The Joys of Binge Reading

Heather Webber – Magic Mystery

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Heather Webber is drawn to the magic side of life, with mysteries that reflect southern charm, food, family, and a very light dusting of the supernat...

Andy Straka – Murder Sees Double

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Andy Straka is an award-winning mystery author whose latest book, Split City, features identical twins who are also former pro bowling champions. Whe...

Kate Quinn – Deadliest Female Sniper

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Quinn is an international bestselling author of World War II stories like The Alice Network and The Rose Code. Now she’s back with her latest,...

Reyna Marder Gentin – Crime Fighter to Writer

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Reyna Marder Genten had nearly 20 years in the public defender’s office as an appellate attorney, before she decided to trade in her legal robe...

Kaira Rouda – Domestic Thrillers

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kaira Rouda is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author who was a highly successful marketing entrepreneur before she took to writing suspenseful ps...

Christian White – Psychological Thrillers

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Christian White is an Australian author, screenwriter, and producer whose award-winning first novel, the nail-biting suspense story, The Nowhere Chil...

Susan Kiernan-Lewis – French Mysteries

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Susan Kiernan-Lewis is a USA Today bestselling author with multiple mystery series set in France and a dystopian futurist series set in Ireland. Hi t...

Isabella Maldonado – Crime Fighter To Crime Writer

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning author Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and a badge for two decades in real life before turning her talents to writing about crime, rather...

Susan May Warren – Inspirational Romance

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Susan May Warren is a RITA and Christy award winning inspirational suspense author with over 100 contemporary and historical romances published in mo...

Barbara Freethy – Chart-topping Romance

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Contemporary romance author Barbara Freethy is an Amazon KDP Bestselling Author of All Time with a total now of 12 million books sold in multiple lan...

Jayne Ann Krentz – International Best Selling Mysteries

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jayne Ann Krentz is a master of historical romance and paranormal mysteries, with 35 million copies of her books sold internationally, so she’s...

Kate Langbroek – Ciao Bella!

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Langbroek’s joyous, brave book Ciao Bella! about taking her family of six to Italy for a year, offers the perfect start to 2022 because it’s...

Binge Reading – Best of All Time

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Binge Reading Giveaway for January 2022 Before we get to the Top Ten–we’ve got a Giveaway draw for January–three E book copies every week of my...

Binge Reading – Best of 2021 – Top Ten

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to the Best Of The Joys of Binge Reading podcast 2021 – The Top Ten most listened to episodes of the year! I hope you had a happy Chris...

Karen Swan – Twisty Holiday Romance

28 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A publishing disaster led romance author Karen Swan into the schedule that’s made her an international bestseller, with two books a year – a summ...

Patti Callahan – Narnia Magic

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Patti Callahan is our guest on The Joys of Binge Reading today – the 200th episode of the show which we started four years ago with the goal to sim...

Lulu Taylor – Deep Romance

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lulu Taylor hit the Sunday Times bestseller lists with a winter-themed escapist story with hidden depths – and found she had a winning formula for ...

Sandy Barker – Perfect Escapist Romcom

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sandy Barker turned an adventurous travelling life into fiction and half a dozen books later she’s still going strong, with her latest, The Dating ...

Alli Sinclair – Aussie Codebreakers of WWII

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alli Sinclair’s books are recommended for readers of Kate Quinn and Judy Nunn and that tells you a lot about the sort of stories they are – dual ...

Lucy Coleman – Christmas Treats

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lucy Coleman writes feel good, uplifting stories, set in beautiful locations. Her most recent book, Summer in Andalucía, is about a Jamie Oliver sty...

Dinah Jefferies – Epic New WWII Series

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Top international best selling author Dinah Jefferies is back with a stunning World War II epic, the first book in a new series that went straight to...

Annie Seaton – Australian Eco-Romance

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Annie Seaton’s eco-romance is earning her a strong following, both in her Australian homeland and with readers in the United States, and it’s...

Nadia Marks – Love In The Sun

01 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Marks has turned her early childhood years in the Mediterranean into a fulltime career as a novelist, writing stories of facing heart break and...

Chris Hammer – Australian Outback Noir

26 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Hammer writes bestsellers with a distinctly Australian flavor. His latest book, Treasure & Dirt, his fourth, is a gritty, hard-to-put-down...

Paula McLain – California Thriller

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Paula McLain has enjoyed international success with her historical novels about Ernest Hemingway’s wives, but her latest book, When the Stars Go Da...

In The Cross Hairs – J A Jance

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bestselling, much beloved crime fiction author JA Jance has more than 60 books to her name, in three different series, and she’s still going strong...

Garry Disher – Gold Standard Crime

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Australian author Garry Disher is recognized as the master of rural noir. His latest Hirsch novel, Consolation, won the 2021 Ned Kelly Best Crime Nov...

Anne Fortier – The Lost Sisterhood

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Fortier is the author of two international best-selling dual timeline mysteries that dig deep into our favorite stories, stories that are deep i...

Stephanie Dray – History’s ‘Forgotten Women’

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stephanie Dray has found her sweet spot telling the stories of America’s “forgotten women”. Her latest blockbuster, The Women of Chateau Lafaye...

Blanche d’Alpuget – Powerful Plantagenets

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Blanche d’Alpuget became fascinated with the 12th century as a teenager, but it took another 50 years before she was inspired to write a five-book ...

Wendy Holden – Royal Sagas

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Wendy Holden’s latest books feature Royal Sagas with two women who got on the wrong side of the Windsors – that’s Queen Elizabeth’s royal hou...

Sara Sue Hoklotubbe – Cherokee Nation Mysteries

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sara Sue Hoklotubbe writes contemporary mysteries from a unique Cherokee Nation viewpoint. She is a member of the Cherokee Nation herself and so is h...

William Kent Krueger – Master Storyteller

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

William Kent Krueger – Kent to his friends – was thrown out of college during his radical student years, and he says it was the making of him as ...

Reavis Z. Wortham – Texas Red River Mysteries

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Reavis Z. Wortham’s Red River mysteries have been favorably compared to extraordinary talents like Harper Lee and Elmore Leonard, but he says the m...

Melissa Lenhardt – Feminist Westerns

10 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa Lenhardt’s Sawbones trilogy is a continuous adventure  – one critic advised “consider the series like reading one as a 1200 page e...

Craig Johnson – Beloved Walt Longmire

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Johnson is a Wyoming rancher and a best-selling international author who writes westerns for people who may not normally read westerns – the ...

Jillian Cantor – Marie Curie Re-Imagined

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jillian Cantor is a USA Today bestselling author whose latest book, Half Life, puts double Nobel Peace Prize winning physicist Marie Curie on a “wh...

Belinda Alexandra – Spell-Binding Mystery

20 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Belinda Alexandra is an international bestselling author with a whole string of blockbuster historicals to her credit, but she has taken a new path w...

Nadia Hashimi – Tender Family Stories

13 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Hashimi is a bestselling international author whose latest book, Sparks Like Stars, draws on her experience as an Afghan American physician who...

Pip Drysdale – Love Kills

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pip Drysdale has three bestselling psychological thrillers to her credit. Her latest, The Paris Affair, features Harper, an online journalist who goe...

Kirsty Manning – WWII Dual Time Saga

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kirsty Manning’s lush dual timeline stories, dealing with family secrets and female friendships in international settings, have drawn favorable com...

Polly Phillips – Friends to Frenemies

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Polly Phillips’ debut thriller, My Best Friend’s Murder, deals with frenemies Bec and Izzy, who have been best friends forever. But there is ...

Jenny Ashcroft – From Blitz to Outback

14 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jenny Ashcroft’s historical fiction reflects her many years living and working abroad. She does captivating romances that have been compared to the...

Monica McInerney – Warm Family Dramas

07 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Monica McInerney’s best-selling and award-winning books explore the resilience and fragility of family bonds, whether in a single-mother family as ...

Chanel Cleeton – Gilded Age Celebrity

01 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chanel Cleeton’s latest Cuban historical, The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, covers the remarkable real-life story of Evangelina, a young Cuban noble...

Karen White – Hope In Darkness

24 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Karen White is best known as the top selling author of so-called “Grit Lit” – the mysteries with a paranormal twist set in the South, like her ...

Nicola Moriarty – Family Secrets

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nicola Moriarty’s latest book You Need To Know centers on a family of three brothers, all writers, caught up in a traumatic Christmas Eve road ...

Sarah Penner – Serial Poisoner

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Penner’s debut novel The Lost Apothecary shot to the top of the New York Times best seller lists in its first week, and overnight became one ...

Madeline Martin – The Power of Story

03 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Madeline Martin is a USA Today bestselling author who writes historical fiction and historical romance, usually set anywhere between the 14th century...

Katherine Hall Page – Faith Fairchild Mysteries

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Agatha Award winning mystery author Katherine Hall Page celebrates a special anniversary with the 25th book in her Agatha Award winning Faith Fairchi...

Kayte Nunn – Desire Revenge & Courage

18 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kayte Nunn is an international bestselling author of historical fiction whose latest book, The Last Reunion, tells the story of five women buddies wh...

Michele Scott – Wine Lover Mysteries

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Over a writing career spanning more than 30 mysteries and thrillers, Michele Scott has seen both the highs and lows of publishing. She enjoyed “in...

J. T. Ellison – Gothic Spine Chiller

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

J T Ellison has sold millions of psychological thrillers all round the world in nearly 30 countries. Her latest book, Her Dark Lies, is a Gothic spin...

Jill Eileen Smith – Miriam’s Story

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jill Eileen Smith has made a career out of re-telling the lives of Old Testament women for a contemporary audience, and fifteen or more books later s...

Olivia Hayfield – Elizabeth I – Media Mogul

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Olivia Hayfield had a crazy idea in the shower and then she turned it into a blockbuster book. And then she wrote a sequel. Why not, she said, re-tel...

Alexandra Joel – Fleet St to Palace

14 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alexandra Joel’s latest book The Royal Correspondent is one for fans of The Crown TV series – revisiting as it does swinging London in the 60s, s...

Allison Pataki – World-Changing Women

07 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Allison Pataki has made it her specialty to discover the relatively unknown women of history whose lives changed the course of empires, whose names h...

Lauren Willig – Love, Lies & Rebellion

28 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A Women’s History Month Special: Lauren Willig’s latest book, A Summer Country, is an epic family saga simmering with secrets, set in 19th ce...

Rachael Treasure – Inspired By Nature

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rachael Treasure is one of Australia’s most popular authors of women’s fiction, credited with sparking a whole new sub-genre of rural fic...

Roselle Lim – Fabulist Rom Coms

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Roselle Lim’s first fabulist-romcom, called Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, was picked up for TV and it looks like the second, just out, ...

Robert McCaw – Hawaiian Detective Koa Kane

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Attorney turned mystery writer Robert McCaw credits an ability to reinvent himself for his successful transition from a defender of justice to a stor...

Di Morrissey – Aussie Fiction Queen

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Di Morrissey is the out and out Queen of Australian popular fiction, with 3.5 million books sold and her latest, 28th novel – Before the Storm ...

Binge Reading – 2020’s Most Popular Shows

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Hello everyone and Happy Christmas! I’m Jenny Wheeler, the host of the Joys of Binge Reading, and this is our last episode for 2020…   ...

Jan Moran – Heartwarming Womens Fiction

13 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jan Moran is a USA Today best-selling author with a slew of 20th century standalone historicals as well as several women’s contemporary fiction ser...

Leeanna Morgan – Montana Sweet Romance

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Leeanna Morgan is a USA Today best-selling author of Montana sweet romance, with over a million downloads of her books and a following on BookBub of ...

Mimi Matthews – Historic Romance

29 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Mimi Matthews has enjoyed best-selling success in Victorian fiction and non-fiction, with romances that ask thoughtful social questions as well as en...

Rhys Bowen – Enduring Storyteller

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rhys Bowen’s books sell in the millions around the world. She enjoys popular and critical acclaim for both her Royal Spyness mysteries and her best...

Joanna Rees – Romantic Adventures

15 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Joanna Rees writes sweeping romantic adventures that combine mystery, romance and glamorous international settings. There’s a hint of Jackie Collin...

LB (Lily) Hathaway – Posie Parker Mysteries

08 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

L.B. Hathaway’s Posie Parker mysteries are Amazon bestsellers and that’s not surprising because they combine the charm of the classic Golden Age ...

Rachael Johns – Entertaining ‘Life Lit’

01 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rachael Johns began writing as a broken hearted teen and she’s now recognised as one of Australia’s best-selling rural romance and life lit autho...

Lorrie Holmgren – Cozy Travel Mysteries

25 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lorrie Holmgren’s Emily Swift Mystery series are cozy mysteries which break the conventions.  Instead of taking place in a small town communit...

Pamela Redmond – Younger and Older

18 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Pamela Redmond’s funny, perceptive romcom Younger is a current popular TV series – billed as “the next Sex in the City” – and now she’...

Mandy Robotham – International Best Sellers

11 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Mandy Robotham’s first World War II story The German Midwife was an international best seller, and she hasn’t looked back since. Hi there, I’m...

Lori Matthews – Tough Guys & Strong Women

04 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Romantic suspense author Lori Matthews likes putting strong women up against tough-guy protectors – but not so they’ll race in and save anybody. ...

Gill Paul – Of Love & Betrayal

27 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Gill Paul’s latest book, Jackie and Maria, takes two of the world’s most glamorous and privileged women of their time – Jackie Kennedy Onassis ...

Kathryn Lane – International thrillers

20 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Kathryn Lane’s Nikki Garcia international thrillers are a great way to enjoy armchair travel if you can’t get on an aeroplane right now. Her late...

Fiona Palmer – Beloved Storyteller

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fiona Palmer is a natural born storyteller who chanced into writing because she wanted to create something that she’d like to read – never thinki...

Nikki Crutchley – Country Crime Thrillers

06 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nikki Crutchley is about to publish her third crime mystery novel, set in small town New Zealand.  These are thrillers with beautiful settings a...

Evie Dunmore – Suffragist Romance

30 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Evie Dunmore’s debut romance, Bringing Down the Duke, was named as one of the best romances of the year by Publishers Weekly – a remarkable win f...

Michael Robotham International Crime Master

23 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen King called international crime writer Michael Robotham an “absolute master” so it’s no surprise that he’s sold millions of books all...

Victoria Purman – Telling Forgotten Stories

16 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Purman is a USA Today and Australia top ten best-selling historical fiction author who loves to tell the stories of the forgotten people –...

Lindsey Davis – Flavia Albia Roman Mysteries

09 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lindsey Davis has had a long and celebrated career as the creator of the Falco and Flavia Albia mysteries set in ancient Rome. But when she started o...

John Bishop – Medical Misadventures

01 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

John Bishop M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon whose Houston Doc Brady thriller series reveals a dark underbelly of medical malpractice, breaches of patie...

Deborah Challinor – Best selling sagas

26 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Challinor is a best-selling historical novelist whose books consistently rank in New Zealand’s top five for fiction, many of them making it...

John Fergusson – Time Travel Mystery

19 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A 20th century scientist time travels back to Ancient Jerusalem in John Fergusson’s dual time line mystery King Solomon’s Deadly Legacy, a faith-...

Lucinda Brant – Romance Top 20

12 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Award winning author Lucinda Brant fell in love with the 18th century as an 11 year old who picked up a dusty historical tome and started reading abo...

LynDee Walker – Pulse-pounding Crime Thrillers

04 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lyndee Walker’s journalist investigator Nichelle Clarke juggles stud muffin boyfriends while she takes on “Mafia hotties, corrupt politicians, ol...

Nicky Pellegrino – Tiny Pieces of Us

28 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jenny Wheeler: Nicky Pellegrino’s last book was called A Dream of Italy and it was one of the hottest sellers of 2019. Now she’s back wit...

Stephanie Marie Thornton – Camelot Revisited

21 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Stephanie Thornton’s latest book, And They Called It Camelot – a fictionalized account of Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s life – was being vaunted a...

Natasha Lester – Paris Secrets

12 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Natasha Lester is a New York Times and USA today best-selling author of historical fiction. She’s a master storyteller who loves nothing better...

Kathleen McGurl – Family Secrets and Mysteries

07 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Past and present collide in Kathleen McGurl’s dual timeline stories, where family secrets and past mysteries are unlocked in the present day. Hi th...

Catherine Isaac – Messy Wonderful Love

31 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Catherine Isaac is a best-selling romcom author who is also a master of bittersweet family stories, the sort of stories that break your heart at the ...

Anne Hillerman – Navajo Country Mysteries

24 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Hillerman had some very big shoes to fill when she stepped up to continue her father Tony Hillerman’s much loved Joe and Jim Navajo mysteries,...

Tricia Stringer – The Model Wife Bites

17 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tricia Stringer’s best-selling Australian rural romance stories have helped country love blossom into the hugely popular category it is today. As...

Christine Wells – WW II Women Spies

09 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Christine Wells’ World War II historical fiction celebrates strong, courageous women with story lines that faithfully reflect the true lives of rea...

Chuck Greaves – Eco-Thriller & CA Legals

03 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Chuck Greaves had the amazing experience of having his first two novels placed first and second in an international “New Writers” competition tha...

Fiona Valpy – French for Always

26 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fiona Valpy’s French romances are like a glass of wine in French sunshine – a perfect summer – and pandemic escape. But she writes more than ro...

Bronwyn Sell – Romcoms in Pandemic

19 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bronwyn Sell’s romantic comedy, Lovestruck, is set in an island resort run by a lovably dysfunctional family – a perfect place for tangled love a...

Barbara Hannay – Uplifting Romance

12 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Barbara Hannay’s “sparkling feel-good emotional romance”  has attracted more than 12 million readers to her uplifting hope-filled stor...

Fiona Barton – Hot Thrillers

05 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fiona Barton’s first crime thriller The Widow was a best seller on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and she hasn’t dropped her pace in the few y...