RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER now airing on UK terrestrial television

RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER is now available to watch on terrestrial television in the UK. Season One has been broadcasting on Sunday nights at 8pm on UKTV’s drama channel, U&Drama and can be watched on catch up here.

Based on Sally Andrew’s hugely popular Tannie Maria series, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER is centred on Tannie Maria, a food and advice columnist who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation with her best friend Jessie. RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER  is a co-production from Acorn TV, Multichoice and Cape Town-based production company Both Worlds Pictures, in co-operation with Global Screen. The series is produced by Both Worlds Pictures’ founder Thierry Cassuto, in collaboration with Paris-based Paradoxa. European distributor Global Scale recently announced RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER Season Two as part of its drama lineup that will be launched to buyers at TV market Mipcom.

Starring Maria Kennedy (OUTLANDER), Tony Kgoroge (INVICTUS) and Kylie Fisher, the first series was selected for the Berlinale ‘Series Markets Selects’ in February 2022 and began broadcast in South Africa on M-Net in March 2022 to fantastic reviews. The series was nominated for three awards at the 2023 South African Film & Television Awards (Best Supporting Actress in a TV Drama, Best Achievement in Editing in a TV Drama, and Best Achievement in Directing in a TV Drama), Best Writing for a Television Series at the 2023 WGSA Muse Awards, Best Cinematography at the 2023 Venice TV Awards, and was also shortlisted for a Rose d’Or Award. Acorn TV hold distribution rights to the series for the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, while Multichoice holds rights for Africa. Following the pick-up by Japan’s Mystery Channel, the first season has now sold in 94 countries. You can watch the trailer here.

RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER has been renewed for a second season and eight 45-minute episodes began filming in South Africa in April 2024. Season two of RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER will take up where the first season left off – following the events of the second book in the series, THE SATANIC MECHANIC.

The Tannie Maria series titles are all bestsellers in South Africa – regularly in the Top 5, with THE MILK TART MURDERS shooting straight to the top of the combined fiction and non-fiction charts on publication in March 2022. It also won the 2023 Nielsen SA Book Award for Fiction.

Sally is now working on the fifth book in the series. Penguin SA published the Tannie Maria Cookbook in April 2024.

About Sally Andrew

Sally Andrew divides her time between Muizenberg on the Cape Town coast and a nature reserve near Ladismith in the Klein Karoo, South Africa, where she lives with her artist partner and various wildlife (including a giant eland and a secretive leopard). Sally has published a number of non-fiction books on adult and environmental education.

Her first novel, RECIPES FOR LOVE & MURDER: A Tannie Maria Mystery was a Kirkus Best Book of 2015, A Wall Street Journal Best Mystery Book 2015, The Bookseller Fiction editor’s Choice 2015 and A Good Housekeeping Book of the Month.

Praise for RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER TV show

‘Gentle… the TV series offers the same mix of human drama, gorgeous landscape, local colour and mouth-watering cooking, quietly threaded through with the more serious issues of domestic abuse, racial inequality and the legacies of apartheid… Despite the murders and simmering racial undertones, the show keeps its warm, humorous tone through the quiet, grounded character of Maria, with her empathetic, practical advice – and recipes – in response to the letters she receives.’ – Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times

‘A quirky, colourful murder mystery set in the South African outback.’ – Christopher Vourlias, Variety

‘Mild comic, romantic and criminal misadventures in a picturesque setting…  a one-of-a-kind heroine.’ – Mile McCahill, Variety

‘The highly watchable Maria Doyle Kennedy takes the lead in this very fun and quirky crime series, which is based on the book of the same name by Sally Andrew. Tannie Maria (Doyle Kennedy) is a recipe-creator-turned-advice-columnist who gets caught up in a murder mystery based on one of the letters she receives for her column. Teaming up with an investigative journalist to get to the bottom of the case, the pair clash with local police as they run amok across crime scenes.’ – Jenna Guillaume, Flicks, ‘7 TV shows arriving in September that we’re excited for’

‘Though there is some darkness to the series, as well as social seriousness, it’s kept cozy by its very much post-apartheid, classically eccentric community and the sweetness of its characters. There is a bit of flirtation, and unexpressed longing. And there is food – Maria’s effective love advice always includes a recipe – which we see prepared, step by step.’ – Los Angeles Times

‘RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER is a delight… There's plenty of humor and wit, and the mystery elements fairly snap along.’ – Janet Mullaney, Telly Visions

Visit Sally’s website

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Sheila O’Flanagan shortlisted for the 2024 Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award

International bestselling novelist Sheila O’Flanagan has been shortlisted for the 2024 Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award. Part of the An Post Irish Book Awards, the Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award is given to an Irish author whose works contributed significantly to the reader experience and enjoyment of Irish books during 2024, as nominated by librarians and library book club members. Previous winners include Claire Keegan and John Boyne.

The other authors on this year’s shortlist are as follows: Eoin Colfer, Sally Rooney, Donal Ryan, Jo Spain and Colm Tóibín. The winner will be announced at a gala dinner at the Convention Centre in Dublin on 27th November 2024 and you can take part in the voting process here.

Larry Mac Hale, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, says: ‘The shortlist for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards is, once again, remarkable, showcasing the immense talent of Irish writers and the strength of our literary community. Each category highlights exceptional writing, with well deserving authors, publishers, illustrators, and booksellers being recognised.’

Previously Sheila won the Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2011 for her novel ALL FOR YOU, and had THREE WEDDINGS AND A PROPOSAL and WHAT EDEN DID NEXT shortlisted for the same prize in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Photo credit: Bill Waters

About Sheila O’Flanagan

Sheila O’Flanagan is an international bestselling novelist, with more than 9 million copies sold. Most of her novels have been immediate and long-lasting No 1s in Ireland, UK Top 10 Sunday Times Bestsellers and Kindle Bestsellers, and she is published in more than twenty languages around the world. She is the recipient of the prestigious Irish Tatler Literary Woman of the Year Award.

Praise for Sheila O’Flanagan

‘One of my favourite authors’ – Marian Keyes

‘One of our best-known, best-loved and most prolific women’s fiction authors’ – Irish Independent

‘Reading a Sheila O'Flanagan novel always feels like sitting down for a cup of tea with a friend – she writes with such warmth and empathy.’ – Beth O’Leary, author of THE FLATSHARE

 ‘Sheila writes with such verve and positivity and emotional intelligence.’ – Veronica Henry

 Visit Sheila’s website.

 Follow Sheila on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

Deon Meyer’s LEO returns to the top of the South Africa charts with English-language edition

Fresh from his recent London visit for the publication of LEO, Deon Meyer has continued his domination of the South African bestseller lists, with the new English-language edition flying straight to the top in its first week on sale. Translated by K.L. Seegers, LEO was published on 10 October by Hodder and Stoughton, in partnership in South Africa with Jonathan Ball Publishers.

This latest chart-topper follows the success of the Afrikaans edition, published by Human & Rousseau in October last year. It celebrated ten weeks at the top of the charts, with longer runs still in the Afrikaans-language and South African Authors charts.

Grove Atlantic will publish in the US and Canada on 18 February 2025. LEO is already out in France (Editions Gallimard), the Netherlands (A W Bruna) and Germany (Aufbau), where Deon has just begun an extensive reading tour. Deon’s Afrikaans-speaking fans can also look forward to a brand-new audiobook of FENIKS (original title of DEAD BEFORE DYING) – available in the format for the first time, published by NB this November.

LEO picks up the story of Meyer’s heroes Detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido – now stars of M-Net (South Africa) and Tubi (US) series DEVIL’S PEAK. Following the explosive events of THE DARK FLOOD, the detectives are now languishing in Stellenbosch. Run-of-the-mill police work in the leafy university town is a far cry from their previous life in Cape Town fighting crime and government corruption at the highest level. Then a student is found dead on a mountain trail, and the key suspect, a local businessman, is found murdered in what looks like a professional hit delivering a message – suffocated by fast-action filler foam sprayed down his throat.

On the other side of the country, a beautiful wildlife guide is recruited by a group of special forces soldiers to act as a honeytrap, part of a dangerous multi-million-dollar heist that goes tragically wrong. A single link connects the murdered businessman to the special forces, making Benny and Vaughn’s case all the more mysterious. Another former soldier is soon killed, as is an agent of the country’s disgraced former president; and then the heist crew reorganizes with an even more audacious theft in mind.

Following leads as they fly at them, not sure exactly who to trust and struggling to connect the dots as the motives don’t seem to add up, Benny and Vaughn find their case increasingly points to the corruption polluting the country. They know the clock is ticking – and Benny also has to be at the altar on time for his very anxiously-anticipated wedding day.

About Deon Meyer

Deon Meyer lives in Stellenbosch. His books are sold in 31 countries, and have been awarded many prizes around the world: the Deutsche Krimi Prize in Germany, the ATKV Prize in South Africa, the Martin Beck Award in Sweden and Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique in France. COBRA was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger, THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA International Dagger, and HEART OF THE HUNTER, was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Prize and selected as one of Chicago Tribune’s ‘10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2004’. THE DARK FLOOD was longlisted for the 2023 CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation. His latest novel LEO, a new Benny Griessel thriller, enjoyed ten weeks at the top of the South African bestseller lists, Number One in all categories.

Adaptations of Deon’s novels have recently had great success on screen: in April 2024, HEART OF THE HUNTER topped the global Netflix film charts, becoming the first African film to do so, with over 11 million views in its first two days alone. DEVIL’S PEAK was also adapted for a miniseries by Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions, premiering on M-Net in South Africa in 2023 before reaching audiences in the USA, New Zealand, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. In 2020, TRACKERS, produced by Three River Fiction and Scene 23, aired on Sky Atlantic in the UK and HBO in the USA, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and across the Nordic countries and Europe.

Praise for LEO

‘Meyer is not just the finest crime writer in South Africa but one of the best anywhere; he juggles labyrinthine plot strands with a mass of local detail and socio-political commentary.’ – Barry Forshaw, Financial Times

‘When a new Deon Meyer lands on the shelves, I feel like W.H. Auden: “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone / Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.” All 490 pages of such a book have to be devoured in one sitting. Keep it for the holidays, or for a weekend when you have nothing planned… You’ll be on the edge of your seat, chewing your nails… Meyer is the best, if you ask me... Buy LEO and take a day or two off work.’ – Deborah Steinmair, Vrye Weekblad

Praise for Deon Meyer

‘He’s up there with the best in the world.’ – Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘I love Deon Meyer novels. It’s global storytelling at its best, with the undeniable hallmarks of gritty realism and deep character building.’ – Michael Connelly

‘Deon Meyer's name on the cover is a guarantee of crime writing at its best.’ – Tess Gerritsen

‘Deon Meyer is one of the giants of crime fiction.’ – El Mundo

‘One of the best crime writers on the planet.’ – Mail on Sunday

Visit Deon’s website

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Kathryn Faulke’s ‘extraordinary’ debut selected for BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE, the ‘life-affirming and utterly humbling’ (Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller) memoir by care worker Kathryn Faulke has been selected as BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Published on 24 October by Penguin Fig Tree, this vital and vivid memoir will be serialised on the radio station at 11.45 each day throughout the week, starting on Monday 28 October, with the full series available on BBC Sounds for the next 30 days. The book will be read by Ayesha Antoine, who also narrated Penguin’s audiobook, and was abridged and produced by Jill Waters of the Waters Company for BBC Radio 4.

You can listen or catch up online at BBC Sounds here.

This week Kathryn also featured on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week, where she was invited to discuss the adult social care crisis, and how to fix it, alongside journalist and editor David Goodhart (author of THE CARE DILEMMA), social policy expert Anna Coote, and host Adam Rutherford. You can listen to their discussion on BBC Sounds here – where Adam Rutherford says EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is ‘full of love and full of warmth’ and Anna Coote adds that ‘Kathryn is the greatest recruitment officer for carers – everyone should read her book.’

After the programme EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE leaped up to Number 40 on Amazon’s ‘Hot New Releases’ list. The Daily Mail also featured an extract from EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE and Kathryn was interviewed by the Guardian about her experiences and writing the book.

Kate – as Kathryn is referred to in EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE – never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her senior role in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. Despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.

With energy, compassion and clarity, her memoir gives an astonishing insight into this unsung – and often maligned – profession, and into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm. From Beryl who screams like a banshee whenever Kate tries to wash her, but collapses in giggles when her toes are tickled, to bawdy Mr Radbert who 'promised to give me his car when he can remember where he left it'.

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is a clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system. But it is above all a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.

About Kathryn Faulke

Kathryn Faulke was runner-up in the Wasafiri International New Writing Prize in 2020, and in 2021 she won the Mslexia Memoir Prize for an earlier version of her debut, EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE. She has now moved out of London but continues to work in care in the South East of England.

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE: A Journey into the Heart of Carework is a vivid, moving and unforgettable memoir recounting Kathryn Faulke’s experiences as a careworker in London. It was selected as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and has received widespread praise and media attention.

Praise for EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE

‘A deeply compelling story of one of the most unsung professions, brimming with anecdotes to make you both laugh and cry. A vital book.’ – Anna Bonet, ‘The Best New Books Out in October’, i

‘Marvellously life-affirming and utterly humbling.’ – Caroline Sanderson, Editor’s Choice, The Bookseller

‘Not just essential reading for anyone curious about the realities of care work in this country; it’s also the work of a natural storyteller, and a book full of empathy, humour, and – yes – care.  All kinds of brilliant.’ – Jon McGregor

‘An extraordinary and important book that will make you laugh, cry, admire and despair in equal measure.  Beautifully written, it is both heart-warming and inspiring… a wonderful achievement.’ – Dr Sir David Haslam

‘Kathryn Faulke is an extraordinary person and this is an extraordinary account of what it is to care for others; of the labour of caring, which is both physical and emotional, but also of the joy of caring and the blessing that there is in giving time and attention to others… This book is a compassionate invitation to get up close to the human condition and those who attend to it.’ – Gwen Adshead

‘I am in love with Kate's storytelling, her ability to see the person and her fabulous, dry humour. This is a book about caring, and it's also a book about being in love with humanity’ – Kathryn Mannix

‘This is a fantastic and important book. It reads like a novel, complete with vivid characters, humour and tragedy. Above all, it is an insight into the hidden life of a care worker. I was lost in admiration.’ – Tom Shakespeare

‘Kathryn is the greatest recruitment officer for carers – everyone should read her book.’ – Anna Coote, Principal Fellow at the New Economics Foundation

‘EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE talks about what it’s actually like to be a carer: it’s full of love and full of warmth.’ – Adam Rutherford

THE TUMBLING GIRL by Bridget Walsh shortlisted for 2024 HWA Debut Crown Award

THE TUMBLING GIRL, the first title in Bridget Walsh’s sharp and witty Variety Palace Mystery series, has been shortlisted for the 2024 HWA Debut Crown Award.

The HWA Awards celebrate the best historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, and its ability to engage, illuminate, entertain and inform legions of readers. To be considered, the bulk of the work must take place at least thirty-five years prior to publication.

The other titles on this year’s Debut Crown Award shortlist are as follows: THE GOLDEN GATE by Amy Chua; THE MAIDEN by Kate Foster; THE PAINTER’S DAUGHTER by Emily Howes; THE BEHOLDERS by Hester Musson and THE REVELS by Stacey Thomas.

Ayo Onatade, chair of the judges, says: ‘Once again, we have immersed ourselves in a wide variety of historical novels and the shortlist has taken us around the world… Debut authors continue to show that historical fiction is alive and kicking and that it is always a delight to become engrossed in such wonderful stories. All the judges have thoroughly enjoyed themselves reading the nominations, which get better and better each year.’

THE TUMBLING GIRL was first published by Gallic Books in May 2023, and prior to publication it won the UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction. It was also shortlisted for the 2024 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and reached No. 1 in the US Amazon Kindle New Historical Thriller Chart. It sees an unlikely duo – ex-actress Minnie Ward and private detective Albert Easterbrook – team up to solve a grisly spate of murders in Victorian London.

The action continues in THE INNOCENTS, published by Gallic Books earlier this year to great acclaim: it was included in The Guardian’s ‘Best recent crime and thrillers’ round-up, amongst other accolades. The next novel in the series, THE SPIRIT GUIDE, will be published by Pushkin Press in 2026. THE SPIRIT GUIDE sees Minnie and Albert uncovering the dark secrets behind a female-only spiritualist group that purports to help its members commune with deceased loved ones.

About Bridget Walsh

Bridget Walsh lives in Norwich. She has a PhD in ‘Murder in the Victorian Domestic Sphere’ and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.

 Praise for THE TUMBLING GIRL

‘Bridget Walsh’s THE TUMBLING GIRL is the first in what promises to be an entertaining series of historical mysteries… a narrative that neatly weds historical detail and quiet wit.’ – Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times, ‘The best historical fiction books of May 2023’

‘Ms. Walsh does a splendid job depicting Minnie’s flea-bitten yet appealing theatrical world and Albert’s monied yet treacherous milieu.’ – Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

‘It’s a sparkling novel and a complete delight to read. The characters and world are wild, vivid and enchanting. A wry, warm and proper rib-tickling slice of dirty Victorian gothic. And Bridget has such an ear for dialogue, and a flair for character.  I can’t wait to see what Minnie and Albert are up to next.’ – Julia Crouch

‘Smart, funny and expertly plotted, THE TUMBLING GIRL cartwheels off the page. I loved my time with these characters. A cracking start to a charismatic and distinctive series.’ – Emma Styles

‘THE TUMBLING GIRL is brilliant. Travel back in time for a chilling mystery set in London's seedy backstreets and high class clubs. Beautifully written by a true authority on Victorian domestic murder, this book keeps you guessing till the end!’ – A.J. West

Visit Bridget’s website.

Follow Bridget on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.