2023 Gift Guide with Mystery Manon

Transcript

Speaker: Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke. And we both love mystery. Hi Brooke. Hi Sarah. It is a great time to talk about our holiday gift giving. And today we have Mystery Manon joining us once again with her fabulous list. I know I'm so excited to talk about some of the things that she's found for mystery lovers.

Speaker: It's great to be here, guys. Thanks again for having me. So I will just briefly introduce or reintroduce Manon because she's been on our show a couple of times. Manon Wogan is a self -publishing professional and book influencer. As publishing operations manager for Author Imprints, Manon helps indie authors create and promote their books. In her free time, she reviews and discusses mystery books on Instagram, on TikTok, and in her newsletter, The Clues Letter. Welcome, Manon.

Speaker: Thank you. Thank you both so excited. I love the, this time of year. And I love getting to talk about gifts that really, really entice of specific group of people, which is us mystery lovers. Absolutely. We love your list. And, um, I know that it's going to start all sorts of conversations today because you have, because you have so many great things on there this year.

Speaker: I have a lot of things on there this year. I have more than any other year that I've, well, I'm only ever done it twice, but more than before and kind of accidentally too. So, um, but that, you know, it's good to find more things than you think are possible. So. Is it challenging then to narrow your list down?

Speaker: Well, I'll tell you how I ended up with so many to begin with is I kind of start finding things and then I start getting ideas for the categories because I split them up into those different sections. Then as I go forward, I can have a better idea of what to search for. But the reason why I limit it to eight sections usually is because of the Instagram post because I can only have 10 slides. And so I have a beginning and end and then eight sections. And I don't know what happened when I was putting it together, but I ended up with nine.

Speaker: I was just so enthusiastic. This week I was falling asleep and I was thinking, oh, it's not a problem. I'll just post all nine slides. And then I realized, wait a minute, there's an actual reason that I can't do that. But I had to make a hard call and cut one of them from the actual catalog part. But that's going to be a web exclusive. So I figured that out.

Speaker: Yeah. In terms of like finding products, it's, it's hard to begin, but, um, once I have those categories, it's pretty good. But sometimes like I find something really good. Like, like Brooke, you sent me like an advent calendar or something and I loved that, but I had no category for it because I couldn't figure out like where to place it. So, you know, that's, I think the trickiest part is saying goodbye to things that I, that I would do like if I had the right spot for it, but I don't.

Speaker: You have to kill your darling sometimes. It hurts. So share with us the list of categories that you have this year.

Speaker: Okay, I'll read through them and then I'll tell you which one is the bonus. So the first one is for cozy readers. Those are cozy, comfy items to enjoy when you're curled up with a good book. Culinary sleuths, which I'm excited about. Those are inspired by the culinary cozy. Undercover agents, which actually won a poll on my Instagram. I asked between three categories, what people wanted to see and people voted for spy, which was a plot twist for me.

Speaker: dazzling detectives which are like jewelry and one scarf little fun items that are kind of glitzy and glammy. I have another audio section for people who like to listen to podcasts and audiobooks because I love you guys. And then for junior snoopers which is for kids. Another one that I'm really excited about because kids really enjoy mysteries so why not have some gifts for them as well.

Speaker: I have another puzzles and games section. I called this one for the little gray cells. And then I have another stocking stuffer section, which are just as much as smaller items. And then the web exclusive one that's just going to be available on my blog is called for organized investigators. And those are like office items and like little organizational things.

Speaker: I love the categories once again, man. And I like that even though they're named a little differently, you know, you can still find the groups of things if you really liked those last time. But I think my most favorite category this year has to be for the junior sluice. That's a really fun addition.

Speaker: Thank you, Brooke. I was so excited to have that idea because I think kids in mystery books, they go hand in hand. And I have really fond memories growing up reading mystery. And wouldn't you believe it, but there are actually a lot of gifts out there for kids that are mystery themed. So I think it's a really great opportunity to inspire that curiosity in your kid and give them something really cute and memorable.

Speaker: I agree. And I love the t -shirt that's in that category. It lists the names of the younger sleuths.

Speaker: And I put that in there because of the names, but I have to admit it is an adult size t -shirt. So if you are a big fan of those young sleuths, if you have fond memories, like you can absolutely get a t -shirt for yourself or some other adult in your life. I mean, that's the beauty of the gift guide. I think you can find something on every page.

Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's hard to choose just one gift from one category. I think I would want something from all of them, if not the entire list. You should try putting it together. I want everything that I find, like everything. It's like, oh, my gosh. And this year, I actually have a few of the things that I put in there, like the I got the Kristi pajamas, which

Speaker: I'm in love with. And so, actually the version I put in there is the cotton version because the satin ones I have are no longer available but they're these bright pink pajamas with Christie, I got the Christie covers on them. They're so cute, I can't get over it. And then I also have

Speaker: the ring. There's a ring in the dazzling detective section that has a dagger on it, which feels very ominous, mysterious, so I put it in there. And I really love it. I think it's a very nice little gift.

Speaker: That's something that I like that feels a little different this year, Manon, is that some of the gifts aren't necessarily specifically targeted to mystery fans, but they go along so well. Like you have a Christmas tree ornament that is a meat cleaver or I think something like a carving knife or something. So it's actually meant for maybe a chef, right? Or somebody in your life who does a lot of cooking, but

Speaker: For those of us who love mysteries, that's where our brain goes. So it's perfect. And I put that in the culinary, the culinary sleuth section. So I tried to do some fun little like mixing of genres and themes. So fun. What do you think it means that there are so many mystery themed gifts that you can find, right? Like you had to exclude some.

Speaker: Um, I, I think, I think it means that mystery is not going anywhere. I remember actually being on this show for the detection club episode. And we talked a little bit about why mysteries seem to be having a bit of a renaissance right now. And at the time we were filming that, I think, um, during COVID, like one of the peak moments of COVID. So people were really looking for some true escapism and fun. And it seems like that feeling has continued.

Speaker: even into 2023. So, you know, I think people want that, that like mystery, fun little mystery and

Speaker: I mean, with all of the new movies that are coming out, like the Knives Out series and the Kenneth Branagh Poirot, I mean, clearly there's some renewed interest in mystery books and I think that's trickling down into some really specific gifts. Yeah, it makes me so happy to know that it's alive and well and that, you know, there's a large group of us who really share this fascination with the genre.

Speaker: And there's so many ways to express that fascination, right? It's not just in the books that we read or the, or the movies or shows that we watch, but yeah, you know, a pair of earrings or a tote bag or your pajamas.

Speaker: It's a lifestyle. Exactly. And that actually is a great, um, point, man. And I feel like your list is, um, you know, if anyone has had the pleasure of joining your newsletter or looking at your Instagram, you know, that man, and has a very, um, wonderful style. And so I think that comes through in your list. You know, these items are very classic, classy, elegant. I mean, you're going to get a gift for your friend or maybe for yourself that is.

Speaker: just a really nice piece to add to your world, whether it's your home or your clothing or something to decorate with. It's just going to be up -classed.

Speaker: I appreciate you saying that. Thank you. Yeah, it makes it easy that mystery has a really specific look sometimes. And so, you know, I mean, I think of the Sherlock Holmes, that classic London, like cozy wood paneled home with a lot of bookshelves kind of thing. And I mean, that seems to come through in a lot of the mystery aesthetic, those like a lot of the gifts. I mean, if you look at, for example,

Speaker: In the puzzle section, there's a murder mystery jigsaw puzzle, and they are formatted there. The puzzles come in a book form, and you actually solve a murder mystery while you put the puzzle together. But the books look so good, like you would want those on your shelf before or after you even do the puzzle.

Speaker: And so I think that's a testament to how people care for mystery enough to make it like a whole moody kind of look. I just think, you know, it's easy to have really nice gifts when they look like this. So you mentioned earlier that you had an Instagram poll to decide on one of the categories. Were you surprised by the category that was selected?

Speaker: Absolutely. I put a poll out there because maybe it was because I was starting to put this together on Halloween, but I had the idea of putting like a witchy section together, something like paranormal because a paranormal mystery is kind of a big deal in our genre. So I asked on Instagram

Speaker: But then I had a couple other ideas. And like I said, I have to narrow it down to eight, accidentally nine. But I have to be a little bit selective. And I thought maybe I should pull my audience to see what people want to see. So I asked between witchy, true crime,

Speaker: and spy and those are three parts of mystery that are kind of a little bit auxiliary they're not like core elements of mystery but i thought they would make fun themes and the spy one won out like crazy like it wasn't even a competition and it shocked me because

Speaker: I know my audience is also mostly women. I can look at my insights and see I have a lot of women following me. And I don't really, I didn't expect that women would care so much about spy fiction, but I think we do. And I think maybe that's, I mean, I've seen a lot of books, like women centered spy fiction come out lately, so maybe that's part of it. But I was actually really excited when it did win because then I got to look up all of that

Speaker: all those fun little James Bond inspired items. And I thought that was really fun.

Speaker: Yeah, that is surprising, but I think a really interesting observation. Maybe they're silent spy fans because they're spy fans. I mean, maybe it's just my own problem for associating spy novels with the two James Bonds I read a long time ago when I was like, these didn't really hold up in terms of social themes, but I think there's probably people love spies.

Speaker: Thankfully, there's quite a few little spy gifts. There's a 007 shop, so I put a pair of socks in there from that, but they have a lot of other items. I almost put this replica tarot deck in the gift guide. It's like a replica from whatever Bond movie. I think it goes to New Orleans. It's like a Roger Moore one.

Speaker: I can't believe I'm not thinking of the name but it has a tarot card scene or something and it's like integral to the story so they recreated that tarot deck and they look it looks really cool but I didn't know if that was something people would be interested in and I saw then I saw the socks I was like these are really cute there's like a little parachute with a British flag on it I mean how could I how could I resist

Speaker: Well, from that category, I have my eye on the invisible pen with light. You literally can have invisible ink and then the UV light reveals the message. So I think that that needs to be in my stocking this year. I can attest to those pens being very popular with the younger set because my son and his friends all enjoy writing with those.

Speaker: I think there might be one in the detective toolkit in the kids section. I can't remember, but that, that has a lot of like of those little kids items. You know, like I, I remember growing up, I had one of those eavesdropper tools. That's really just a microphone amplifier or something that you put under a door, but those little kind of gifts are just, even as an adult, like I think that would be really fun. I think it'd be fun to write an invisible ink. So I'm on that Brooke.

Speaker: When we talked last year about your gift guide, you said you didn't really have a formal process. Did you follow a formal, a more formal process this year? Or is it really just kind of coming up with ideas and seeing what you can find? I think I got better. It was easier to find things this year, but I think I got better at it. And it wasn't because I had a formal process when I was putting it together.

Speaker: I just kind of, I found a few things kind of like last year, like I found a few things by accident and then then the categories started taking shape. And then once I got those, it was easier like to go out and look for more specific things. So maybe I am getting an accidental process in that way.

Speaker: I'll say I came across a lot of things by accident. And one of the ways I did that was I was just scrolling on Instagram and Instagram kept showing me ads for like these smaller shops.

Speaker: I found a lot of things through Instagram ads and I don't know if it's because Instagram knows me by now but I was getting some really cute shops and I was able to find things that kind of fit these categories even if they weren't like mystery book specific but I was surprised by that. It was nice to have things kind of come to me in that way.

Speaker: I think that's something that readers are going to find this year too. And it's access to those smaller shops because as I was looking through the list, I found some websites that I had never heard of before, but they obviously have really cute items, even if it's not going to be the bookish themed thing, but places to go for some more unique off the wall gift. So that will be a good resource year round.

Speaker: I hope one of the ways people use this guide is not only for finding gifts and maybe finding inspiration for gifts, but finding some stories that you weren't, that you didn't know of before. Um, and, uh, I, I really tried not to do too many like Amazon gifts, but sometimes it's easy to find things on Amazon. And sometimes you want that with the, with the free quick shipping. But yeah, my goal a lot of the times is just to find little smaller shops.

Speaker: So I apologize, Ben, and if you already mentioned this, um, do you have a favorite on the list? Oh my gosh. I have not mentioned this. I have to think. Well, I meant, well, I did mention that Agatha Christie pajamas. Uh, another thing that I really like is on the dazzling detectives. It's the book lover scarf.

Speaker: It's a silk scarf and it has this really colorful print of a woman reading a book and then she's surrounded by all these classic books. Not really mystery specific again, but it's really cute. It's so cute and it's silk and I'm a sucker for both cute and silk things. So I love that one.

Speaker: So, Manon, I noticed that you included one of the mail order mystery subscriptions on the list, and these are some things that I've been seeing on Instagram. So, tell us what you found out about this one that made the list.

Speaker: Well, I have two this year. I have one for kids and one for, I guess, adults. I'm honestly not sure if there's an age limit on the other one, but the kids one is mailordermystery .com and I picked one that's called The Case of the Missing Bigfoot, but they also have themes like pirates and I think there's a fantasy theme as well.

Speaker: And these are, I'm not sure how it works for the kids one, but I think parents might order all of them and then give letters out to their kids periodically. Or maybe they mail them out on their own, but you just solve a mystery letter by letter. And it's like, if you want to be the detective and if you want to be put in that position, like these mail order mysteries look great for that. The other one I have on here is called Dear Holmes.

Speaker: which I've actually seen Instagram ads for too. And those are letters that you get and you can choose what like the package that you want for that. But I thought these were absolutely incredible ideas and something that you could really only do with mystery, I imagine. And so if you have somebody who maybe doesn't want a physical object or is like, oh, no, you don't need to get me anything, like one of those people,

Speaker: You can give them something that is really participatory and really like unique and won't take up clutter in their house or anything like that and they get to solve a mystery while they do it. So I really love those two items.

Speaker: I think they look so fun and you know, almost something you could do for a couple, you know, like, um, cause it could be like a, an interactive date night kind of idea to do if you want to like have some friends that really love mystery. And I was surprised that it wasn't super expensive. You know, the price point isn't huge. And that is also another point of the list in general, you have a lot of different price points. So I think there's something that you can find for everyone.

Speaker: That was another one of my goals. I think I have, I think the most expensive item is that Kate Spade martini purse. That's like four or five hundred dollars, but then I have a lot of mix of everything else and that's exactly how I want to shop as well, just to make sure that I have somebody for everybody on my list and for every price point. That's a thank you for calling that out. That was a goal of mine.

Speaker: Well, thank you, Mennan, for joining us today and talking about your holiday gift list. I actually think it's a year round gift list because if there's someone in your life that's celebrating something, you can turn to this list and I'm sure find something that will appeal to them. Or the other two years, because I'm sure a lot of those items are still available. So I'm going to link those in the blog post, but yeah, definitely check out previous years for other inspiration.

Speaker: Yeah, that's great. And you know, man, and as our most frequent guest on Clued in Mystery, I'm sure this will not be the last time that you join us, but thank you for joining us today. Thank you so much, Brooke and Sarah. I love being here and talking about mystery and I love your podcast. I have to say it's my favorite. Oh, thank you. And thank you all listeners for joining us today on Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery.

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 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.