Graeme Swann

THE ABSURD CRIME FICTION PARODY BY FICTIONAL AUTHOR 'MARTIN FISHBACK' - AS SEEN ON BBC TWO 'What's better than a good crime novel? I'll tell you - a spoof crime novel, by the absurdly funny and clever Fergus Craig' MIRANDA HART 'We all need more laughs like this' AISLING BEA Exeter: a city in decline, East Devon's capital of crime. Detective Roger LeCarre: a man on a quest to rid the world of crime (starting with Devon and Cornwall and then working outwards) so he can concentrate on his watercolours. LeCarre runs 10km a day but probably burns more calories shaking his head at what has become of his city. Now Exeter is set to become the UK Capital of Culture and the ambitious Lord Mayor wants to turn things around. But when a young man's (dead) body is found in the centre of town, things get murky. Detective Roger LeCarre is a character never seen before in modern fiction - a tough but troubled detective with a drink problem and a marriage in trouble. Can he find out who killed the young man, save the city and change his energy provider before the new more expensive tariff kicks in? Filled with drama, eroticism and very specific Wikipedia-sourced information on Devon, Once Upon A Crime is a thriller that takes itself very seriously and that should not, on any account, actually be taken seriously.

Has any county cricket club come close to the success of Warwickshire in the summer of 1994? Boosted by the late signing of Brian Lara, inspired by the maverick captain Dermot Reeve, fine-tuned by the ground-breaking coach Bob Woolmer, the little-fancied Bears won three trophies and were runners-up in the fourth. Patrick Murphy, working for the BBC in the Midlands, saw much of the action that summer, and in 'The Greatest Season' he tells the extraordinary story, drawing on the testimony not only of the team and the backroom staff but of many of their outwitted opponents. Though the tale has its moments of conflict and sadness, 'The Greatest Season' is above all a celebratory book, enhanced by previously unseen images from photographer Graham Morris.

THE OFFICIAL DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF BBC SPORTS REPORT 'Opens the doors to one of the great radio institutions.' – Dan Walker 'An absolute joy to read.' – John Inverdale 'That opening tune always quickens the pulse.' – Henry Winter Sports Report is as much a 75-year history of sport as a BBC radio institution and Pat Murphy pays handsome tribute to a programme that is still followed affectionately by millions. For nearly 75 years, one BBC programme has been a constant factor in chronicling the way sport is covered, in all its many facets. It has been a window on the sporting world all over the globe – packed tightly into every Saturday evening for the bulk of the year. First broadcast in 1948, Sports Report is the longest-running radio sporting programme in the world and one of the BBC's hardy perennials. Pat Murphy has been a reporter on the programme since 1981 and here he sifts comprehensively through the experiences of his contemporaries and those who made their mark on Sports Report in earlier decades. He hears from commentators, reporters, producers, presenters and the production teams who regularly achieved the broadcasting miracle of getting a live programme on air, without a script, adapting as the hour of news, reaction and comment unfolded. Drawing on unique access from the BBC Archives Unit, he highlights memorable moments from Sports Report, details the challenges faced in getting live interviews on air from draughty, noisy dressing-room areas and celebrates the feat of just a small production team in the studio who, somehow, get the show up and running every Saturday, with the clock ticking implacably on. --- Waterstones Best Books of 2022 – Sport