Catherine Raynes: Witch Trial and The Hard Line

Witch Trail by Harriet Tyce  

Two teenage girls. One murdered classmate.

And a modern-day witch trial that will divide the nation. 
 
When 18-year-old Christian Shaw is found dead in an Edinburgh park, the city reels - and the shock only deepens when police charge her best friends, Eliza Lawson and Isobel Smyth, with her murder. 
 
As social media explodes and headlines scream for justice, rumours of bullying spiral into something whispers of rituals, obsession, and a teenage pact gone wrong. 
 
Matthew Phillips, a respected heart surgeon, is reluctantly called for jury duty on the case. But as the trial unfolds - and the girls reveal a chilling defence no one saw coming - he begins to question the motives, the evidence, even his own judgement. 
 
Who's telling the truth? Who can be trusted?

And what really happened to Christian Shaw? 
 
Let the Witch Trial begin . . . 

  

The Hard Line by Mark Greaney  

For a man who works in the shadows, a family is not just a luxury - it's a weakness. 

When an unknown enemy uses threats against Zack Hightower's estranged daughter to blackmail the injured operative into taking on a dangerous mission, his friend, Court Gentry, aka the Gray Man, volunteers to take Zack's place.  

But Court has problems of his own. He's already got an expert assassin on his trail for no apparent reason. And now his quest to protect Zack's family may drag his own family into the maelstrom. There's one lesson that Court has found undeniable: There's a reason superheroes have secret identities. 

 

LISTEN ABOVE   

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Catherine Rains is our book reviewer. She's with us this morning.
Good morning, Good morning Jack. How is our resident petrol head?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Oh fantastic and Melbourne at the F one could not
be any better.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Ah, so exciting. So things kick off this afternoon, right,
we've got qualifying, We've got another practice run this afternoon
and then qualifying this evening. I think at six o'clock
New Zealand time, at four o'clock your time.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
That's correct. So yeah, watched one and f P two
yesterday which was great. Yeah, it's just it's awesome. The
atmosphere is fantastic, this is always the cars everything.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes, So this is your first time you've been to
an F one weekend day. You're a massive, massive Noticebale fan.
Your first time on any one weekend? So what surprised
you about it? What hadn't you anticipated?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
I don't think i'd quite anticipated how like large the
track was. I knew it was, but just yeah, just
and what's going on around it as well, the atmosphere
around it and what's going on in Melbourne, Like I've
you know, I saw Little Hamilton, and I've seen full
through boats, I've seen max for stepping and I've been
off the track so and a couple of them wait,

(01:19):
complete accidents.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
So amazing. Yeah, what's going on is yeah? Yeah, so
what about the sound? Because you've got new cars this year, right,
and they've got this sort of they're almost like hybrid's day.
They've got the they've got the normal motor, but they've
also got a kind of battery thing inside them. So
what is the sound of the cars like? Is it
what you anticipated?

Speaker 1 (01:37):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:38):
I think it's less And the general general kind of
when chatting to people around the track, the general thought
is that but it's still loud, don't get me wrong,
but the general thought is that it's definitely quieter.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
And are people happy about that or a bit miffed?

Speaker 3 (01:51):
No, No one seems particularly bothered. I mean, if P
one was interesting because they were obviously all out testing
the cars and you know, trying to work out how
well it was going, and it was a bit. If
we're P one they were pretty quiet. Yeah, If P
two they just absolutely took.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Off, they gunned it.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, certainly wouldn't want to be eston And that's for sure.
I think that's probably pretty stressful few days for them.
Oh my gosh, you know, Mercedes Ferrari McLaren, they're all
up there as you would expect.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Very gooirl. Oh look, I'm going to be thinking of
you all throughout the weekend, and I'm sure you're not
going to have a whole lot of downtime. But if
you did and you were looking for something good to read, well,
good news, as you've got two recommendations that you'd share.
So let's begin this morning with Witch Trail by Harriet Tye.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
So this story is told from the perspective of a
guy called Matthew Phillips, and he's a heart surgeon and
he's been called for jury service, and despite the fact
that he could have been excused due to the nature
of his job, he decides that he's going to perform
his civic duty, not for you know, he's not because
he really feels he has to, but actually because he's
trying to escape issues in his work and personal life.

(02:51):
And it's not as easy as what he thinks. When
he discovers that he's actually part of this jury for
two girls who are on trial for more murdering their
school friend, and the two girls called Eliza Lawson and
Elizabeth Smith, and they're accused of murdering and bullying this
eighteen year old girl called Christian Shaw, whose body was
founded in Edinburgh Park, and to add into the mix,
they decide to claim to be witches. And Matthew at

(03:15):
this point is starting to recreate his choices and life
is beginning to unravel in ways that you wouldn't expect
and Tice, the author takes you into the inner workings
of the Scotland jury system and the antics that have
gone on in this particular jury room, and Matthew's mindset
is really odd, and the jury are not above twisting
the rules, and the jury members and the lawyers and

(03:37):
evidence and the girls are under complete scrutiny with these
changing perspectives and kind of a hysteria that's growing around
this case in the trial, and public sentiment labels the
young woman, depending on what side you're on, as either
a victim or a villain. And social media and the
fear and that blurring of boundaries of what's real and
his box has this really tense, tense atmosphere and lots

(03:59):
of layers, and it's actually really quite unsettling, but it's
a really interesting look at what constitutes truth and judgment.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Okay, yeah, this is very intriguing. So that's Witch Trail
by Harriet Tice. You've also read The hard Line by
Mark Greeney.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
So this is You've got lots of action and danger
and death in this and it centers on international intrigue
in the US intelligent community. And the main character is
a guy called Court Gentry, and he's a former CIA
Parliament Parliament Paramilitary Operations officer, and he's quite perceptive and
he's able. He's one of those guys that can sort
of sum up a situation pretty quickly. And his former boss,

(04:37):
a guy called Hal Hangley, has been commissioned by the
Director of Intelligence and Operations to set up this undercover
intelligence group to grapple with who in the US government
has been leaking secrets to the Chinese and Russians. And
so Hanley sends Gentry down to Nicoagua to reserve to
rescue this intelligent ast who's in danger, and what follows

(05:00):
next just goes horribly wrong, and he encounters these two
Chinese nationalists and he's lucky to escape with his life
along with the asset and then kind of back in
the US, there's this guy called James Westwood who's determined
to be elected a senator from New Hampshire and there's
this great ambition to become president and to achieve his goal,
he's done a deal with the Chinese in exchange for

(05:22):
intelligence that the Chinese want so much more on return,
and it sets off the series events. And so there's
multiple plots criss crossing. There's lots of action and intrigue,
and the author Greeney is a great storyteller, and it's
with interesting characters and plenty of action.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Oh so good, all right, this sounds fantastic, Thank you.
So that's The hard Line by Mark Greeney. Your first
book is Witch Trailed by Harriet Tyres. Both of those
will be on the website. Of course. You have an
amazing weekend, Catherine. I'm going to be scouring the TV coverage.
I'm going to be looking there the whole timing. I'll
be looking at this Lewis Hamilton on the left. There's
Toto Wolf over there, okay, or there's Vestappen stepping in.
Maybe Liam Lawson's passing through front. There's Catherine. There's Catherine

(06:03):
only Yeah, seriously, have an amazing time. I'm can't wait
to hear about today.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Thank you for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.
Listen live to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio