The journalist and host of BBC Radio 2’s lunchtime slot picks books ranging from murder mysteries to poetry anthologies. His second crime novel, “Turn the Dial for Death”, has just been published.
A Murder Is Announced
Agatha Christie, 1950
Don’t start with Christie’s best (“And Then There Were None”) or the most genre-bending (“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”) or the ones that became multiple movies (“Death on the Nile”, “Murder on the Orient Express”). Start with a regular whodunnit that has a fabulous set-up: the murder is announced in a small ad before it happens.
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The Last Enemy
Richard Hillary, 1942
I think this is the greatest book I have ever read. Written by a Spitfire pilot who flew and died heroically, it even contains instructions on how to bring down a Messerschmitt in a dogfight. I begged Penguin to let me read it on Audible, and they said yes.
The Good Daughter
Kumi Taguchi, 2025
Kumi Taguchi is an Australian TV reporter with whom I exchanged some messages on Twitter before it descended into the sewer that is X. Then, by happy coincidence, we met and she helped me with a Tokyo holiday. Now she has brought out an incredibly moving book about embracing her heritage, despite a painful relationship with her late Japanese father.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
John le Carré, 1963
When I was a little boy, I saw this book cover everywhere and the title hypnotised me. Children take everything literally: “From the cold? Why would a spy not be able to wear a coat, Mummy?” Now I see it for what it is – one of the greatest debuts in history, and the gateway to 25 million books sold by the remarkable le Carré.
The Rattle Bag
Edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, 1982
If you have only one poetry book, make it this one. If you read only one poem in it, make it “The Dream About Our Master, William Shakespeare” by Hyam Plutzik. Haunting.
