Criminally Inspired - Stephen Bentley

“I’m quite proud of the fact that over the years I’ve adapted and reinvented myself.” Stephen Bentley joins Ben Bruce to talk about how reinvention has moulded his career, the impact of Liverpool on culture and the joys of Readers Digest.

“they were living life and death every day… there was all the trivia, people had their complaints and niggles and frustrations, but it was an intense period” Mike Hollow talks about the inspirations behind the setting for his Blitz Detective series, creating a backstory for his MC, and the fun of Saturday cinema matinees.

“The shadow of that past still influences a lot of decisions that are taken in Stormont or a lot of day to day decisions that people have…” Phillip Jordan talks about the big themes behind The Belfast Crime Series, finding the pathway to success through a screenwriting guide and the joys of writing on a typewriter.

“Someone told me if you’re writing the darker side of fiction, if you explore your own phobias and fears then you can really write something a bit scary and dark.” Roxie Key talks about how she began to develop the idea for Deadly Spark, finding inspiration in TV Detectives and how Brighton helped shape her debut novel.

“They could really stir your emotions and make you feel something and I think that was the author where I thought I wish I could do that.” Liz Hedgecock talks about being inspired by Leon Garfield, the co-writing process, dictating rather than typing, and never saying never to revisiting old series.

"I read an article… about two Mills & Boon authors. One was living in tax exile in the Isle of Man and the other had just bought a million dollar house in the Bahamas, and I thought, I’d really like to have some of that." Liz Fielding talks about how her writing career began, early hopes of a career in acting and turning terrifying situations into inspiration.

“That’s the tricky thing about inspiration; you never know when it’s going to pitch up." Jamie Sinclair talks about the difficulty in knowing when a Eureka moment might hit, drinking with Jarvis Cocker, and selling stories to his grandparents.

“Readers don’t care. If you think about the books you’re reading at the moment, you probably don’t know who the publisher is.” Elizabeth Ducie puts forward the case for people to seek out self-publishing, finding moments of inspiration at the Iguazu Falls, and the risks of crossing genres.

"It's like walking in snow, that I'm brushing the snow behind me to hide my footsteps and you never know how on Earth I got there and I can't remember because everything is white and looks the same." Paul Gitsham talks about how he keeps the answers to whodunnit under wraps, the "job" parts of writing, and his dream of writing Star Trek.

"I felt as a journalist, I couldn't just make this stuff up." Roger Corke joins Ben Bruce to talk about why research matters in fiction, his career in journalism and the joys of bee keeping.