We are taking a short break to enjoy the holidays. In this episode, we discuss what we plan to read and watch. After this episode, we will release a few older episodes, and return in early 2025 with new ones.
Discussed and mentioned
Death of a Christmas Tree Salesman (2023) Patricia Meredith
Spokane Clocktower Mysteries, Patricia Meredith
The Christmas Murder Game (2022) Alexandra Benedict
“The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” (1960) Agatha Christie
Man on the Inside (2024) Netflix series
The Last Word (2024) Elly Griffiths
Such Charming Liars (2024) Karen M. McManus
Strangers on a Train (1950) Patricia Highsmith
Black Doves (2024) Netflix series
For more information
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Transcript
This transcript is generated by a computer and there may be some mis-spellings and strange punctuation. We try to catch these before posting, but some things slip through.
| Sarah | Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I’m Sarah. |
| Brook | And I’m Brook and we both love mystery. |
| Sarah | Hi Brook. |
| Brook | Hi, Sarah. You know, I’m not sure where this season has gone because today, we’re already recording our holiday TBR lists. |
| Sarah | I know it just feels like it has rushed by and before we know it, we’re going to be celebrating Christmas. |
| Brook | That’s right. And enjoying all the holiday festivities. |
| Sarah | Exactly um and one of the things that I enjoy most about this time of year is having a little bit of extra time to read and so we’re going to record I think one of my favorite types of episodes where we talk about what we have planned to read and watch over the coming weeks. |
| Brook | Yes, I can’t wait. |
| Sarah | So do you want to start, Brook? |
| Brook | Sure. So I’m trying something different this time that I’ve never done before, and I’ve chosen all holiday-themed stories. So, um I really need to get in the Christmas spirit apparently. And um so my first pick is Death of a Christmas Tree Salesman. This was a 2023 release by Patricia Meredith. And Patricia has been on our show and we’ve in fact also both been on her show. So, it’s really fun for me to pick something by an author that I know. So here’s the description. Sam Shovel is a snowman who only comes to life for 12 days a year at Christmas time. And this year he’s in time to solve a murder mystery at the North Pole. |
| Brook | O. Tannenbaum, the world’s largest supplier of Christmas trees, has been murdered, and although Nick and Nora Claus are too busy to solve the mystery, Sam has enough time on his branchy hands to take a stab at it. Woven with enough Christmas references to choke a reindeer, find out if he succeeds in Death of a Christmas Tree Salesman. So, I’m looking forward to this. I enjoyed Patricia’s Spokane Clock Tower mysteries, and so I think this will be fun. |
| Sarah | Oh, that sounds fantastic. And so I actually didn’t have this on my list. It’s kind of on my, if I finish everything and I need something to get into the holiday spirit, I think that that’s what I’ve got on my list um for that. But I love that you’re going to read that. |
| Sarah | So, first on my list is The Last Word by Elly Griffiths. And this is a 2024 release. And I think that this is the latest in her Harbinder Kaur series. I’ve enjoyed the others. And so I’m really looking forward to reading this. And I’ll just read the description. |
| Sarah | Natalka and Edwin are perfect, if improbable, partners in a detective agency. At 84, Edwin regularly claims that he’s the oldest detective in England. He’s a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, Ukrainian-born and more than 50 years his junior, is a math whiz who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. |
| Sarah | Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated. She loves a murder, as she’s fond of saying, and none have come the agency’s way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies. Melody’s daughters are convinced that their mother was murdered. Edwin thinks that Melody’s death is linked to that of an obituary writer who predeceased many of his subjects. Edwin and Benedict go undercover to investigate and are on a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House when another murder occurs. Are the cases linked? And what is the role of a distinctly sinister book group attended by many of the writers involved? |
| Sarah | By the time Edwin has infiltrated the group, he is in serious danger. Seeking professional help, the investigators turn to their friend, Detective Harbinder Kaur, and find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction. |
| Brook | Well, Sarah, I actually have read that, so I’m super excited for you to read that as well. And I remember thinking, “why have I not been reading Elly Griffiths?”. It was It was a really great read, so I think you’re going to like it. |
| Brook | All right, next on my holiday roundup is The Christmas Murder Game, and this one was published in 2022 by Alexandra Benedict, and this is part of a series. There is a new one this year, but I’m a stickler for starting at the beginning of a series, so this is where I’ll begin. The annual Christmas game is afoot at Endgame house, the Armitage’s grand family home. |
| Brook | This year’s prize is to die for, deeds to the house itself. But Lily Armitage has no intention of returning. She hasn’t been back to Endgame since her mother died 21 years ago, and she has no intention of claiming the house that haunts her dreams. |
| Brook | Until that is, she receives a letter from her aunt promising that the game’s riddles will give her the keys not only to Endgame, but to its darkest secrets, including the identity of her mother’s murderer. Now Lily must compete with her estranged cousins for the 12 days of Christmas. The snow is thick, the phone lines are down, and no one is getting in or out. Lily will have to keep her wits about her because not everyone is playing fair, and there’s no telling how many will die before the winner is declared. |
| Sarah | Well, Brook, that sounds fantastic, and it’s got all the great setups for a wonderful mystery. |
| Brook | I agree. |
| Sarah | OK, well, next on my list is another release from 2024, and this is Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus. I’ve put this on my list because it looks like my library hold on this is going to come in over the next week or so. So, this timing is perfect. For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie, except for the 48 hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since. |
| Sarah | Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party, and Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend, the last two people she wants to run into, Liam and his father, a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter. |
| Sarah | Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone except each other. Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best. |
| Brook | That sounds fantastic, Sarah. I think like right off the bat, you have the humor, the 48 hours that she was married. That’s just so cute. And yeah, I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that one. I may have to ah put it on my next list. |
| Brook | Well, my final holiday mystery is an Agatha Christie because we need a Christie for Christmas and it’s “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding”. In this short story, Poirot is asked to attend a Christmas celebration in order to apprehend a jewel thief who has taken advantage of an unwary Eastern prince. Full of English holiday tradition and plenty of intrigue, this holiday tale first appeared in the December 12, 1923, issue of The Sketch Magazine. And I’m looking forward to this because it seems like it’s a mystery without murder, which is just really nice for for this time of year, just a holiday caper. |
| Sarah | Oh, it’s a great story, Brook, and I hope you ah I hope you enjoy it. So next up on my list is Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. So, this was released in 1950. I haven’t read any Highsmith before, but I’m familiar with the plot of one and I’m sure most mystery fans are. It’s almost like, And Then There Were None, I think in terms of its impact on the genre. So I’m really looking forward to kind of reading this OG thriller. |
| Sarah | Guy Haynes and Charles Anthony Bruno are passengers on the same train. Haynes is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce. Bruno a mysterious smooth talker with a sadistic proposal. He’ll murder Haynes’ wife if Haynes will murder Bruno’s father. As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy finds himself trapped in Highsmith’s perilous world where, under the right circumstances, ordinary people are capable of extraordinary crimes. The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train launched Highsmith’s prolific career, proving her a master at depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday life. |
| Brook | That sounds great too. Obviously, as a fan of Hitchcock, that has been you know something that’s been on my radar to read some of those books that influenced his his movies. So i’m I’m looking forward to hearing your take on that one. And I feel like Patricia Highsmith is somebody that we may consider doing like ah as a modern great at some point. |
| Sarah | Yeah, i I agree. I think she was really influential in in the genre. And so it would be interesting to take a deeper dive into her at some point. |
| Brook | Mm hmm. So Sarah, what do you plan on watching over the holiday time? |
| Sarah | Well, because none of the books that I’ve chosen are particularly holiday themed. I did choose a what is billed as a holiday-themed spy thriller. So Black Doves is going to be released on Netflix in December. It’s set against the backdrop of London at Christmas and according to the description it’s a sharp action-filled and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb, played by Keira Knightley, a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother, and professional spy. For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organization she works for, the Black Doves. When her secret lover, Jason is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed calls in Helen’s old friend Sam to keep her safe. Sam Young is suave, champagne-drinking assassin, but having been out of the game since a failed job with disastrous consequences, he comes home to London that has moved on without him. As his past threatens to catch up with him, his task was to protect Helen as she investigates who killed Jason and why. Together they uncover a vast interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis. |
| Brook | Oh, fun. I love Keira Knightley. Um, maybe you said Sarah, but is this a movie or a series? |
| Sarah | So it’s, I believe, a six-part series. So, kind of perfect for watching over a few nights over the holidays. |
| Brook | Definitely. |
| Brook | And I also plan to watch a new Netflix series um over the next upcoming weeks, and this one is Man on the Inside, and it’s eight episodes. A private detective hires a widowed professor to go undercover in a place filled with secrets, scandal, and mystery: a retirement community. |
| Brook | The widowed professor is Ted Danson, and I just think he’s fantastic. My dad loved Cheers. We watched it every week, and so it’s fun to see Ted Danson in a new role. I also think that this show has those Richard Osman vibes. We have these pensioners who are taking a new lease on life. I like that this trope is playing out in different ways. And I think it’s TV 14, so it should be appropriate for anyone who’s around to watch with me over the over the break. |
| Sarah | Oh, that sounds fantastic, Brook. And, you know, as as I was reading the description for Black Doves, I thought, I mean, maybe set at Christmas time, but it’s probably not going to be ah like uplifting, where it sounds like yours might be a little bit more so. |
| Brook | I think so. It’s billed as a comedy, you know like a comedic mystery. So, I think it should be fun. |
| Sarah | Well, Brook, let’s regroup after the holidays and share what we’ve read and watched. |
| Brook | I’m looking forward to that, Sarah. And if you’d like to keep tabs on us over the next few weeks, we will still be issuing at least a couple of newsletters to keep you clued in. So don’t forget to go out to our website and subscribe to the Clued In Chronicle. |
| Sarah | Well, Brook, thank you for sharing what you’re planning to read over the next couple of weeks. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season as we take a little break from recording. |
| Brook | And I wish you and yours a happy holidays as well, Sarah. And we hope you have a happy holiday season, listeners. But for today, I’m Brook. |
| Sarah | And I’m Sarah, and we both love mystery. |
