What We Loved in 2024

In today’s episode, Brook and Sarah share their favorite mysteries from 2024.

Discussed and mentioned

Slow Horses (books and TV series) Mick Herron

Murder in the Basement (1932) Anthony Berkeley

Before the Fact (1932) Francis Iles – Pen name of Anthony Berkeley

Kate Ellis – The Wesley Peterson series starts with The Merchant’s House (1998) and the latest release was in 2024.

One Perfect Couple (2024) Ruth Ware

First Lie Wins (2024) Ashley Elton

Festivals, Funnel Cakes and Felonies (2024) Sally Bayless

Marlow Murder Club (2021) Robert Thorogood

Death in Paradise (TV series: 2011-present) BBC/Britbox

Thursday Murder Club (2021) Richard Osman

Devil’s Island (2024) Midge Raymond and John Yunker

Katherine Faulkner – motherhood suspense books

An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good (2018) Helene Tursten translated from Swedish

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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	Good morning, Sarah. It’s great to be talking to you and we’re going to do a little 2024 recap, some of our favorites of the year.
Sarah	Yeah. So I know lots of people kind of do these in December and they, um, you know, release them in the middle of the month. And I always feel like there’s a lot of reading that I get done in the last part of of December. And so I thought maybe we could do this in 2025 so that we could reflect on the entirety of 2024.
Sarah	So why don’t I start and I’ll just talk about one of the series that I started in 2024 and have just really loved and I know I’ve spoken about this ah before and when I was looking back through my notes I thought oh my goodness I only started reading this in 2024. But ah it’s the Slow Horses series by Mick Herron. And the reason I’ve been talking about it for longer is because there’s a ah screen adaptation that is on Apple and that’s been around I think now for three or four years. And so um I’ve been talking about it probably for that long, but I only started reading the books in 2024 and they are so good. It is like the books were written with the actors who portray the characters on screen in mind.
Brook	Mm.
Sarah	And it’s rare that I read something after I’ve watched the series or, you know, watched a screen adaptation. But it didn’t take away my enjoyment at all from reading the books or from watching the um watching the show. So I had read the book that the most recent series was based on um and still enjoyed watching it. I think I’m going to hold off on reading the next one until I’ve watched ah the next you know set of episodes. But maybe I won’t be able to hold on that long. I don’t know.
Brook	Man, that is great when a series is so good that you just cannot wait to get to the next book. So, Sarah, were you ah listening to audiobooks or reading real books for this series?
Sarah	So I was, I was listening to the audio books and for anybody who’s not familiar with them, Slow Horses is a spy series. The characters are washed out MI5 agents. They’ve made a mistake or maybe several mistakes. MI5 doesn’t want to fire them because they’re probably more dangerous, not as part of the service, but they’re relegated to this backwater office of delinquents really. They take on their own investigations and this tension with the, the you know, adult table at MI5. And no, it’s it’s it’s so good.
Brook	Yeah, that sounds fantastic. I’ve said before how jealous I am because I, is that Apple TV, right? For the, the screen adaptation and and we don’t have Apple TV.
Sarah	That’s right, yeah.
Brook	So, uh, it books, it is. And I just would like to make a short apology because I just referred to paperbacks as real books. And I don’t mean that at all because I fully believe that audio books are real books.
Brook	So I think you got my meaning though, Sarah.
Brook	Well, something I loved about 2024 is I discovered several new authors. They’re not new ah in the world, but they’re new to me. And um so I thought I would just talk about some of them and some of the books that I read from ah some of their series. And the first is a Golden Age author that we covered in our fall series. And that’s Anthony Berkeley. I believe that he might be so far my favorite Golden Age author. I loved his style of writing. It felt really fresh and modern. I began by reading Murder in the Basement. And then I went on to read ah Suspicion because I love the Alfred Hitchcock movie. And both of them I just enjoyed so very much and I still can’t really believe that he was writing those so early because as I said, they feel really, really contemporary.
Sarah	Oh, that’s great, Brook. Yeah, I enjoyed Anthony Berkeley as well. And um remind me, have you read any of the Francis Isles that he wrote?
Brook	Yes. So I said Suspicion, but in fact, the title of that book is Before the Fact. And that is under his Francis Iles pen name, which it seems to be more of his maybe suspense thrillers versus like a, like a murder mystery. um But it was really great. I feel like it’s definitely a beginning point to that domestic thriller that we see so much of today.
Sarah	Oh that’s so great. Well, I discovered um a couple of authors this year who were new to me, not necessarily new to the um to the mystery space. And one of those is Kate Ellis. And I picked up one of her books ah at a used bookstore. We were on a road trip. And you know whenever I can, if we’re in a ah new town, I like to visit the the bookshop.
Sarah	And I needed something to read. And for whatever reason, is this particular book jumped out at me. And so I bought it and um fell in love with it almost instantly. So her this is a series of books that she’s written featuring a detective named Wesley Peterson.
Sarah	And the books are set in a fictionalized version of Devon in England and Wesley Peterson is this police detective. He has a good friend who works in the area as an archaeologist and Wesley himself studied archaeology in university.
Sarah	And there’s always a historical element to the books. So, the archaeologist friend is, you know, working on a dig and he discovers something and then there are scenes that are much shorter than the modern day scenes um that unravel this secondary mystery that may have some relationship to the larger mystery that um that Wesley Peterson is is investigating. And I’ve read now three or four books in this series, and I think there’s several more to enjoy, so I’ve really, really enjoyed that.
Brook	Oh my gosh, so, I’m writing this down as you say it, because you know archaeology mysteries some of the best, in my opinion, um that just sounds fantastic. So I’m definitely going to look into that one too.
Brook	A favorite book that I read this year and it will not surprise anyone that this is by Ruth Ware and that’s One Perfect Couple and this is her 2024 release and it’s based on a um reality TV show. So, a set of couples are sent to a remote island to be able to win all the challenges and become the “One Perfect Couple”. But a huge storm hits the island and you know, changes everything. And in typical Ruth Ware style, it’s, you know, action packed, the suspense is high from like the get go and it was, it was fantastic.
Sarah	Oh, that sounds terrific, Brook. I haven’t read that yet, but I have enjoyed all of the Ruth Ware books that I’ve read, so I’m sure that when I get my hands on that one, I will also enjoy that.
Sarah	So probably my favorite read last year was First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. And I don’t remember where I came across this. I’m sure I saw it on Instagram, but I think I also saw it in the bookstore.
Sarah	And it was, um I didn’t know very much about it before I started reading it. And I think that’s probably the best way to um to read it. So it was actually around like corporate espionage, which was ah something that I hadn’t read any anything of before and and I really enjoyed it.
Sarah	So um I hope that there’s another book coming from Ashley Elston. I think I did see lots of people praising it on Instagram. So, hopefully there there will be some more. Not necessarily as a series, but you know another book from her coming at some point.
Brook	That sounds great. Well, in the cozy world, I think my favorite cozy of the year was um Festivals and Funnel Cakes. And this is by Sally Bayless. I believe this is her fourth book in series.
Brook	And I just got such a big kick out of this book. All of Sally’s books are fantastic in that they really get the small-town feel. But this one was especially good because again, it’s based around a small-town festival. And here in my small town, we have a very similar type of festival where there’s the queen and there’s the parades. I mean If you live in a small town, you probably have one too. But ah she just hit everything on the head about that feeling and about the events. The different quirky booths and the things that are for sale and everything and and the food, of course. And it was just great. It’s a great little mystery, and it has a really good twist at the end, which is always fantastic.
Sarah	Oh, that sounds like fun, Brook. And it’s nice when you read something that, you know, you’re kind of familiar with the setting or you’re familiar with the circumstances. And so you can identify those personalities or those characteristics that you might recognize in someone that you actually know.
Brook	Yes, and this upcoming spring when I go to our festival, I’ll be looking out for bad guys.
Sarah	When I was looking through you know all of the books that I had read in 2024, I realized that I read three books in a cozy series that ah I hadn’t read any books from previously. And that is the Marlow Murder Club. And so this features a three female sleuths amateur sleuths. The lead one we’ll call her is a little bit older. And then she’s got two slightly younger middle-aged friends who help her. And um this series is written by Robert Thorogood, who is the main writer or person behind the very popular television series Death in Paradise and its spin-offs. So he is very familiar with that cozy setup. um And ah I enjoyed reading these um enough that I read three of them ah over the year. And I do believe that there is a screen adaptation of this, but I haven’t seen seen any of those, so i you know I can’t um I can’t comment on them, but I I have enjoyed Death in Paradise and and um the spin-off shows from that, so I trust that those would be good as well.
Brook	I’ve seen that series ah recommended for people who liked The Thursday Murder Club and are looking for you know more books like that. So I think that is ah a great recommendation to be compared to the Richard Osman series like that.
Brook	Well, another favorite book on my list, and I’m in a little bit of a chicken and egg situation here because I don’t know if I liked this book so much because I loved meeting the authors or if I loved meeting the authors because I really enjoyed Devil’s Island by Midge Raymond and John Yunker. They came on the show and talked with us about what it’s like to collaborate on a mystery.
Brook	Collaborate in business and in life as well because they are a husband and wife team but the book was really good and it’s another I’m on a theme I guess. It’s another one where a group of couples go to an island, but this time it’s like a nature vacation and ah things go awry when somebody dies. But it’s I just enjoyed it so much. I thought that the pacing was great and I thought that the mystery was fantastic. Like I didn’t guess what was going to happen. And it was just such a joy to talk to them on the show.
Sarah	It’s so interesting, Brook, because I almost put that on my list. It was one of my favorites, um but I had a lot of favorites last year.
Brook	That’s a good problem to have.
Sarah	I’m so glad that you included it. Another author that I discovered last year is Katherine Faulkner, and she writes, I’m going to call them motherhood suspense. So, her um main character is a mother. These books are not set on on islands like you’ve been reading, Brook. But, you know, being particularly being a new mother can feel like you’re on a deserted island.
Sarah	She has overlaid the experience of being a mother with some very domestic thriller tropes. And so I have read a couple of her books and really enjoyed those. And you know I don’t know if they would be for everyone, but certainly as someone who is a parent, you can identify some of those themes.
Brook	Oh, I love that somebody is, you know, taking the honesty of those, especially the first months of new parenthood. Um, I can just see all sorts of opportunities. You’re sleep deprived, you know, everything is brand new. There’s a ah whole wealth of ideas there. Those sound great.
Sarah	So the final thing that I wanted to share today, Brook, was a series of short stories that were translated from Swedish by Helene Tursten. And this is An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good.
Sarah	And I think there’s a couple of books of short stories featuring this main character who ah is, as the title suggests, an older woman. um And these stories are told from her point of view, and she is behind the deaths in the short stories. And so it’s really interesting the way that she’s kind of turned that on its head. um You know, she takes advantage of the fact that older people are often ignored and and dismissed. And yeah, it’s I really enjoyed those stories.
Brook	That’s fascinating. We talk a lot about, and this is a popular ah trend right now, that the the older sleuth is overlooked. And so they’re able to get in and do the investigating and save the day. But this is really interesting to turn that idea on its head, a little bit of a Roger Ackroyd situation, right?
Sarah	Mm hmm. So highly recommend, especially if you’re just looking for a quick read.
Brook	They sound great.
Sarah	Well, Brook, this has been really fun to talk about what we loved last year. And I hope we can do this again in a year’s time and talk about all of the great books and shows that we watch in 2025.
Brook	I do too. We’ll be making our lists and keeping notes about what we loved throughout 2025. And we encourage you to do the same thing. It’s so fun to look back and see everything you’ve read. It feels like a big accomplishment. So we encourage you to do that too listeners. But for today, thank you for joining us on Clued in Mystery. I’m Brook.
Sarah	And I’m Sarah, and we both love mystery.