Mostly Murder (But Sometimes Not)

New episode out now! We spent some time with the Belcher family and watched 2022’s The Bob’s Burgers Movie . We cover the dynamics of the Belchers and how Bob and Linda’s relationship with each other and their children is so great, love the town they live in and how it is full of a community of weirdos who support each other, think that the children feel like real kids and they also make great det...

New episode out now! We watched the first episode of the ‘90s British mystery series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates , titled “The Bearded Lady”. We discuss the character of Hetty and how she feels a little bit different than other characters who fit the “older lady who solves mysteries” description, and have differing opinions on whether or not we even like her. We try to figure out what actually h...

New episode out now! We have a slightly different encounter with the figure of Agatha Christie in the Doctor Who episode “The Unicorn and the Wasp”. We talk about the Doctor and his relationship with Donna, truly enjoy the actor’s chemistry throughout the show, and uncover how much this episode utilized tropes that came directly from both Christie’s books and the adaptations of her stories. We dis...

New episode out now! We revisit the world of Alfred Hitchcock with 1954’s Dial M For Murder . We talk about the visual style of the film and how it was influenced by the decision to shoot with a new 3-D camera rig, are impressed by the use of shadows and score to increase the suspense, enjoyed watching Tony evolve his plan when things went wrong, and discuss the first appearance of both the stereo...

Extra special episode out now! For this year’s holiday treat, Quizmaster Mack designed a whole game show for us to play - again! We play four different games, each one tied to our podcast in some way. We play Aside From That again to confront how often we veer off topic, make guesses about sequels to things we covered, see if we can tell what show a piece of generic background music came from, and...

New episode out now! We watched the pilot episode of the British mystery show The Last Detective , starring Peter Davison as DC “Dangerous” Davies. We talk about the main character and how his whole vibe seemed to be just “normal” and “nice”, and how he utilizes that vibe to get people to really talk to him. We have a discussion about the evolution of British vs American humor and debate whether t...

New episode out now! We revisit the world of Thomas Harris with the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs . We get into the dynamics of Clarice and Hannibal and how their relationship is portrayed, commending both actors for their work, but wish we saw more of Clarice’s internal journey. We admire the cinematography and sets, with the camera’s POV of Clarice being both compelling and unnerving, and t...

New episode out now! We watched the mystery-adjacent coming-of-age film Now and Then (1995). We discuss the more nuanced depiction of girlhood and the evolution of female friendships, talk about growing up in the 1970s and how the world has changed, lament how the film was not as popular with critics like similar films with boys, and discuss how it touches on the difficulties of confronting your y...

New episode out now, and it’s our 100th episode! We celebrate by finally playing a board game together, the 1975 game 221B Baker Street: The Master Detective Game. With a board similar to Clue, we read a mystery card at the start (in this instance, “The Adventure of the Unholy Man”) and then roll the die to travel throughout London’s different locations and pick up clues. We did encounter some exp...

New episode out now! We delve into the strange dreamscape of David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet . We discuss how the movie was conceived mostly through thoughts and feelings, and while it feels like a somewhat creepy nostalgia-tinted stream of consciousness, it has a fairly straightforward mystery plot after it all plays out. We reaffirm that Lynch is “still weird” and has his subversive way of e...

New episode out now! We cover the season two episode of Elementary “Dead Clade Walking”, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as a modern-day Holmes and Watson living in New York City. We talk about this version of the duo compared to the books, and how the characters and their dynamic were adapted to become a CBS procedural. We appreciate the show’s treatment of addiction and how it affects the...

New episode out now! It’s an epic one - we all played the entirety of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut , a 2021 update of the popular 2019 game where you play an amnesiac detective coming off a three-day bender trying to solve a murder in war-ravaged Revachol. We cover the gameplay and how you essentially had to embrace failure, and how the choices you make in the dialogue weave a tapestry of interact...

Zoinks! There's a new episode out now! We revisit Mystery Inc. with the 2002 live-action film, Scooby-Doo . We learn about the original script and story and how much it differed from the final product, wonder if Scooby wasn't depicted well or just had bad CGI, love the real sets and production design, and again discuss the queer subtext of the gang. We get into the extreme 2000s of it all,...

New episode out now! We delve into the world of Monk with the season 4 episode “Mr. Monk and the Astronaut”. We discuss the character of Adrian Monk, propose the idea that the show exists in a slightly different reality, debate how it balances representation vs accuracy vs commercialism, and believe the long-term success hinged on the incredible talents of Tony Shalhoub (and an excellent theme son...

New episode out now! We cover the first episode of Prime Suspect 1973 (or Prime Suspect: Tennison if you’re American), a 2017 prequel series about the early days of Jane Tennison’s law enforcement career. We enjoyed the more nuanced take it had regarding many things, including how the detectives treated drug users, how they presented the autopsy scene, and the time the show spent on the grief of t...

New episode out now! We watched the pilot episode of the 1980’s dramedy Moonlighting , starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis. We enjoy the chemistry and visual comedy work of the two leads and think they were both excellent, discuss the prevalence of the banter and how it dominates the dialogue of the show, learn a little bit about the production struggles, and call out the many recognizable g...

New episode out now! We discuss the first episode of the Australian show Mystery Road , titled “Gone”. We talk about the familiar concept of “big city detective in small town” and how this show handled it, compare the town vibes and the inhabitants to others we are familiar with, and really enjoy how the cinematography highlights the vast otherness of the landscape. We admire the detective skills...

New episode out now! We are finally covering the original literary Sherlock Holmes, after reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book "The Valley of Fear". We discuss the textual characters of Holmes and Watson, and realize they are both very dramatic characters in their own ways. We analyze the way Sherlock investigates and how he shows his work, debate his ethical judgment and how his need t...

New episode out now! We watched the first episode of Inspector Morse , a staple of British detective television and inspiration for two further series. We dig into the character of Morse and how he is presented in the show, discussing how his interests and flaws are weaved into the narrative and also how he goes about solving cases with “unorthodox” methods. We like Lewis and appreciate his agency...

New episode out now! We watched the 1980 mystery comedy The Private Eyes , starring Tim Conway and Don Knotts. We debate what the movie was aiming for between mystery and satire, wonder who the audience was intended to be, have issues figuring out if things were jokes or clues, and perhaps read too much into the actual plot. We learn the script was written in two days, and then subsequently wonder...

New episode out now! We watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang , the 2005 black comedy from Shane Black, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. We talk about the modernization of 1940’s noir tropes and how the film both parodies and utilizes them, pick apart the astounding 2000s of it all via the weird misogyny and homophobia, touch on the theme of abuse fathers running throughout, and compare both main...

Extra special episode out now! For our holiday episode this year, the wonderful Mackenzie designed and ran a one session role playing mystery game - set in the North Pole! The premise imagines the world of the Rankin/Bass stop-motion 1970s Christmas specials if it persisted to this day. Santa has called upon three of the best detectives in the Tinkerton Detective Agency to help solve the disappear...

New episode out now! We watched the pilot of The Pinkertons , a Canadian period procedural about the beginnings of the Pinkerton Agency in post-Civil War Missouri. We discuss the representation of both Allan Pinkerton and his son Will, as well as one of the earliest female detectives Kate Warne, and wonder how involved the actual Pinkerton agency was in their depiction. We decide it follows basic...

New episode out now! We watched the first episode of Top of the Lake , a dark show about traumatic events in rural New Zealand. We discuss the bleakness that pervades the episode both in the subject matter and the cinematography, as well the difficulties we face in covering only the beginning of a story. We debate the need for modern-day detectives to have traumatic pasts in order to do their jobs...

We’re back with a new episode! We dove into Death on the Nile , the 2022 Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel, and wow do we have thoughts. We get right into it, covering the character of Poirot and how we rank Branagh’s version compared to the previous two we explored on the podcast. We talk about the fundamental elements of the detective, and consider why we felt this movie mi...