‘I wanted to write a suburban Reacher’: Richard Osman talks to Lee Child about class, success and the secret to great crime writing

The two bestselling authors who both started in TV discuss writing as a second career, natural justice – and what they really think of literary fictionIn the four years since Richard Osman published his first Thursday Murder Club novel he has consistently topped the bestseller lists, and now his quartet of retirement-age detectives will be portrayed on screen by a cast including Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan. Having grown up in Sussex, Osman started out in TV, where he created and co-hosted the gameshow Pointless. His forthcoming novel We Solve Murders – the start of a new series – features a writer billed as the world’s bestselling novelist, “if you don’t count Lee Child”. Child, the creator of former military police officer Jack Reacher, has enjoyed phenomenal popularity since he left his career – also in TV, where he worked on shows including Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown and Cracker – and started writing, with his first novel published in 1997. Raised in Birmingham, he moved to the US in 1998 and now lives between Manhattan and rural Wyoming. He wrote 24 Reacher novels before announcing in 2020 that he would be handing the series to his brother Andrew.Lee Child I feel that writing is always a second-phase career, or at least should be. It’s that rare thing that not only can you do it when you’re older, but you should do it when you’re older. Pick your cliche: your gas tank is full, your database is compiled. You are a person. You are ready to write.... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-09-14 09:00:23 UTC ]

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Elyse Durham on Depicting the Artistic Side of the Cold War in Fiction

Elyse Durham’s immersive and thematically timely first novel centers on twin sisters, born during the Siege of Leningrad, trained as ballet dancers at the celebrated Vaganova, and launching their careers at the height of the Cold War. The plot is set to detonate at a critical point in the Cold... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-18 09:57:15 UTC ]
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Actor Sonya Walger's first novel comes at a time of incalculable loss

The book 'Lion' comes at a time of incalculable loss for Sonya Walger, who lost her home in the Palisades fire. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2025-02-04 11:00:34 UTC ]
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The Bestselling Queer Books of the Week

Every week, I look at the biggest bestseller lists and note the overlap to see the bestselling books of the ... Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2025-02-01 12:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week’s Bestsellers: February 3, 2025

As fans snap up copies of ‘Onyx Storm’ the #1 (and #2) book in the country, author Rebecca Yarros is regrouping, swiftly. Plus Han Kang’s first novel since her Nobel Prize win, ‘We Do Not Part,’ debuts on our list, and Aurora Ascher has sympathy for the devil. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists

The new year has begun in earnest, but because the bestseller lists report on figures from two weeks ago, they’re ... Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2025-01-16 11:15:00 UTC ]
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The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists

This week’s bestseller lists are reporting on sales from the end of December, a time when very few books are ... Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2025-01-09 12:15:00 UTC ]
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The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists

We’re well into the holiday buying season now, and the bestseller lists reflect that. There aren’t any books that made ... Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-12-19 12:45:00 UTC ]
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The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists

For the last few months, the bestseller lists couldn’t seem to agree on the biggest books of the moment. They ... Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-12-12 11:15:00 UTC ]
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Joseph Earl Thomas wins The Center for Fiction’s 2024 First Novel Prize.

Joseph Earl Thomas won this year’s Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for his book God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer. Congratulations! The novel has made it onto several best-of-2024 lists, and has been praised as “a powerful examination of every day black life–of health and sex, race and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-12-11 16:36:55 UTC ]
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Aspiring UK author shoots up bestseller lists after viral social media post

Vicky Ball expressed delight on X at selling two novels at an event – then catapulted up Amazon’s book chartsAn aspiring author who went viral after selling two books at an event has described seeing her novel climb up Amazon’s bestseller charts as “amazing” and “unbelievable”.Vicky Ball, a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-12-07 11:51:19 UTC ]
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Joshua Mohr on Writing a Genre-Blending Post-Modern Punk Rock Saga

Since 2009, when his first novel Some Things That Meant the World to Me introduced his heart-rending, beat-driven, often surreal voice, Joshua Mohr has published nine books—two raw addiction memoirs (Sirens and Model Citizen) and seven idiosyncratic novels. The New York Times called his 2011... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-10-22 08:55:25 UTC ]
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Anti-fossil fuel comic that went viral in France arrives in UK

World Without End topped bestseller lists but was criticised for embracing nuclear powerIn 2019, France’s best known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist. The result? Perhaps the most terrifying comic ever drawn.Part history, part analysis, part vision for the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-10-19 04:00:05 UTC ]
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How Should Debut Novelists Measure Success?

Earlier this May, an Esquire article by Kate Dwyer called “Why Are Debut Novels Failing to Launch?” channeled the fear of debut novelists everywhere: What happens if no one buys my book? Book sales are an important way for editors and agents to gauge whether to invest in an author. If her first... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2024-10-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Luis Jaramillo on Creating a Multigenerational Speculative Story of the Borderlands

I highlighted Luis Jaramillo’s first book, the short story collection The Doctor’s Wife—a gathering of 91 ultra-short chapters, some as brief as a sentence, that add up to a portrait of a family—as a best book of 2012 for NPR. His first novel further reveals his wide-ranging literary talents.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-10-08 08:55:05 UTC ]
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Reese Witherspoon announces first novel co-written with Harlan Coben

The Oscar-winning actor and author of the Myron Bolitar series have been ‘writing pages over many months’ together to create a thriller to be published next yearReese Witherspoon has written her first novel, in collaboration with bestselling author Harlan Coben, publisher Penguin Random House... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-10-02 17:00:45 UTC ]
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China Bestsellers in August: Charting Summer’s End

The Chinese bestseller lists in August showed an unusual level of interest in newer works as well as the traditionally favored classics. The post China Bestsellers in August: Charting Summer’s End appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-09-30 04:05:32 UTC ]
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This Week’s Bestsellers: September 30, 2024

‘The Wild Robot’ by Peter Brown is the #10 book in the country just as the big-screen adaptation hits theaters. Plus Richard Osman, author of the Thursday Murder Club mysteries, launches a new series with ‘We Solve Murders,’ and stars of song, screen, and social media light up list with their... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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