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[Re-release] Workplace Mysteries
1 Playsin 12 hours
This episode was originally released October 24, 2023.
What happens when a day at the office goes wrong? In today's episode, Brook and Sarah discuss workplace mysteries and thrillers.
Mentioned
"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather" (1845) Edgar Allan Poe
Murder Must Advertise (1933) Dorothy L. Sayers
Murder Must Advertise (1979) BBC Radio Adaptation by Alistair Beaton
Cat Among the Pigeons (1959) Agatha Christie
The Firm (1991) John Grisham
The Showrunner (2018) Kim Moritsugu
The Maid (2022) Nita Prose
The Machinist (2004)
The Circle (2014) Dave Eggars
The Every (2021) Dave Eggars
The Coworker (2023) Freida McFadden
The Net (1995)
One by One (2020) Ruth Ware
Dublin Murder Squad series (2007-2016) Tana French
The Other Black Girl (2021) Zakia Delila Harris
The Other Black Girl (2023) Apple TV
Red Collar Podcast (2020-2021) Catherine Townsend
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Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.com
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Order Life or Delft by Brook and Sarah
For a full episode transcript, visit https://cluedinmystery.com/re-release-workplace-mysteries/
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Transcript
Introduction and Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, it's Sarah. Brooke and I are taking a short break from recording new episodes to catch up on our reading lists and plan for the next season of Clued in Mystery. While we're off, we are re-releasing a few of our favorite episodes.
00:00:12
Speaker
We hope you enjoy.
00:00:20
Speaker
to Clued Mystery.
Why Workplace Thrillers?
00:00:24
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke. And we both love mystery. Hi, Brooke. Hi, Sarah. I'm really ready for today's topic.
00:00:36
Speaker
Well, that's good to hear. Today, we are going to be talking about workplace thrillers, which, you know, sometimes people are not that excited to get up and go to work.
00:00:47
Speaker
I will start us off with just a really brief introduction. Work is a near universal, unavoidable experience. And even if you've only spent a short time working, you've probably spent at least a moment or two being frustrated, whether it's by a client, a colleague stealing your lunch from the office kitchen, or what feels like a pointless task.
Toxic Work Environments in Fiction
00:01:09
Speaker
Luckily, there are workplace thrillers that we can turn to rather than acting on any of those frustrations. And the workplaces that authors invite us into are often so toxic, if not outright deadly, that our workplace frustration seems pretty minor in comparison.
00:01:24
Speaker
Today, we will talk about mysteries where the workplace plays a starring role. Although it's not generally billed as a workplace thriller, Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The System of Dr. Tar and Professor Feather, describes a terrifying work environment that has serious consequences for the employees.
00:01:41
Speaker
A few early mysteries featuring murders at a workplace are Dorothy L. Sayers' Murder Must Advertise, which was published in 1933, and Agatha Christie's Cat Among the Pigeons, which was published in 1959.
00:01:54
Speaker
There may be some other examples, but even looking at other works by Christie and Sayers, most of their books are in more social rather than in professional settings.
Finding Workplace Thrillers: Audience Interest?
00:02:03
Speaker
The first workplace thriller that I read is The Firm, which was written by John Grisham and published in 1991. In it, the main character starts working at a law firm that hides some very dark secrets.
00:02:16
Speaker
Since then, I've read a few others, but to be honest, I struggled to find many examples of workplace thrillers and mysteries for today's episode, other than the handful of books that I've read. I'm sure there's others out there, but there didn't seem to be as many as some of the other subgenres that we've discussed. And maybe, Brooke, that's where we can start.
00:02:34
Speaker
Do you think that despite the fact that nearly everyone works in some capacity at some point in their lives, audiences don't really want to read about work? Yeah, that could be the case. Thanks for the summary, Sarah. That was great. um and And like you say, a lot of times we have the Sunday blues because we don't want to get up and go to work. So maybe that is part of why, because I agree, there aren't as many examples. um The ones that we have are often very, very good and draw on ah the like same psychology, I think, as domestic thrillers.
00:03:09
Speaker
For exactly the reasons you say, we've all been there. But I see what you're saying, that there haven't been as many written. And I mean, i I agree with you, Brooke. I would kind of categorize them along with domestic thrillers. But rather than a blood family, it's your work family. And there can be some weird dynamics because like family, you're spending time with people who you might not ordinarily choose to associate with.
00:03:34
Speaker
ah But unlike family, you have to spend time with them if you want to get paid. So there's some obvious tension that can be built into a workplace thriller. And and I would agree with you, the ones that I've read, I've thought were very, very good. um But I was surprised that there just didn't seem to be
Dynamics of Workplace Thrillers
00:03:53
Speaker
a whole bunch of others out there.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, it feels like it's a goldmine of opportunity because ah you do have that closeness just like a family. ah but As they say, we spend more time with the people that we work with than our actual biological families. And so you're going to have those layers of secrets. You're going to have the conflicts that you have anytime you put a group of people together.
00:04:20
Speaker
And um I loved in your summary that you're like, no matter how much you love your job, you felt some level of frustration at work. We all have. And um I think we've all experienced some kind of frustration.
00:04:36
Speaker
you know, strife or even, you know, trauma at some point. I mean, hopefully not to the level of harassment or racism like we see in these workplace thrillers, but, you know, certainly you've gotten frustrated at some sort of favoritism that happens in your workplace or the grouchy boss, or there's that coworker that no matter how hard you try, the two of you just are like oil and water and you don't like them and they probably don't like you. and um we've We've all had those situations. And so I think that it makes the this subcategory so accessible in the same way that domestic thrillers are. Because I can't imagine what it's like being a fighter pilot, but I definitely know what it's like to be an office worker.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's ah that's a ah ah great point. And there's, um i will say, they kind of the workplace thrillers that I've read cover a whole variety of
Diversity in Settings
00:05:37
Speaker
workplaces. Like, they're not just all... um offices ah or different types of work environments. So I read a book called The Showrunner by Kim Moritsugu, which is ah a bit of a slow burn, but it's two colleagues who have started a business together but end up despising each other and going to great lengths to end their working relationship. And, you know, it it towards the end, it's kind of like, whoa well, that's, you know, one way to do it.
00:06:12
Speaker
But, um you know, the the firm is in ah a ah law environment. um And there's, you know, there others. Dorothy L. Sayers' book is in an advertising agency. that um The Christie book that I mentioned, Cat Among the Pigeons, is at a prestigious girls' school. So, you know, there's a whole variety of of others. I think ah a couple of years ago, – book I don't know if I would, I would say it was definitely a workplace mystery um called The Maid, where, you know, it takes place in a you a high-end hotel. um
00:06:49
Speaker
And, ah you know, you kind of get a sense of what someone who's working as a um a cleaner in one of those hotels, what her kind of daily tasks are. And then she gets caught up in this um and this investigation when ah when a guest dies there.
00:07:08
Speaker
I like that too. i like the different glimpses that you get into different industries or different kinds of organizations. um You see maybe the side of it that you didn't know existed, some of the politics that are within that ah type of work. um And there can also be blue collar examples. You know, a film that came to my mind this week was The Machinist, which is um like a 2004 film starring Christian Bale And um but this the second time I've mentioned a Christian Bale movie in about three episodes. So I'm revealing a favorite. um But, you know, this thriller, psychological workplace thriller is ah set in, obviously, he's a machinist, so more of a factory, very gritty blue collar scenario. um But we have the same experience. you know, conflicts with the coworkers, this big question of what's going on. um This story in particular, if you haven't seen it, is actually told in reverse, you figure out later on and and the clues drop in very, um very mysteriously. But ah it's a great example of a workplace thriller that we get um from, you know, that blue collar end of things.
Dorothy L. Sayers' Influence
00:08:21
Speaker
That's great. I actually haven't. um I don't think I've seen that. I don't think I'm as big of a Christian Bale fan as you are.
00:08:32
Speaker
You also mentioned um the Dorothy L. Sayers Murder Must Advertise, which is one of my reads from this week, um or rather I should say listens. I listened to a radio adaptation that was done in the late 70s, and it was simply delightful. It was so great. As you say, Dorothy L. Sayers sets this in Pym's publicity, and I'm I love the fact that Dorothy L. Sayers was also an advertising copywriter. So she has a very ah knowledgeable place to write the story from, and she can make it just a lot of fun. Her mysteries are infused with a lot of humor, whether it's humor in the scenarios or the actual characters are kind of cards and say funny things. So I just always really enjoy her mysteries. This one was the same way. And it was sort of poking fun at the idea of a mystery happening in a office setting. You know, at one point there's a corpse on the conference table and, you know, you just had to kind of get a chuckle from that.
00:09:37
Speaker
But it was a great early example of a workplace thriller. And um I thought it was really well done. Yeah, I've read that as well. And i actually read something about that. It's one of her least favorite books that she wrote.
00:09:55
Speaker
I ah saw an interview from her around that time and that she was kind of frustrated during the writing of it because it wasn't what she wanted to be working on at the time or something along those lines. So yeah, I found that interesting as well because I i really enjoyed it and I enjoyed the little way she infused, you know, there's even some jingles in it that were apparently spinoffs of jingles that she had written for advertising campaigns. Yeah.
Social Media in Thrillers
00:10:20
Speaker
Another kind of office based thriller that I read, and this was a while ago, is The Circle by Dave Eggers. And so this is a social media company and the main character becomes very sucked into kind of the corporate culture of this organization. And it it's pretty dark. um What I didn't realize is there was actually a sequel that was published 2021 titled The Every. So I think I might check that out and kind of see. I might have to go back and read The Circle because I read it. um
00:10:56
Speaker
probably nine or 10 years ago. I think it came out in 2013. um So I might have to reread that and then read the every and see what's changed. I think, you know, certainly a lot has changed in terms of how we use social media in the last decade. But um and so that may be something that that comes through in this in the sequel.
00:11:20
Speaker
Yeah, how interesting. The world has changed dramatically in that category, well overall, but in that that category, especially in 10 years. So ah kind of a challenge to take on a new ah or a sequel, I should say, um in that ah social media topic. Another book that I read to prepare for today was The Coworker. This is the brand new Frieda McFadden book. It came out in August 2023.
Understanding Co-workers
00:11:49
Speaker
And although I don't know that it was my one of my favorite reads from lately, I love the tagline because I think that it encapsulates this subgenre so well. The tagline is, you see her every day, but do you really know her? And you know that's the crux of it, right?
00:12:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I was just kind of reflecting on my own work experience and, and how, and maybe this is just because, um yeah, we're no longer going into the office. We're almost exclusively working from home. Um, but I do feel like there's some, ah I'm missing out on that knowing my colleagues in a different way because, you know, we have meetings and we talk and we we talk every day, but we don't get a lot of that, um you know, little snippets of of people's lives that you might get if you bump into them in the, when you're getting a coffee from the lunchroom or whatever.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah, the human, the human part of work. Because it does fulfill a big part of our lives. I mean, as I said at the beginning, we spend generally more time with those people than our own, you know, family.
00:13:03
Speaker
And I know for myself, my coworkers fulfilled a lot of my social Yeah.
00:13:11
Speaker
my husband and i were both very busy in our jobs and ah that was a ah really big part of my life many of my friends came from that circle so i imagine these days with so many people working remotely that has really changed ah the landscape of the workplace, but you're less likely to get involved in a murder mystery if you're only visiting on screen.
00:13:33
Speaker
Exactly. um But so this just reminds me, Brooke, of a movie by Sandra Bullock, I think from the 1990s. And I had to look it up called The Net. And this is where she's a remote worker well before This was a common thing. um But she gets wrapped up into something involving her co workers.
00:14:00
Speaker
If I remember that, that film correctly, it's been several years since I've seen it. Right, because she has information to so much data and she somehow learns. it So I guess my theory should stand corrected.
00:14:17
Speaker
in our world of being ah you know so digitally connected, you really could learn something that starts a whole workplace thriller remotely. Yeah. And it would be interesting to um ah see when now where working remotely is so prevalent, ah you know, what might that look like?
00:14:39
Speaker
Right? Right. I see a large opportunity for someone to take this topic and write a workplace thriller about a group of remote workers. And speaking of taking the workers outside of the workplace, I think that Ruth Ware does this really nicely in her novel One by One because um this is a corporate retreat. so eight co-workers are... um Their company is leveling up. They're about to go public, and so they want to kind of celebrate and mastermind together, and they're going off to this winter ski chalet, and it's supposed to be this posh vacation setting, but somebody's there that they can't trust, and it's it's a great workplace thriller, but off-site. Oh, I i like that. So i I haven't read that, but I think it um sounds like it really plays on the theme of feeling trapped if they're, you know, in ah in a remote location.
00:15:40
Speaker
um and I think as a a worker, you can often feel trapped because, you know, you've got to do this job so that you can pay the rent or pay your mortgage or, you know, eat um it may not be the job that you want to do you may not be working with people that you really want to be working with um and so that feeling of being trapped even if you're not actually trapped in a snowbound resort um yeah it sounds like she's she's playing with that theme
00:16:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great metaphor for that. And I also um remember feeling a very ah familiar feeling of, you know, how what it's like when these are your coworkers that you're used to being in your office space setting or, you know, whatever industry you're in. But then if you like had to have a barbecue at one of their houses, for instance, it just feels weird to be outside of that appropriate setting with this group of people and no one really knows how to act or interact. yeah yeah And ah ah I remember feeling that when I was reading the book, like, yeah, it's awkward because now you're you know on vacation sort of with these people. And and it was it was uncomfortable right from the start. So it's a great one.
00:16:55
Speaker
Well, and and that sounds like there's some um good opportunities to explore as well, because I've been on work trips, like where it was a whole company retreat. And yeah, it can be, particularly if you're not the most outgoing person, that can be a pretty uncomfortable experience. situation. And I'm reminded of, um i went to ah to a spa. ah And there were a bunch of colleagues that were there. Not my colleagues, but like this work group that had gone together to this spa. And I thought, like,
00:17:30
Speaker
I'm not sure that that's the environment that I want to be with my colleagues in. I thought it was a really interesting choice. But again, pretty good setup for um for a thriller for a workplace mystery.
00:17:46
Speaker
A great setup. Absolutely.
00:17:51
Speaker
And so, Brooke, do you think that there's a type of workplace that lends itself really well to this kind of book? I definitely think the leaning towards the legal, you know, what John Grisham does, for instance, works really well um because it just fits in nicely with a mystery.
00:18:10
Speaker
um And I was also reminded this week of ah the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French. And so this is putting the workplace as the police pre precinct. And um so maybe think of it a little bit like watching Law
Police Precinct Thrillers
00:18:32
Speaker
& Order. So you're really inside the workplace of the the cops and the attorneys that are investigating the case.
00:18:41
Speaker
um So more than a police procedural, I do feel like that they are more interpersonal, like that those thrillers. And something she does that is just really clever is that these are a series of standalones. There's six. I think they so came out over a span of about 10 years. But each one of them is told from a different point of view character, so a different homicide investigator or a police officer, where But of course, they all work in the same ah precinct. And so they have there's crossovers and you start to learn um you know what's going on in this person's head about that person. and as you read each one, it just like fills in the world. And it they're just they're really fascinating. um you know There's some love affairs that come and go, and then these people still have to work together. and um
00:19:29
Speaker
So I think that is another oddly great place for a workplace thriller is actually the police precinct itself. ah So that sounds like a ah great series. I haven't i haven't read it. um Tana French is another one of those authors that I know I probably should have read something by and I just i I just haven't. So I will correct that. Um, but yeah, I mean, I don't know that every police procedural would fall under that category of being a workplace thriller because sometimes it's, you know, there's just not that interact as much interaction with the, with the colleagues. So it probably depends on the story.
00:20:12
Speaker
Absolutely. And the author and the way she tells the story. Yeah. Yeah. So, Sarah, I really like, as I said earlier, these ah titles where the author actually has some background in the industry, Dorothy Sayers and the ad agency, John Grisham, Law. So jumping off from that, if you were going to write a workplace thriller, where would you set yours?
00:20:38
Speaker
Ooh. I don't know. i have been pretty fortunate in that I have not had terrible work experiences. So I'm not sure that I would, I would have to really think about how I would base it on, um on my own experiences.
00:20:55
Speaker
But there are a couple of examples of real life workplace thrillers. I was reminded of a story that I read where a colleague had been poisoning another colleague's water bottle because they were frustrated. And this, you know, this is real life, right? um So i I googled, you know, i colleague poison water bottle, and a couple of stories came up, you know, one happening in Canada, one happening in the US, and I'm sure there's others. So i i that premise of poisoning someone's water bottle, that may be something that I would use if I was um writing a workplace thriller.
00:21:37
Speaker
Fascinating. Terrifying and fascinating. No kidding. So those people need to have read some of these workplace thrillers rather than acting out their own frustrations.
00:21:51
Speaker
Awesome. Well, um if I were forced to use one of my previous work life experiences to write a workplace thriller, that means that I would be setting it either in state government, which I think is ripe for the picking, or a Dairy Queen ice cream shop.
00:22:10
Speaker
So I don't know how scary that would be, but first job to one of my later jobs, those would be the options. I'm with you. i like the, ah there's some kind of truth that comes through when an author writes about what they know. And I know we've we've talked about this in the
Publishing World Thrillers
00:22:28
Speaker
past. um There was a book called The Other Black Girl That Came Out in 2021 Zakiya Dalila Harris. And ah it's set in the publishing industry. And that was where she had worked before, or maybe as she was writing this book, she was, you know, so she was very familiar, ah familiar with it. And um there's actually a series that
00:22:51
Speaker
I think it's on, might be on Disney in Canada, Disney Plus. So maybe it's on Hulu in the US s um by the same name, other The Other Black Girl. i've been watching I've been watching some of it. I haven't finished ah the whole series. It does seem to diverge a little bit from what I remember from the book, but still really good. And yeah, some weird things happening in this in this workplace. So we try and figure it out with the character, which is always fun.
00:23:22
Speaker
Yes, that one's on my list because when you ah couple the publishing agency with a mystery, then, you know, I'm in. That sounds really good. It's definitely on my list.
Real-Life Workplace Crimes
00:23:33
Speaker
And I wanted to share with our listeners a true crime podcast if you're interested in these workplace thriller stories. um It's called Red Collar.
00:23:45
Speaker
um I'll just read the description so you can get a feel for it. When we think of white collar criminals, we picture a CEO getting caught up in the latest financial scandal. But there's a subgroup within these seemingly nonviolent offenders who are never discussed in mainstream media, the white collar criminals who kill. Catherine Townsend is the host of this, and she ah describes these cases. um i was thinking about the poison water bottle, Sarah, where these are definitely white collar criminals. You know, they're embezzling money or they're stealing another ah co-worker's clients or they're doing these things that are, yes, illegal, but nonviolent.
00:24:24
Speaker
But when pushed to the brink, and basically it's usually because they're going to be found out and their reputation or their, you know, their job is going, is on the line, they turn violent. And, um, so these are true stories, darker and grimmer than fictional workplace thrillers. So keep that in mind, but, um, fascinating stories. And I will say if you're a fiction author, there is a lot of, um,
00:24:50
Speaker
food for thought in these and um definitely will come away with the feeling of truth is stranger than fiction. Oh, that's a great recommendation, Brooke. Well, Brooke, thanks for this conversation today talking about workplace thrillers.
00:25:05
Speaker
Yes, thank you, Sarah. It was great. And we both put a couple new ideas on our to listen and to read lists. And thank you everyone for listening to Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke.
00:25:17
Speaker
And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery. 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.
00:25:35
Speaker
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