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Winter 2023 TBR recap
179 Plays1 year ago
After a short break, Brook and Sarah return with the first episode of Season 6: a recap of their reading over the winter 2023 break.
Discussed
In Cold Blood (1966) Truman Capote
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) Harper Lee
The Twyford Code (2022) Janice Hallett
The Appeal (2021) Janice Hallett
Brook’s list
The Last Devil to Die (2023) Richard Osman
Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (2019) Casey Cep
The Christmas Appeal (2023) Janice Hallett
Mother Daughter Murder Night (2023) Nina Simon (Sarah’s recommendation for Brook)
Sarah’s list
Opium and Absinthe: A Novel (2020) Lydia Kang
Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie
The Christmas Card Crime (2018) Martin Edwards (Ed.)
Long Time Coming (2010) Robert Goddard (Brook’s recommendation for Sarah)
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Transcript
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Transcript
Celebrating Season Six and Future Plans
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke, and we both love mystery. Hi Brooke. Hi Sarah, we're back for season six. I know, I cannot believe it. We've been doing this for almost two years.
00:00:31
Speaker
I know it's really exciting and, um, to be honest, everyone, I couldn't believe we were on six. So, uh, we're looking forward to 2024 and a lot of fun things, even just in the first part of the year. So make sure you follow us on all the places and so you can stay clued in.
Winter 2023 TBR List and Book Challenges
00:00:48
Speaker
So today we are recapping our winter 2023 TBR lists. So before the holiday break, we each shared what we were planning to read. And Brooke, why don't I start? I'll talk about a book that actually that was on my list, but I didn't finish.
00:01:08
Speaker
And that is Opium in Absinthe by Lydia Kang. So this is a historical mystery and it is set just at the turn of the 20th century, so 1899 in New York. And for whatever reason, I just could not get into this. I think maybe there's a couple of, actually, I think there's a couple of reasons I didn't get into it.
00:01:31
Speaker
One, the main character, and it's in the title, it's in the description, but she becomes addicted to drugs. And I have never enjoyed watching or reading anything that is kind of around drugs, although I did actually just finish a book in November that was about drug use and managed to get through that. This one, I think is, I just couldn't get into it.
00:01:59
Speaker
And the other reason is that I was also reading another historical fiction set about a decade earlier, and I think I just kept getting the two books mixed up in my head. And maybe a third reason is that I was reading this as an e-book, which I for whatever reason have really been struggling with reading e-books lately, really turning to hard copy books or audio books.
00:02:26
Speaker
But I do intend to finish it because I've gotten far enough along that I feel like I'm invested in the mystery and invested enough that I do want to finish it. But yeah, it was just not something I was able to get through over the holidays.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yeah, and we did that whole episode about the fact that sometimes a book just doesn't hit for you for whatever reason. I loved that conversation because I find that about myself and sometimes I feel bad because it's a book that someone else has said they really like or whatever reason. I enjoyed having that conversation with you and then learning this about you because sometimes that just happens.
Character Development in 'The Last Devil to Die'
00:03:03
Speaker
So the first one I will cover is the Richard Osman book, The Last Devil to Die, which is number four in his series. And I did listen to this one. I didn't realize that it was like a Christmas setting, so it ended up being really perfect. It's happening around the holidays for the Thursday Murder Club. I really enjoyed it. I love this series. I really feel like this has kind of become one of my favorite series.
00:03:32
Speaker
I feel like Joyce really comes into her own in this one. I will say that there was a portion of the book because of some of the personal things that are going on in their lives that I feel like the mystery got lost a little bit and I didn't feel like there was as much sleuthing and detecting going on. But by this time I'm really loving these characters so I kind of gave them a buy on that.
00:04:00
Speaker
At the end of the audio book, there was an interview with Richard Osman that was really great. I loved that he said that you need to think about if you see a group of elderly people hanging out together, you have to think about how much wisdom and knowledge and how many experiences that group has had and not to count them out. I thought that was really sweet.
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, I listened to the book. I actually listened to it twice, back to back, which I did with his first book as well, because I enjoyed both of them so much. But I'm with you. I felt like there was so much about the characters that the mystery was a little bit kind of second in this story. So I do hope that if there's another one that they return to more sleuthing,
00:04:53
Speaker
I think the character development is important, but it really overshadowed the mystery, I think. But I have to say that the character development was handled beautifully.
00:05:08
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. You can tell everyone that we're not wanting to give anything away for any of you who haven't read this, but, um, it was extremely touching and I think, um, kind of illuminating, you know, for someone who's in the middle part of my life and looking at that generation, it was very, it was just very touching and I think, uh, meaningful to me.
Highlights from 'The Christmas Card Crime'
00:05:32
Speaker
So the next one that was on my list was the Christmas Card Crime, which is a collection of short stories put together by Martin Edwards.
00:05:43
Speaker
And these, as the title suggests, were all Christmas themed or winter themed. And I thought I really enjoyed these. There were some that I enjoyed more than others, but they varied in length. So some were much shorter and some were a little longer.
00:06:03
Speaker
Uh, I think my favorite was the, the story that was titled the Christmas card crime. Um, but yeah, I would, you know, if, if anybody's looking for something that is, uh, sat around the holidays, uh, then I would, I would recommend this. I think everything was written in, I think maybe the latest was something that was published in 1960s. Um, so, you know,
00:06:30
Speaker
50 or more years ago for most of these stories. So definitely set in their times, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Exploring 'The Christmas Appeal's' Unique Format
00:06:41
Speaker
So sticking with that Christmas theme, the next one I'll talk about is The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett. And I did read this as an ebook for a very particular reason. I needed to either have a paperback or an ebook because this is an epistolary novel, which is something I love. But it's a very contemporary version because it is set in contemporary times. So they are a series of emails
00:07:10
Speaker
and some text messages. And I think some actual letters are passed back and forth, but it's a very unique telling of mystery, which I really, really loved. And I had heard some comments that if you hadn't read the appeal that there would be some spoilers or you might not be able to follow the story, but I didn't find that at all. I thought it was great. And so even without reading that first one,
00:07:36
Speaker
And this definitely won't be my last. I intend to go back and start this series. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it, Brooke, because I really enjoyed The Appeal and The Twyford Code is the other book that Janice Hallett has written. And so The Twyford Code doesn't have that same group of characters. It's a totally different book, but both were really good. And so I haven't read The Christmas Appeal. I listened.
00:08:05
Speaker
to both the appeal and the Twyford Code. And when I first started listening to the appeal, I had to restart it because I was like, I don't understand what's going on. And I think I really would have benefited from actually having some written words in front of me. Once I figured out what was going on, it was, you know, it was easy enough to follow.
00:08:28
Speaker
I think we should talk about kind of books that are in this different kind of format. I think that would be a great episode for us to do.
00:08:36
Speaker
Yes, I would love to. And I will say that even though I had the ebook, there was a little bit of warming up to how this was going to go and how you could get into the story. But it's extremely humorous, and the characters are just really funny. And seeing someone's thoughts that way and the way that you write a text message back and forth to your husband, for instance, or an email to your best friend, it was really great.
Agatha Christie's Societal Insights in 'Murder at the Vicarage'
00:09:07
Speaker
So the next on my list is Murder at the Vicarage, which I know was also on your list, Brooke. So it'll be interesting to hear your take on it. I think this is the first of the Miss Marple stories that Agatha Christie published. And so it was published in 1930. I felt like she was really hard on women in this book. I don't know if you had that take.
00:09:34
Speaker
Like the mystery was good. I enjoyed that. But there were several moments where I was like, oh, this is definitely almost 100 years ago that this was written because, yeah, she just there were some unkind sentiments I felt for women. I don't know if you picked up on that, Brooke. I don't think that I necessarily picked up on that, but I really felt like she was trying to
00:10:03
Speaker
uh, find her way into who Ms. Marple was because in my opinion, Ms. Marple wasn't the sleuth at all. I felt like the vicar was the sleuth of this story. I agree. Yeah. They kept, they kept talking about how Ms. Marple was, um, so great at kind of solving these, these mysteries, but we didn't actually see that in the book.
00:10:28
Speaker
It's interesting to think about where she went and then that this was the starting point and that even Agatha Christie had to kind of feel out her characters and feel out what she wanted a series to be. Back to your original point, Sarah, I don't think that I picked up on it as I was reading it. It didn't stick in my cross, so to speak.
00:10:56
Speaker
But now that you mention it, I can see exactly what you're saying. And we see that sometimes with Christie's or any of the Golden Age authors where we get a little ick sometimes. It's some of their references or attitudes. And yeah, I can see what you mean.
00:11:15
Speaker
Now, that doesn't mean that I won't read anymore, um, by Agatha Christie. And I definitely want to read some more Ms. Marple. This was the first, uh, Ms. Marple novel that I've read by Agatha Christie. And you know, I, I definitely will, will read some more. Um, but yeah, I just, it was, uh, something I noted for sure. Uh-huh. Uh, one thing that I noticed a difference from early Ms. Marple and then kind of my,
00:11:46
Speaker
thoughts of her long-term was like she was portrayed as sort of an unlikable busy body in this book. Like the townspeople just really didn't like her.
00:11:58
Speaker
was a thorn in their side. And over the years, I feel like she became more likable and more kind of an accepted part of the group. Maybe she did this because she already had Poirot to contend with, who was a little bit hard to get along with. And she didn't need two main sleuths that both had that personality thing.
00:12:23
Speaker
Oh, that's a, that's a great theory, Brooke. I really, I, I think there's probably some merit to it. She got tired of Poirot. Maybe she needed like a little friend in Ms. Marple. Yeah. Yeah.
Harper Lee's Post-Fame Challenges in 'Furious Hours'
00:12:34
Speaker
So the nonfiction book that I read over break was Furious Hours, Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee. And so we have right there in the title Harper Lee, the description discusses how this is going to tell us the story of when Harper Lee basically
00:12:54
Speaker
wanted to do her own in cold blood. She helped Truman Capote research and write his breakout, kind of the first true crime novel. And so the setup is that she was going to do the same thing with this other case 17 years later.
00:13:12
Speaker
But we don't even read the name Harper Lee until over halfway into the book. So I was quite disappointed, although it was fascinating. The crime that she does eventually go and research is fascinating. It's heartbreaking.
00:13:36
Speaker
Absolutely amazing that it took place in the 1970s. It really makes you think maybe less of the justice system.
00:13:44
Speaker
But I'm wanting to hear how Harper Lee was involved in this. And so I feel like the book could have been told in a little different structure in order to bring her in sooner. But eventually, we get there. And she does go and sit in on this trial and really attempts to write this book. But she never finishes it. She writes the book for almost a decade off and on.
00:14:14
Speaker
It's just really heartbreaking to see that she was unable to get past the pressure of the fame and the expectations that came after she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. She just couldn't do it. The book explains that
00:14:35
Speaker
Maybe about 15 years before her death, she quit drinking and quit writing and actually was kind of the happiest that she was in her whole life. I just found it to be just really sad that she had so much pressure after that huge success. She just wasn't really ever able to find that confidence to write another book.
00:14:59
Speaker
That is really sad, something to kind of reflect on in terms of that pressure that is put on really successful authors. Exactly. Yeah, I think that it's hard to know what those people who, their names are in light, so to speak, what they go through in order to continue producing, but just to even live their life.
Dual Timelines in 'Long Time Coming'
00:15:29
Speaker
So the last book that I had on my TBR list, Brooke, was the one that you recommended for me. And so that was Robert Goddard's book, Long Time Coming. And so this was published in 2010, but it was set dual timeline in the 1970s and in the 1940s.
00:15:50
Speaker
And both of those times are not I haven't read a lot from both of those times. So that was that was really interesting. And I really liked the story. It was it was a great recommendation. So thank you, Brooke. I really enjoyed it. And I will definitely read another book, at least one other book by Goddard, because I found it quite quite a compelling story.
00:16:17
Speaker
That's great. I'm glad you enjoyed it,
Anticipating a Series from 'Mother, Daughter, Murder Night'
00:16:19
Speaker
Sarah. The last book I have to talk about is also the book that Sarah recommended to me, which was Mother, Daughter, Murder Night. I listened to this as an audio book and I also really enjoyed it. I love
00:16:35
Speaker
multi-generational women's stories. Sarah knows this. And so it was great for me. It was also a book that was set very much in the outdoors, which I realized as I was listening to it, I don't do a lot of the, of the outdoorsy kind of mysteries. So that was a nice change. And I really enjoyed seeing the relationships grow with these women as the,
00:17:00
Speaker
as they solved the mystery together. So that was really a really nice point to it. I have to say their last name was Rubicon. And I thought, what a wonderful name to give to people who are going to be solving a crime. I thought that was just, you know, it wasn't lost on me.
00:17:20
Speaker
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Brooke. This was the first book by Nina Simon, and I hope that it is the first of a series. I don't know. I haven't looked into whether there's another one coming, but I think there was a setup there that there could be future books in that series with those three women working together. I would agree. I think that that would be a great series.
Reflecting on the Year and Inviting Community Engagement
00:17:48
Speaker
Well, it sounds like we had some good reading, Brooke. Um, I hope you also found some time to rest over the holidays. I did. We had a wonderful holiday season and, uh, yeah, this was a great group of books and we also had some great mystery shows that we watched and it was, it was just a really fun time. How about you, Sarah? We had a great holiday season as well. And, uh, I'm really looking forward to 2024.
00:18:17
Speaker
as am I. Thank you everyone for joining us today on Clued In Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery.
00:18:28
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.