Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall
by Philippa Hall
Thousands of books. No time to waste. No spoilers. Ever. Quick Book Reviews — your twice-weekly reading companion with host Philippa Hall What it is Quick Book Reviews is a spoiler-free book podcast hosted by Philippa Hall, published every Monday and Friday. Philippa reads widely so busy readers don't have to guess — delivering honest, enthusiastic, bite-sized reviews alongside in-depth author interviews and a friendly window into the publishing world. This is a warm, welcoming show for readers who love books but don't have time to read everything — and want someone they trust to help them choose what's next. Format Spoiler-free reviews: Fast, honest breakdowns of new releases and upcoming fiction Author interviews: In-depth conversations with novelists about plot, character, and writing craft — from global names to indie debuts Publishing insider news:
Episodes
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Louise Penny in conversation - when the phone rings at 3am...
Hello my fellow bookworms! This week I’m delighted to welcome back the wonderful Louise Penny to talk about her latest Three Pines mystery, Miss Wolcott’s Ghost. Plus I review The Strangers by Naomi Alderman, share another swimming pool story (earplugs, I’m sorry), and reveal the book club picks...
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The Autumn Book Tag: 10 Bookish Opinions + Book Club Part 3
Is it ever acceptable to give up on a book on page one? Should the classics be dropped from GCSE English? And which bookish trend deserves to go on the bonfire? This Friday is an AUTUMN SPECIAL: the Autumn Book Tag, bookish opinions edition. Ten questions, no preparation, and answers coming...
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Noelle W. Ihli on The Last to Drown + 3 Book Reviews
Five days, twenty strangers, eighty-four miles of whitewater and no way out. Today I am talking to bestselling thriller author Noelle W. Ihli about The Last to Drown, the book that has put me off whitewater rafting for life. Before that, three book reviews, and a swimming pool mystery I need your...
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I'm Not Sure the National Year of Reading Is Working. Here's Why
It's past my bedtime, my microphone has given up the ghost, and I've got something to get off my chest: the National Year of Reading. I've been having a dig into where the money is going, and by my calculations the £150,000 set aside for libraries works out at around £41 per library. That's a…
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In Conversation with Ian Rankin: The Heights
This episode is a special one — a full interview with Ian Rankin on The Heights, his first standalone thriller in nearly two decades. But first, a confession: I've just been away for the weekend and had a small crisis about how some people can remember every name — actors, characters, everyone —...
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A Book Shopping Confession, Plus Book Club Week One
My Book Haul Confession + Book Club Begins I have a confession: despite trying to go all-in on ebooks, I found myself with an hour to kill, a closed independent bookshop, and a chain store that was open — and I came out with a stack of books I need to tell you all about. This episode I'm running...
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In Conversation with Ann Cleeves: The Dying Light
In Conversation with Ann Cleeves: The Dying Light This is a special Wednesday episode — Ann Cleeves joins me to talk about The Dying Light, the fourth Matthew Venn novel, out this Thursday. We talk about the white Art Deco bungalow that started the whole book, why she never knows who did it when...
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In Conversation with Linwood Barclay: Not a Word
In Conversation with Linwood Barclay: Not a Word This episode is a special one — Linwood Barclay returns to talk about Not a Word, a family secrets thriller that opens with a horrific discovery and spirals into a story spanning three generations, inspired in part by the real-life opioid scandal…
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Alison Barrow on Publishing + Our October Book Club Launches
Alison Barrow, PR Director at Transworld, joins me again to lift the lid on what's really happening in publishing right now — from late-night manuscript reads and "beauty contest" pitches for new books, to why the Christmas run-up is the busiest time of the year for gifting, self-purchase, and...
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Episode 500! In Conversation with Val McDermid and Jo Sharp: This Door of the Seas
Episode 500! In Conversation with Val McDermid and Jo Sharp: This Door of the Seas A huge milestone — this is episode 500 of Quick Book Reviews! Thank you to everyone who's been listening since the very start (sadly the first few episodes were lost in a platform move years ago, but the memories...
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In Conversation with Kate Atkinson: Our Noble Selves
This episode is a special one — Kate Atkinson joins me to talk about Our Noble Selves, her wonderful new novel set at the 1951 Festival of Britain. We talk about her traumatised journalist hero Harry Flynn (nearly named Quinn, and nearly given a much darker backstory), the real dog behind…
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The Unpopular Book Opinion I've Been Keeping to Myself
A shorter episode this week, but a packed one. Philippa has an announcement, a question to answer honestly, and a book-related confession she has been sitting on for a while. Brace yourselves. October Book Club: The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway Philippa is launching a relaxed,...
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Frances Quinn: The True Scandal Behind The Scandalous Ladies' Football Club
Victorian Women Weren't Allowed to Play Football. They Did It Anyway. In 1897, a woman calling herself Nettie Honeyball founded Britain's first ladies' football club — and doctors wrote to the newspapers warning it would make women infertile. Author Frances Quinn joins me to talk about The...
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What Really Happened at Harrogate — and the Book Rescued From the Toilets
Philippa went to Harrogate Crime Festival and came back with an alarming number of books. Here is everything she picked up, was given, or had rescued from the ladies' toilets on her behalf. Out Now The Angel of Death - Trevor Wood DCI Jack Parker has a secret early onset dementia diagnosis. When…
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Sarah Pinborough on They Say a Girl Died Here, Horror, Secrets & Pick and Mix
Philippa is back with her first author interview in two months — and opens with a confession: she recorded the entire thing without plugging her microphone in. Apologies have been issued. The show goes on. The guest is the wonderful Sarah Pinborough — author of over 30 books including Behind Her...
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Why Isn't Everybody Talking About This Crime Author? My Holiday Top 8
Philippa is back from holiday — and the books made it to Rhodes eventually, after a handwritten letter to Athens customs explaining why a normal person would post books to themselves. Today she's sharing her top eight reads from the trip, spanning crime, horror, graphic novels, historical…
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C.J. Tudor on Serenity Falls, Creepy Disney Towns & the Smell of Buttered Popcorn
Philippa reviews four books — including two she couldn't wait to tell you about — before a wonderful, wide-ranging conversation with C.J. Tudor about her latest novel Serenity Falls, out 10th September, the book she needed to write after the hardest year of her life. 📚 Four Book Reviews One of…
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Philippa's Best Books of 2026 So Far — 12 Picks & an Honourable Mention
No author interview, no book reviews — just Philippa's most personal episode of the year: her best reads of the first six months of 2026. Twelve books, one honourable mention, and the admission that it was genuinely hard to narrow it down. These are books Philippa read between January and June —...
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We're Starting a Book Club — Here's the Twist
A short but exciting episode! Philippa announces a brand new format for the podcast: a Quick Book Reviews Book Club, running throughout October. The chosen book is The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway — already out in paperback, 384 pages, and available from libraries. Each week in...
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SUMMER SPECIAL — Fern Britton on A Cornish Legacy, Florence & Finding Home
Bestselling author and broadcaster Fern Britton joins Philippa for a very special summer edition of Quick Book Reviews to talk about her wonderful new novel, A Cornish Legacy. Fern shares stories of solo travelling in Florence, cycling adventures across India, Madagascar, Cuba and Egypt, dream...
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3 Weirdly Perfect Books to Read Now + Gavin Bell on 138 Main Street - Summer Special
Recorded live at Capital Crime Book Festival, Philippa talks to Gavin Bell — also known as Mason Cross, also known as Alex Knight — about his gripping new thriller 138 Main Street. But first, three festive reads for anyone who, like Philippa, enjoys a Christmas book in the height of summer. 3...
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SUMMER SPECIAL: Elly Griffiths on The Killing Time, Time Travel & Las Vegas Hell
It's the Quick Book Reviews summer special, and Philippa is joined by the wonderful Elly Griffiths — bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway series — to talk holidays, her latest novel The Killing Time, and what's coming next in the world of time-travelling detective Ali Dawson. ☀️ Holiday Chat...
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3 Books You Should Never Take on a Plane + C.J. Merritt on Octagon (SUMMER SPECIAL)
Recorded live at Capital Crime Book Festival, Philippa talks to C.J. Merritt about his whiplash international spy thriller Octagon — but first, a public service announcement: three brilliant books you should absolutely not read on an actual flight. 3 Books You Should NOT Take on Holiday (If…
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SUMMER SPECIAL: Lee Child on Jack Reacher, AI & Reading in Prisons
Philippa is joined by the legendary Lee Child — creator of Jack Reacher, published in over 120 countries with more than 40 million books sold — for this summer special. They cover holidays, the Reacher handover to brother Andrew Child, artificial intelligence, and why literacy in prisons matters...
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Your Top 3 Holiday Reads + Ellie Levenson on Room 706 - Summer Special
Recorded live at Capital Crime Book Festival, Philippa talks to Ellie Levenson about her brilliantly genre-defying novel Room 706 — described by her own agent as "thrilling but not a thriller." But first, the results are in! After asking listeners for their top three holiday book recommendations,...
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SUMMER SPECIAL — Karin Slaughter on The Secrets We Hide, Will Trent & Holiday Nightmares
Bestselling crime writer Karin Slaughter joins Philippa for a very special summer edition of Quick Book Reviews to talk about her new thriller, The Secrets We Hide. Karin talks about why she is not a natural holiday person, her dream trip to New Zealand, long-haul flights, travel delays, e-books,...
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3 Books to Get People Reading Again & Brian McGilloway - Summer Special
Recorded live at Capital Crime Book Festival, this episode kicks off Philippa's August Friday series — shorter interviews with brilliant authors you should know more about. First up: Brian McGilloway, talking holidays, control, and his standalone thriller The One You Least Suspect. But first…
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SUMMER SPECIAL — John Marrs on Dead in the Water, Holidays & Twisty Thrillers
Bestselling psychological thriller author John Marrs joins Philippa for a Quick Book Reviews Summer Special to talk about his latest thriller, Dead in the Water. John and Philippa chat about holiday reading, Kindle versus physical books, family trips, travel sickness, nightmare cruises, dream…
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Ellery Lloyd on Time to Burn, Time Travel & Writing as Husband and Wife
Philippa sits down with Ellery Lloyd — the husband and wife writing duo of Colette and Paul — to talk about their brilliant new novel Time to Burn, their Radio 2 Book Club selection, and what it's really like to write a book with the person you live with. Plus listener questions from the Quick…
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David Baldacci on Hope Rises, AI, Books as Body Armour & the 9-Hour Court Deposition
Philippa opens with a brief history lesson — the word "blurb" was invented in 1907 by a writer mocking self-congratulatory publishers, and his fictional creation Miss Belinda Blurb gave us the word we still use today. Then it's three book reviews and a wide-ranging, genuinely fascinating...
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Robert Peston on The Kill Switch, AI, Democracy & the Biscuit He Discovered Too Late
Philippa sits down with Robert Peston — ITV political editor, bestselling author, and reluctant biscuit convert — to talk about The Kill Switch, the third and final book in his Gil Peck thriller trilogy, and why he felt compelled to put artificial intelligence and the fragility of democracy at…
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Warning: This Episode with T.M. Payne Contains Tongs, Ducks & Biscuit Demonstrations
Philippa is joined by T.M. Payne — and her co-conspirator Susie — for what may be the most gloriously chaotic episode in Quick Book Reviews history. There are kitchen implement debates, merch updates, a real duck called Crispy, and a live Penguin biscuit demonstration that will genuinely change…
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Jo Spain on Never to Be Found, Jōhatsu & the Japanese Art of Vanishing
Philippa sits down with the brilliant Jo Spain — 13 bestselling thrillers already published, translated into 17 languages, TV writer and producer — to talk about her extraordinary new novel Never to Be Found, which sparked a bidding war from some of the biggest names in television before it was...
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Tim Sullivan on The Tailor, George Cross & the Books That Went to Greece Without Me
Philippa opens with an update on the Great Book Parcel Saga — a box of holiday reading, a Greek customs office, a handwritten letter explaining why a normal person would post books to themselves, and the very real possibility of being detained at passport control. Then it's three book reviews and…
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Adele Parks on Eyes on You, Twists, Pre-Orders & the Biscuit That Changed Everything
Philippa sits down with the brilliant Adele Parks — bestselling author of 25 novels, over six million copies sold, OBE for services to literature — to talk about her latest book Eyes on You, the pressure of reader expectations, and a biscuit revelation that may change your tea break forever. 🎙️...
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St Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend: Abir Mukherjee, Jane Casey & Sarah Hilary
Philippa is joined by three brilliant crime writers — Abir Mukherjee, Jane Casey, and Sarah Hilary — to talk all about St Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend, the unique Oxford crime fiction event running 4th–6th September. Each guest is allotted a school role (head girl, school council rep, and chair...
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Amman Brar on Mr. Sidhu's Post Office — One of BBC News's 12 Books of 2026
Philippa opens with a much-requested update on the Barcelona Kindle story — specifically, the one detail everyone wanted to know: did the Kindle survive? (It did. The case did not.) Then it's three book reviews and a wonderful conversation with debut novelist Amman Brar about Mr. Sidhu's Post...
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Kate Eberle on "If Books Could Kill": The Romance-Turned-Thriller That Started a 10-Way Book Auction
Kate Eberle's debut novel If Books Could Kill sparked a 10-way bidding war, sold film and TV rights, and is being published in over 14 countries — and it's easy to see why. This rom-com-meets-thriller follows Roxy Mitchell, a romance novel superfan who wishes herself into her favorite author's…
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The Unlimited Budget Question: Alison Barrow on Launching a Bestseller
Philippa welcomes back Alison Barrow, PR director at Transworld, fresh from Capital Crime, for a fascinating look behind the curtain of book publishing and promotion. The Business of Book PR Alison shares insights from a recent masterclass on author publicity, including the eye-opening shift in…
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M.W. Craven on The Killer's Mark Plus the Kindle That Saved a Life in Barcelona
Philippa opens with a genuinely unbelievable true story — how a friend trapped in a locked Barcelona hotel toilet used her Kindle to prise the door open and escape. Reading saves lives, people. Then it's three book reviews and a brilliant listener Q&A with crime fiction favourite M.W. Craven,...
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Lindsey Kelk (writing as Elle Kelk) on Hit or Miss, Anxiety & Starting Over
Philippa sits down with Lindsey Kelk — writing as Elle Kelk — to talk about her brand new novel Hit or Miss, the first in the Junior Year Abroad series. With over three million books sold, Lindsey is one of the UK's best-loved romance authors, and this conversation is funny, warm, and…
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My Holiday Reading Stack: 12 Books & 4 Graphic Novels I'm Shipping to Greece
Philippa has just received the most exciting email of the year: her holiday hotel has offered to receive a box of books in advance and put them in her room on arrival. The result? An unstoppable 12-book, 4-graphic-novel holiday TBR — and an episode dedicated entirely to sharing it. In this…
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Are Hardback Books Dead? The Great Format Debate
Are hardback books too expensive, too heavy, and past their sell-by date? A recent Guardian article made the provocative case that hardbacks should die — and Philippa has thoughts. In this episode, Philippa dives into the great book format debate, covering: Why she strongly disagrees with calls…
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TV Wine Expert Olly Smith: Death by Noir & the Birth of Wine Crime Fiction
Philippa reviews four very different books — from Tintin to Elizabeth Strout — before sitting down with TV wine expert and debut crime novelist Olly Smith to talk about his joyful new book Death by Noir, and the sub-genre he's invented: wine crime. 📚 Book Reviews The Adventures of Tintin and the...
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Jane Casey on Everything She Didn't Say
Celebrate the weekend (nearly) with crime fiction royalty! In this episode of Quick Book Reviews, Philippa Hall sits down with the brilliant, Sunday Times bestselling author Jane Casey to talk about her highly anticipated, mind-bending standalone thriller, Everything She Didn't Say. Marking an...
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Blunders at The Podcast Show, M.W. Craven Re-reads, and Maggie O'Farrell's Land
Welcome back to Quick Book Reviews! In this jam-packed, slightly different episode, Philippa takes you from a sweltering recording room straight into the heart of the UK book scene. First up, hear the hilarious story of how a registration mistake at London's The Podcast Show left Philippa walking...
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Inside Harrogate Crime Festival with Sharon Canavar | Gossip, Authors and Festival Secrets
In this special episode of Quick Book Reviews, Philippa chats to Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and Harrogate International Festivals. If you’ve ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes at one of the world’s most beloved crime…
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David Goodman on Solitary Agents, Spy Fiction and Writing Through Rejection
In this episode of Quick Book Reviews, Philippa chats to David Goodman about his latest spy thriller Solitary Agents, the follow-up to his brilliant debut A Reluctant Spy. David talks about writing spy fiction for readers who may not usually read spy novels, creating the hugely compelling…
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Jack Jordan on Deception, Deadlines and Moral Dilemmas
In this episode of Quick Book Reviews, Philippa chats to bestselling thriller author Jack Jordan about his brand new novel, Deception — a tense, addictive thriller that asks one terrifying question: How far would you go to save your child? Jack discusses: the inspiration behind Deception writing...
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Rosie Walsh on The One Day You Were My Husband, Emotional Thrillers and Writing Through Doubt
In this episode of Quick Book Reviews, it is feedback week! Please send Philippa your thoughts on the podcast, you can email here: [email protected]. You can find her on instagram at this account: @quick_book_reviews Philippa chats to bestselling author Rosie Walsh about her gripping…
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About this show
Thousands of books. No time to waste. No spoilers. Ever. Quick Book Reviews — your twice-weekly reading companion with host Philippa Hall
What it is Quick Book Reviews is a spoiler-free book podcast hosted by Philippa Hall, published every Monday and Friday. Philippa reads widely so busy readers don't have to guess — delivering honest, enthusiastic, bite-sized reviews alongside in-depth author interviews and a friendly window into the publishing world.
This is a warm, welcoming show for readers who love books but don't have time to read everything — and want someone they trust to help them choose what's next.
Format
Spoiler-free reviews: Fast, honest breakdowns of new releases and upcoming fiction
Author interviews: In-depth conversations with novelists about plot, character, and writing craft — from global names to indie debuts
Publishing insider news:
Hosted by
Philippa Hall