Talking Books - June 2026
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What is the opening theme and who are the hosts of Talking Books June 2026?
Petersfield's Shine Radio. Now available on DAB. Talking Books with Susie Wilde and Tim O'Kelly.
Well hello Tim, the weather's changed a bit.
Yes, but you know what can you do?
Well, raining's good for the garden, good for the garden, good for us too. Well our guest this month is Lucy Foley, very excitingly, Queen of the Lock Room Mystery. Um, I also think of it uh being like a locked location murder, like the island from the guest list, the chalet from the hunting party, or the apartment block from the Paris apartment.
Absolutely. And the Midnight Feast, which is not a locked not a locked room. It's more of a kind of Uh Well there's mixture of mixture of who done it and why d why they did it, why they'd done it. Um but it's uh it's it's a clever, very clever piece of writing.
And I'm very excited about the new Miss Marple.
Yeah, it's called the Grand Alpine Hotel and it's it's um I haven't had a chance to read it yet.
Yeah.
Haven't haven't had a copy. No, I haven't it's not new until the autumn. Oh but I was hoping to get an advanced copy at some stage, but um I must read it. But anyway, Susan, what what have you been reading?
Well, as usual I'm going to talk I'm going to major on one book. So I I've read The Last Bear recently, um which I absolutely adore, yes. Um but I'll talk about that when I do the sort of children's young adult special. Um coming up this summer. So I'm gonna concentrate on Rivals by Jillie Cooper.
Uh-huh.
This is Old House Now, a classic. I never read Jillie Cooper at the time when she was great.
Did you really read those Bella and Octavia, all those ones? No. No. No.
It it completely passed me by. And I must admit, in a slightly sniffy way, I bet. I can't remember, but I bet it was. Um, I have loved the television series. I think in some ways it's improved it because they have really cut out all her punning little witticisms that she uses for every character and I think that's a mistake. I know she loves it, but I I know I I do find puns to be honest, I find them really irritating.
They're very irritating. I struggle I struggle with with the punning going on in newspapers 'cause I find it just so th Yeah. You know, it just seems to like it's It's such old hat. Yeah.
And and this okay is old hat because it's set in nineteen eighty seven, which I remember vividly, because I was then also had stuff to do with television. So a lot of what she's talking about is accurate and good. But what I hate is when it takes you out of the mood. So so if you've been watching Rivals on the Television or read it, who we're actually all gunning for is Freddie and Lizzie. I mean they're just brilliant. Danny Dyer is such a good Freddie.
I haven't Fred, I haven't got the the uh Disney Disney thing on my hands.
And Catherine Park is brilliant as Lizzie. So It's seventy five percent through the book when they actually commit adultery when we reach this stage. But it's so tender and lovely. And then she says, um Oh, don't don't give too much away. Well it's a punishment. It's horrible. If you read it, don't. But for the rest of it, Taggy is so wonderful, Rupert is so wonderful, honestly, it just made me laugh. Laugh and at the moment Goodness only knows we need to laugh.
We definitely need a laugh at the moment.
Right, Tim, go on. How about you?
I'm a f I have a friend of mine who who would say that who's quite an uh uh very educated, erudite man who says that he thinks rivals is one of the best books he's ever read.
Oh well there you go.
There you go. So There you go. So um what I've been reading. Well I've been reading Heart of the Lover, a a book that you loved it.
And uh it's it's a really accomplished piece of writing, I think, because it's actually quite a simple story on one level, um about uh sort of young, youthful love. And a sort of a a sort of love triangle if you if you want to use the the um the the uh tabloid journalists uh approach to calling it, but it's not really that. Yeah. Um and um then it goes on to to current times. Now somebody told me that they thought it was a bit mawkish, uh a bit sentimental.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the opening theme and who are the hosts of Talking Books June 2026?
0:01–4:36
2
How does Lucy Foley describe the appeal of her locked‑room mystery novels?
4:36–9:43
3
What are the main plot points and character dynamics in the TV adaptation of *Rivals*?
9:43–14:30
4
Why does Suzie Wilde recommend *Heart of the Lover* and what makes it stand out?
14:30–19:11
5
How does Kate Lord Brown weave real‑life figures like Monet and Oscar Wilde into *The Silver Thread*?
19:11–24:18
6
What research methods did Kate use to recreate Victorian‑era Japanese villages in London?
24:18–30:36
7
What themes of attention, resilience and hope does the author highlight in the novel?
30:36–36:10
8
How do the hosts wrap up the episode and preview upcoming events and releases?
36:10–43:14