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Winter Reading Recap 2024
131 Plays7 days ago
Brook and Sarah open the next season of episodes by discussing what they read and watched over the 2024 holiday break.
Discussed and mentioned
Death of a Christmas Tree Salesman (2023) Patricia Meredith
The Christmas Murder Game (2022) Alexandra Benedict
“The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” (1923) 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
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For a full episode transcript, visit https://cluedinmystery.com/winter-2024-tbr-recap/
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Transcript
Introduction and Holiday Recap
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke, and we both love mystery. Hi, Brooke. Hi, Sarah. It's so good to be back recording with you again. Yeah, after a little holiday break, it's so nice to start to slip back into routine. Exactly. And we get to talk about what we read over our break. So books and friends, and this is going to just be so much fun.
Book Reviews: Holiday Reads
00:00:40
Speaker
So I'll get started. And ah if you listened to the previous episode where we discussed what we were planning to read, you'll remember that I chose all holiday themed books. And so the first one that I read was Death of a Christmas Tree Salesman.
00:00:57
Speaker
This is by our friend Patricia Meredith, and I just found this to be completely delightful. you know She says in the description that there are enough Christmas puns within the story to choke a reindeer, and um she was not kidding. But they were great, and I laughed out loud so many times. So in this story, we have Sam Shovel.
00:01:19
Speaker
Not Sam Spade, but Sam Shovel is the noir-style fedora-wearing snowman who must solve the mystery of ah who killed it O. Tannenbaum, the Christmas tree supplier. and Patricia's husband, Andrew, narrates the audiobook, and and that's what what I listened to. and I was so impressed.
00:01:40
Speaker
He had different accents and nuances for each character and he's very talented. It it was, it was fantastic. Patricia did release another story in the Sam shovel series this year. So but it's like frosty. He comes back each, each Christmas.
00:02:00
Speaker
Brooke, that sounds so so good. And I've read the description for the book a few times, and it only just occurred to me, Sam Shovel, Sam Spade. I know. I know. I was a little ways in. And, you know, he this character, you know, talks like that kind of a of a character from one of the noir movies, you know, and it finally dawned on me. OK, we've got Sam Shovel here. It was very cute.
00:02:27
Speaker
it sounds It sounds like so much fun and um I'm so glad that you enjoyed it.
Book Reviews: Non-Holiday Reads
00:02:35
Speaker
And so if people recall what my list didn't include any Christmas books, but I did have a Christmas show, which ah I'll talk about later. um And I did feel a little bit, you know, after we talked ah last, Brooke, I felt a little bit maybe screwed like because I didn't have any Christmas books and I was hoping to get a Christmas book in and I just it just didn't have time. ah So I had to stick to the list that that we'd talked about before. And so I will start by talking about The Last Word by Ellie Griffiths. And this was a 2024 release from her. And I just love her easy writing style. And I think this is the fourth book in, I think it's a loose series featuring ah the same recurring characters. Some of them are featured more or less depending on the book. um And I think Brooke, when you and I talked about are the the things that we were hoping to read over the holiday season,
00:03:42
Speaker
You mentioned wondering why you haven't read more of Ellie Griffiths and I wonder the same thing. I find the books in this series are such a delight and I really do like that a couple of books feature these group of friends who are the main investigators and a couple of the other books feature their police detective friend har bi naour and I like that there's some flexibility in terms of the way that she's just created this this world that you're not always getting that same point of view in each of the books. So I do hope that there's another in this series at some point, um but yeah, I really enjoyed it.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. I like that you said it's a loose series. That's a good way to describe it. And it's really clever. And in some ways it kind of breaks the rules that they tell us as authors, doesn't it? That it's not this very strict and structured series, but it's um I agree. I enjoy it very much. And you you know you feel like you're getting to know the different characters. So the next one I'll mention is a short story. I read The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. This is an Agatha Christie from 1923. It originally was ah published in The Sketch Magazine. And I mean, you really can't go wrong with a Christie at Christmas. It was very good. This is a Poirot mystery. He gets called in to ah apprehended jewel thief.
00:05:06
Speaker
And so we have a mystery without murder. So that's very, you know, holiday and a little bit more romantic and atmospheric. And one thing I loved about this story is the way that the a culprit was caught, just one variable, one thing happens to kind of foil their plan and it reveals who the culprit is. And I think that's so fun when a mystery does that where the plan of the bad guy just goes just a little bit awry and it opens up the door for the detective to apprehend
Upcoming 2024 Releases
00:05:39
Speaker
them. So it's a winner. I read that a while ago and um thought I might have been able to squeeze it in over all of the kind of wildness that happens over the holidays. ah And maybe I'll have to save that for next year, Brooke, to reread it.
00:06:04
Speaker
So the next that I'm going to talk about is another 2024 release, and this is Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus. This is a YA and, you know, very typical of Karen McManus' style. I have enjoyed all of the books that I've read, and this is the same for for this book. And I think actually it might have been my favorite of her books.
00:06:29
Speaker
There's a death, so I can't say that it's a mystery without murder, but the book is far more focused on a heist rather than the murder. so It was ah ah you know a little lighter, there's humor, and yeah I really enjoyed it. That's great. That is an author, one of those that I have not read yet, so I need to put that on a future list.
00:06:54
Speaker
And the last book that I had on my list was probably my favorite read of the Winter Break, and that was The Christmas Murder Game. This is a 2022 release by Alexandra Benedict. And I just really enjoyed this book. It had all the things that I like. We have family secrets and a big old house, a contested will that has a contrived treasure hunt between the cousins to determine who will get to inherit it.
00:07:23
Speaker
It was just really well done. It has an excellent twist that I did see coming, but it was still fun when the when the reveal happened. um I will definitely read more. I would like to read more. I think that she has other holiday themed ah mysteries. So I look forward to those in future years. ah So I think I actually have read that book.
00:07:45
Speaker
I think you mentioned that you had. and But I didn't realize that she's got other holiday themed mysteries. So i would I think I enjoyed it when I when i read it. um It would have been a couple of years ago. um But ah i would I would also read another by by her.
Reflection on Classic Suspense
00:08:03
Speaker
So the last book that I had on my list was Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train. And this was released in 1950, but it really didn't read like it was written 75 years ago. It's well paced, well plotted, and I think largely stands up. And really, you know, I think I mentioned this when, when in the first episode about these, um,
00:08:29
Speaker
She's like the OG suspense writer. And so it was it was really interesting just to read that and think about the impact that she has had on the genre. Because there's lots of conventions in her book that um you know we see continue to appear in in books that are written now.
00:08:52
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. and i um I think I mentioned in the original episode about our TBR list is that I really love this movie, the Alfred Hitchcock rendition, but I have
TV Shows Discussion
00:09:03
Speaker
never read the book. so I'm so glad to hear that it ah holds up and that's really exciting.
00:09:09
Speaker
So we also included a show that we intended to watch over break. And my pick was Man on the Inside. And this is a Netflix eight episode series featuring Ted Danson as a widow who gets placed in a retirement community in order to solve a mystery.
00:09:29
Speaker
And um I did enjoy it. I actually haven't finished the entire series, but I did enjoy it. But I feel like it's more of a sitcom than an actual mystery. And um you know the situation that's created is that this older gentleman is is placed inside the retirement center. It gives them the opportunity for this the jokes and the character development and things like that.
00:09:53
Speaker
There wasn't a lot of investigating but what I thought was interesting was the way that mystery is so popular right now and it is obviously even influencing the shows that are made that maybe aren't you know straight up mysteries that you know the sitcoms the um the dramas the different things that we're all being um watching and being entertained by is having this influence because there was sort of this Richard Osman you know nod within within the show um and i think that you watched some of this too didn't you sarah
00:10:29
Speaker
I did, that's right Brooke. And yeah, I don't think we finished the series yet, but I felt very similarly to you in that it wasn't so much a mystery. There was definitely a storyline that featured a mystery, but it wasn't it wasn't driving the story. It was really about you know this man and and um his experience, I think largely with grief, right? As he's still,
00:10:56
Speaker
um yes so finding his way after having lost his wife of many years uh but it was it was good it's it's sweet and an easy way to pass uh to pass a couple of evenings absolutely
00:11:12
Speaker
So the pic that I had to watch is also from Netflix and this is Black Doves. And I would say it's, you know, it it was billed as being a Christmas action thriller and it it is Christmasy in the way that Die Hard is Christmasy because it's set around the holidays. But it's really not, um,
00:11:37
Speaker
It is not a uplifting story at all. ah ah But I did like it. um It's a six hour long episodes and the storytelling moves between finding out how Keira Knightley's character becomes a black dove ah and how past events influence the present um where she is, you know, married to a high ranking member of the ah British government and she's been passing information along that you know um to another organization.
00:12:16
Speaker
um i I really did enjoy it. I did find it a little bit harder to tell if it was ah like a flashback scene because Ben Whishaw, who's the other kind of star character in the show, I didn't find like his character looked that different between the past and the present. And so sometimes I was like, oh, is this happening now? Or is he remembering something? um But it was I did like it.
00:12:45
Speaker
and it's um
00:12:48
Speaker
There's ah lots of guns and lots of shooting. So if that's not your thing and it may not be everybody's thing at Christmas, um it may not be
Episode Conclusion
00:12:57
Speaker
for you. Exactly. Well, it sounds great. And I kind of have that on my radar for something to watch this winter as well.
00:13:08
Speaker
Well, Brooke, it was so fun to hear about what you read over the holiday season. And this always makes me excited because it means that we are starting our next season of this show and it's so fun to read and watch and talk about mystery with you.
00:13:30
Speaker
I know I'm looking forward to it. And everyone, we have such a great lineup of new episodes coming up. We're just really excited to get planning and to get to recording and, and we hope that you'll join us. But for today, thank you for being here on Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah, and we both love mystery.
00:13:52
Speaker
Clued In Mystery is written and produced by Brooke Peterson and Sarah M. Stephen. Music is by Shane Ivers. If you liked what you heard, please consider telling a friend, leaving a ri review, or subscribing with your favorite podcast listening app. Visit our website at cluedinmystery.com to sign up for our newsletter, The Clued In Chronicle, or to join our paid membership, The Clued In Cartel. We're on social media at Clued In Mystery.