Jim Eldridge had a stellar career writing for TV and radio before he turned to World War II and late 19th century historical mysteries which demonstrate all the page-turning immediacy of the TV shows he cut his teeth on.

Hi there, I'm your host Jenny Wheeler. And on this week's Joys of Binge Reading podcast, Jim talks about growing up on a London bomb site and staying ahead in an ever-changing publishing world.

This week's Giveaway

Our Giveaway this week is a BookSweeps draw – a Literary, Historical and Book Club Fiction selection. Be into win a library of great books, plus a brand new E reader, worth $300 in total prize value.

:https://www.booksweeps.com/giveaway/nov23-win-a-bundle-of-literary-historical-book-club-fiction/

Available only for a limited time - the draw closes on November 22.

ENTER BOOKSWEEPS DRAW

Before we get to hear from Jim, I wanted to take a moment to issue a huge apology to those of you who may have reached out to me through my website contact forms, either through my book site at www.jennywheeler.biz or the podcast at www.thejoysofbingereading.com

I've discovered quite recently to my horror, that emails from those sites have been going into a kind of internet nether land for quite a few months. I don't really know how long, never to be seen or heard from again. With the help of Toby, our new webmaster we have solved this problem, and I will answer all genuine inquiries as soon as I can, but unfortunately I can't get any of those historical ones back.

Also another reminder, if you enjoy the show, leave us a review so others will find us too.

Links to things mentioned in this episode:

The Line of Kings (Tower of London):

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/line-of-kings/

Girton College, Cambridge: https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/

Churchill’s War Room:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms

Down St Station:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Street_tube_station

The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha

The Blind Beggar pub:

https://www.theblindbeggar.com/

Salvation Army founder, William Booth:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/activists/william-booth.html

The Kray Brothers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kray_twins

Dennis May Wilson: https://www.comedy.co.uk/features/comedy_chronicles/dennis-main-wilson/

Georges Simeon: (Maigret author) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9693.Georges_Simenon

Maigret:  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/IMA/inspector-maigret

Ed McBain:  (real name Evan Hunter)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Hunter

Peter Davison:  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/peter_davison

V2s:  https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-terrifying-german-revenge-weapons-of-the-second-world-war

Where to Find Jim online:

Website:  https://www.jimeldridge.com/

Email: Contact form on Jim’s website.

Introducing mystery author Jim Eldridge

Jim Eldridge - historical mystery author and TV script writer

But now here’s Jim. Hell, Jim and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Jim Eldridge: It's fantastic to be here Jenny and thank you for inviting me on.

Jenny Wheeler: You've had a fascinating varied career with a very large amount of experience in TV before you set about doing your fiction writing with your historical mysteries.

We're going to be focusing on those historical mysteries and two of your most recent books, Murder at the Tower of London, which is #9 in the Museum Murder series, and Murder at Down Street Station, which is #5 in the World War II mysteries.

Tell me, what made you change from doing TV to writing historical mysteries?

Jim Eldridge: I think actually what happened was I had my first show on in 1971, which is a long time ago. And over the years, things changed at the broadcasting. I wrote for British, Irish, and American television, TV and radio.