatiable appetite for greed and a…

In this special episode (a listener-favourite from our BBN days), Josh newly presents his research on Sir Francis Walsingham. Dubbed "Spymaster to the Queen", popular history broadcasts Walsingham as a cut-throat playmaker and confidant in and around the court of Elizabeth I; this is a piece of the truth, sure, but there is so much more to the man …

"I'd hate to take a bite of you... you're a cookie full of arsenic." Alexander McKendrick's compelling noir is full of lines like this, courtesy of screenwriter Clifford Odets - quite fitting for intrigue set in the back-stabby world of showbiz journalism. Burt Lancaster may appear more dinky here than normal but don't be fooled by his glasses: JJ …

According to Ogden Nash, "Philo Vance needs a kick in the pants", and Dashiel Hammett described the character's posturing as being, "like a teenager who had been studying the foreign words and phrases in the back of their dictionary". S.S. Van Dine's foppish sleuth certainly does make an impression on a reader and here, in his first appearance, we …

Another year, another 007 continuation novel for John Gardner! In 1984 it was "Role of Honour", his fourth effort, which pits a rich but disenchanted James Bond up against a SPECTRE in sheep's clothing. From computer programming to terrorist training, Endor battles and blimp jumping, Gardner leaves little on the cutting room floor with this one, ta…

Get Your Magic Mind Offer! 👉 (https://magicmind.com/LTPMAR) Our first foray into the work of Georges Simenon sees us tackle one of the Belgian writer's most celebrated books. When a barge travelling through the Parisian neighbourhood of Quai de Valmy dredges up body parts in the canal Saint Martin, Detective Jules Maigret is called in to investigat…

Fresh on the heels of last week's novel review, we're proud to present our conversation about Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of Trevanian's "The Eiger Sanction" from 1975. Recorded a few years back with our good buddy Jeff Chapman from Bond By Numbers, no Eiger stone was left unturned in this deep-dive investigation, re-polished for your listenin…

Get Your Magic Mind Offer 👉 https://magicmind.com/LTP20 1972's "The Eiger Sanction" was affectionately referred to as a light spoof of the spy genre by its author, Trevanian. In some ways that claim is bankable but, in others, the descriptor really doesn't stick. Simple in structure but complex in its narrative features, this thriller is both compe…

Get Your Magic Mind Offer 👉 https://magicmind.com/LTP20 LTP Noir is back and this time it's Paramount's 1942 spy thriller, "This Gun For Hire", that's brought in for questioning! From the struggles of adapting Graham Greene's source material and lofty ambitions of director Frank Tuttle to the creative genius of costume designer Edith Head and the t…

Get Your Magic Mind Offer 👇(https://magicmind.com/LTP20) Made rich through universal themes of duality, friendship and unchecked ambition, Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novella was a crime thriller sensation upon publication and gathered further acclaim alongside the notorious Whitechapel Murders of 1888. Combining features of epistolary, gothic…

Throughout the first World War, acclaimed novelist W. Somerset Maugham worked for British Intelligence in Switzerland. Under cover as a writer, Maugham used his knowledge of travel, languages and culture to great effect, infiltrating high society and common folk alike in his job of greasing the wheels of espionage. A decade later, Maugham fictional…

Happy New Year! Our survey of John Gardner's continuation novels carries on with a chat over his third effort. If, like many, you buy into the belief that a Bond's third outing is his best ("Goldfinger", "The Spy Who Loved Me", "Skyfall".... Fleming, too, wrote "Moonraker" third) then Gardner should be stretching comfortably by now. "Icebreaker" se…

Our final episode of 2024 looks back on an entertaining year of reading for the show. We also present our rankings for each text covered and share in the challenge of our first holiday Sherlock quiz!Kirjoittanut Lighting the Pipes

It's Christmas at Gorston Hall and the Lee family is preparing to welcome family home for the holidays at the behest of grizzled, mischievous patriarch, Simeon. But when the guests arrive, bringing all their baggage in tow, a brutal murder amplifies family conflict to a breaking point. In this year's holiday read, LTP mulls wine and conversation ov…

Despite first appearing on the scene in 1928's "Meet the Tiger", author Leslie Charteris promoted this volume from 1930 as the proper introduction of Simon Templar, aka "The Saint". Across three novellas ("The Man Who Was Clever", "The Policeman with Wings" and "The Lawless Lady") his dandified crime-buster makes his literary debut here, taking on …

Scott Henderson is facing execution for a murder he didn't commit and the countdown clock is ticking. His only chance of reversing fortune rests in a close friend's ability to scour New York's grimy nightlife and locate the anonymous woman who can prove he wasn't at the crime scene. Such are the opening stakes in Cornell Woolrich's pulp thriller, "…

In his second continuation novel, John Gardner returns Bond to the USA and reunites readers with some canonical staples. Motivated by a recent spate of airline hijackings with potential SPECTRE links, Bond is sent by M to investigate an ice-cream magnate from Texas whose guarded compound and general milieu reeks of suspicion. But the decision to re…

Richard Vine's debut novel transports readers to the sharp, seedy world of Manhattan art shows, broken hearts and criminal enterprise. What starts as helping out a murder investigation soon becomes much more for art-dealer (and friend of victim) Jackson Wyeth. "SoHo Sins" is crafted by Vine with a knowing pen, one that is encouraged by a wealth of …

Who killed Dimitrios Makrupoulos? That’s what obsessive mystery writer Charles Latimer is eager to find out in Eric Ambler’s classic thriller from 1939. As he racks up European passport stamps in pursuit of an answer, the dark and criminal underbelly of a continent in flux is exposed to him, offering Latimer much more than fodder for his next novel…

Our look at the post-Fleming world of 007 continues with "Licence Renewed", John Gardner's inaugural outing and the first James Bond novel of the 1980s. An ousted nuclear scientist with a Braveheart complex seeks revenge in this spy adventure. From fixed horse races and holographic bedrooms to night-driving and devilish highland games, we portion o…

Artistry and imagination ran in the bloodline of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's family. His father, Charles, was driven by powerful appetites and ambitions that aptly reflected the Victorian spirit and would come to greatly influence his son. However, his personal life and mental health were marked by persistent struggle. From his advantaged start in Lon…

We conclude this summer's Sherlock Selects series with "The Devil's Foot", originally published in 1910 and presented later in Conan Doyle's "His Last Bow" collection. Highlighted by a dastardly villain with a vengeful, colonial mind, this story also features a drug-induced journey into the unknown which tests Holmes and Watson's friendship to the …

Louise Penny's debut novel transports readers to the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, and the fictitious village of Three Pines. The mysterious death of a retired teacher, Jane Neal, sends this secluded community into a fog of suspicion marked by the exhumation of buried secrets, insecurities and dark history. Working the case is Chief Inspecto…

Josh's selection for this year's "Sherlock Selects" returns us to The Illustrious Client. Marked by the predatory exploits of a dastardly Baron, this later Conan Doyle story (1925) spins its archetypal threads of good vs. evil while promoting emergent themes in context of suffragette and female agency. Our chat, originally recorded in-person during…