Cluedunnit

A dead chef. A crop circle. A UFO convention descending on Brokenwood. This week Jacob and Jessica are back in New Zealand for the Season 12 opener of The Brokenwood Mysteries TV show. Can we solve whodunit before Detective Mike Shepherd drops the big reveal, given that it is absolutely not aliens? Or maybe it is? Jessica does, in fact, guess aliens, but somehow her guess that doesn’t involve alie...

This episode we’re covering Death Valley, the Welsh cozy mystery on BritBox that's basically Midsomer Murders but with even more unpronounceable town names and a retired actor solving crimes for fun. This is also our first video episode! Come check us out on YouTube or patreon.com/cluedunnitpodcast!  In this episode: Retired TV detective actor John Chapel (Timothy Spall) teams up with eager-but-ju...

Jacob and Jessica are back to guess the murderer before the credits roll — this time on the new BritBox cozy crime drama “A Taste for Murder,” set on the stunning island of Capri. Between mispronounced Italian, a suspicious water pump, and debates about apps worth $20 million, will they somehow find the killer? In This Episode: Show Intro: A Taste for Murder – A British detective retreats to Capri...

Don’t let it be said that Will Trent has no style, even if it is “repressed brown green.” Instead, Jessica takes umbrage at other costume choices and reveals a secret SO SHOCKING that Jacob has to journal about it. We also try to dig in and remember our 20s, just to see if Gen Z folks are being ageist towards Gen X, or if we were that obnoxious too. (Or in Jacob’s case, how far into the 30s his ob...

Come celebrate the newest Cozy Mystery holiday with us and an episode of MATLOCK. Yes, we know that people celebrate cozy mysteries on Agatha Christie’s birthday in the fall — but c’mon! February was cold and dark and we could all use a little more cozy in it. So break out our noisemakers and fire up the confetti cannons, because we’re eating hot chicken and singing along with Whitney Houston whil...

Folks, this episode is ALL about the animals. First of all, there are adorable dogs throughout — not to mention a vet tech who’s completely willing to break dog HIPAA laws. Of course this means Jessica can’t resist talking about sheep and sheepdogs. But then there’s also the silver-fox of a suspect, who may or may not have a bouffant hairdo, a cat t-shirt to die for, and some amazing cat aikido in...

Here at Cluedunnit we’re all about guessing the perpetrators of fake crime — but maybe also real estate? In this episode we learn about the fancy parts of town, share what to avoid when going to a secret location so someone can sharpen your knives, and search the history behind one of LA’s original mansions. We also revel in a quick cold open and of course diss Scrappy-Doo. (The WORST.) But do we...

In the bleak midwinter, we question why there aren’t any songs about the end of the Christmas season, or the twelve days of salad that we need after all that eggnog and sweets. Luckily, MIDSOMER MURDERS is here for us, giving us inventive kills (Deadly cuckoo clocks! Woodglue suffocation!), amazing costumes (Wrap-around fish-bodice!), and new vocabulary (Dibbler!). But did we get it right?  We wat...

We’re back in Britain for a lovely visit with our favorite detective show inspired by a historic dysfunctional marriage, and their ridiculously tall and talented assistant … who maybe needs to work on his American accent? (Never fear, you’ll always be perfect to us, Sebastian.) This is also Jacob’s dream episode because it’s literally about two PI’s having to find a bitchin’ car — with lots of Sha...

Step away from the corpse, pop open some champagne, and get ready to celebrate 100 episodes of Cluedunnit! In this very special episode, we headed all the way to New Zealand to visit the set of THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES and interview the creator and show runner, Timothy Balme! He shares the genesis of the series — including why it was dead for years — why he doesn’t have a writer’s room, and which...

A pair of lovers mysteriously dies in ELSBETH’s Valentine’s Day episode, but it’s the lack of delegation that really concerns us. We veer dangerously close to becoming a corporate motivational influencer podcast as we give marketing advice for strippers, offer suggestions for greater efficiency in the C-suite, and debate the merits of a very special guest stars Spotify contract. Join us on Patreon...

Combine the rakish-ness of Magnum PI with Mel Gibson’s hair, fold in a supernatural knowledge of antiques, add a healthy dollop of Agatha Christie’s English-ness, shake it all up into an hour-long show, and voila! You’ve got LOVEJOY! This ‘90s mystery brings out Jacob’s true attitude towards antiques, gives Jessica hair PTSD, and has a logic cop moment about trash bags, armor, and corpses.  Join t...

In this version of Cluedunnit we tackle the world's biggest musical mystery: The 27-year-old club. You cannot tell me that all these musicians are dying just because of overdoses or alcoholism. No! There's something larger behind it, some grand and mysterious scheme that few dare openly speak of. And now a super secret team of the world's greatest (and oldest) musicians have to team up with the Ar...

Jacob loves artisanal cheese -- so why did he upset the cheesemaker at the Farmer's Market? Jessica is one of the most stylish people around -- so why does she want a sparkly crocheted toilet paper cover from a Farmer's Market? And what do Taika Waititi, Bret McKenzie, and golf have to do with the Farmer's Market? Maybe nothing! But then again, maybe everything! We also discuss protein donuts, a p...

Growing up I lived so close to my elementary school that I walked home for lunch every day. One year, for my birthday, I asked for something truly special -- to have lunch at school! And it was ... fine. The chicken nuggets were merely OK, if I remember correctly. You know what would have made my schooltime lunch epic? If Charlie Cale was my lunchlady! Luckily, POKER FACE heard the cry of my subco...

It's summertime, which means Jessica is once again trying to turn Cluedunnit into a bike racing podcast. Which is probably better than Jacob trying to remember the risque French he learned in high school. We also stumble upon the most brilliant - or just luckiest - bit of Google SEO ever related to villa rentals in the south of France. Because who hasn't always yearned for a stone farm house with...

Is it weird that INSPECTOR MORSE'S show titles sound like a goth teenager wrote them while rebelling against their parents? "You use to be such a sweet boy, Johnny. Why are you running around listening to the Cure and wearing black eyeliner?" "Death is now my neighbour, Mum." "What have you got to be so sad about?" "The sins of the fathers." "Who are your friends?" "The dead of Jericho." "Oh for g...

Let's play a game called "Would you live there?" We name a place and you tell us whether you'd live there, even with significantly higher chances of being murdered. How about Cabot Cove? Midsomer County? A smelly houseboat on the edge of Chelsea? It's the thought of the smell rather than the murders that makes the houseboat unappealing -- but CHELSEA DETECTIVE is very appealing! This slightly snar...

If Elvis, Sherlock Holmes, and Will Shortz walked into a mystery -- well, we'd definitely watch that, just like we devoured LUDWIG! We paused viewing only long enough to record this episode and have a simmering feud over what, exactly, the criteria are for a locked-room mystery. Jacob's still not convinced Join us on the Cluedunnit Patreon (patreon.com/cluedunnitpodcast) and brag about how long yo...

It's not a noir, but it's on the moor! We stay on our British, female detective stint and head up to Manchester for one of the great villains of all time. This is also halfway to a foodie episode, too. Jacob has some great ideas for restaurants looking to extend teh QR-code menu trend into a haute-cuisine direction and Jessica teaches us all about British flapjacks. Join us on the Cluedunnit Patre...

We leave our Kenneth Branagh interlude behind for some sun, sex, and silly gardening hacks you won't believe! Which we're sure is some kind of TikTok trend that we're absolutely going to ignore. Because there's plenty of affairs to keep track of in this episode, what with the old flames and cheating spouses -- and that's before we factor in some ribald literary humor. That's right, our English deg...

There's bleak, then there's Nordic Noir bleak ... And then there's Nordic Noir Bleak as personified by Kenneth Branagh -- which is technically darker than winter in Sweden. We checked! I'm not saying Wallander's ring tone is the sunniest piece of this show, but I will say it has fan pages! And after watching some episodes we're fans, too! We talk about that ringtone, shine a light on some amazing...

In this episode we are joined by mystery novelist Eloise Corvo! She regales us with stories about horrors on the hiking trail and explains how the original Scooby-Doo TV show is a lot like Agatha Christie -- and it's not because Ms. Christie liked Scooby snacks. She also dishes about her upcoming book OFF THE BEATEN PATH -- a brand new cozy mystery coming soon to a bookstore near you. Get out your...

The only thing -- the ONLY thing -- you need to know about this episode is that this is the one where Jessica admits to licking a banana slug (not a euphemism) at Girl Scout camp in order to get high! At one point we also thought that a lizard might turn into an extra from Jurassic Park, Jacob confesses why he cleans in the buff, and we're both convinced that backstage on the set of HIGH POTENTIAL...

I'm a fan of oysters. I'm a fan of beer. Would I be a fan of oyster beer? (Stout, to be specific...) Who knows! But I am a fan of this show -- despite Mr. Grumpy-guts roaming around the docks and beaches. Apparently he is part some kind of British archetype dating back to possibly before ... checks notes ... Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff? Cue the Kate Bush and complicated female characters! We'...