Death of the Reader

We discuss Part 3, the 24th through 32nd chapters of Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Taking until the dying seconds for the truth to come out, Murder on the Orient Express' conclusion draws a masterclass on an intense but subtle end to a story. How close was Herds able to come to the intricate solution Christie laid out in her most famous novel? With double points on the line it's...

We discuss Part 2, the 9th through 23rd chapters of Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. As Poirot takes suspect after suspect in for interrogation, the complexities of the situation on the train grows seemingly insurmountable. With iron-clad alibis and no apparent motive other than a memory of the kidnapping of Daisy Armstrong, could this truly be a perfect crime? Herds takes a dive s...

We discuss Part 1, the first 8 chapters of the iconic Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. To launch our 2020 Murder Mystery World Tour, we visit one of, if not the most famous pieces of Detective Fiction of all time, joining the illustrious Hercule Poirot as his journey back to London on the Orient Express is interrupted by an extraordinarily suspicious murder. Trapped in a snowdrift...

Coming in at 12th Place for 2019 is The Floating Admiral by The Detection Club. Our least recommended novel for the year is The Floating Admiral. A short affair written by some of history’s most illustrious detective fiction authors, The Floating Admiral is a good experiment long, long before it is a good story. The question is - is it still worth reading?

We discuss the brand new murder mystery film Knives Out by writer-director Rian Johnson for our final episode of 2019. With a colourful cast, a clever puzzle and a tasteful balance between following and breaking genre conventions, Knives Out pains a modern murder mystery like no other. As acclaimed mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) dies on the night of his 85th birthday, excessi...

We discuss chapters 10-14 from No Crime in the Mountains by Raymond Chandler. Turns out Herds was wrong and right all along as the nonsense propositions from Chapter 9 were entirely true. Does this war-era story hold up despite some aggressive stereotyping of its villains? We also sit down and discuss our rankings for the stories we've covered this year as we prepare for our Review Season!

We discuss chapters 5-9 from No Crime in the Mountains by Raymond Chandler. As the plot gets slowly more ludicrous, Flex derails the conversation to complain about Chandler's non-fiction writing about the Crime Fiction genre, including his very own set of rules. Herds is put to the task to determine if his own claim that 'if they give you the answer early, it must be a lie' is true. We're also joi...

We discuss chapters 1-4 from No Crime in the Mountains by Raymond Chandler. One of the pillars of early noir, Chandler set his pen to this short mountaintop crime story, later to turn into the full-length Lady in the Lake. Can our detective John Evans who is definitely not Philip Marlowe figure out how the man who summoned him far from his comfort zone ended up dead? Can Evans truly understand how...

We discuss the Eighth through Tenth stories in Sins for Father Knox by Josef Škvorecký; An Atlantic Romance, Just Between Us Girls, and The Third Tip of the Triangle. As Eve's journey goes full circle and she reunites with her once-captor, Lieutenant Boruvka, can Flex nail down the last few sins, including what may be the greatest murder mystery solution of all time? We also sit down with friend o...

We discuss the Fourth through Seventh stories in Sins for Father Knox by Josef Škvorecký; A Question of Alibis, Why So Many Shamuses, Miscarriage of Justice, and The Mathematicians of Grizzly Drive. Following Eve Adam's travels from Sweden to San Francisco and beyond, the crimes continue to tail her, with the sins against Father Ronald Knox hot on their tails. As the crimes get more convoluted, ca...

We discuss the first three stories in Sins for Father Knox by Josef Škvorecký; An Intimate Business, Mistake in Hitzungsee and The Man Eve Didn’t Know from Adam. Decades after Father Ronald Knox defined the rules of fair play for Murder Mystery Fiction, a brave Czech came along to break them all and tell wild tales along the way. Our stories follow Lieutenant Boruvka and Eve Adam as they traipse t...

We discuss The Cactus Thief and An Ordinary Murder from Karel Čapek's short story collection, Tales From Two Pockets. Following on from the success of Tales From One Pocket, The 'Other Pocket' shifts the tone of the collection, featuring related tales that deal more with the human side of the murder mystery game. We are also joined by Australian Noir Writer and former police officer, Andrew B. Pat...

We discuss The Fall of House Voticky and Disappearance of an Actor from Karel Čapek's short story collection, Tales From Two Pockets. An extraordinarily well-read mystery fan, Science Fiction Writer Karel Čapek took a break one summer in Prague to write a mystery story a day, which formed the titular tales of this week's episode. An extensive collection, detailing clever puzzles, insightful decons...

We discuss chapters 13-18 of The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. Has Herds finally scored points? Was this puzzle fair? Our normal post-novel breakdown takes a turn as Flex realises his allegedly infallible methods may have let him down. We also chat with Transhumanism Australia co-founder Peter Xing about how our society reflects what Asimov predicted, and what we should expect as our technologie...

We discuss chapters 7-12 of The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. Our favourite detective buddy-cop finally took a turn towards some action as Lije Bailey and Daneel Olivaw are left to outrun cultists on the strips of New York City, 3000 years in our future. Can the pair stay safe and solve the crime as it seems the very city itself is against them? We also sat down with Australian crime writer Sara...

We discuss chapters 1-6 of The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. This pioneering Sci-Fi Murder Mystery was Asimov's response to the idea that Sci-Fi and Mystery were contradictory fields, but does his response prove him wrong or right? We follow the dysfunctional pairing of Elijah Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw as they attempt to solve a murder they haven't even seen. We also chat with Australian crime...

We discuss chapters 14-17 of Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout. The train draws ever closer and the sleep deprivation is getting to Nero and Archie. How can Wolfe take Van-Dine-esque psychology to a new level and pin the culprit? Was all this fair? We also chat with Nine Food and Wine writer Callan Boys about how you can avoid ending up like Philip Laszio when you discuss food with your friends.

We discuss chapters 7-13 of Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout. Despite trying his best to avoid solving the crime and just enjoy the food at this meeting of the world's greatest chefs, Nero Wolfe has been abruptly shot into the spotlight, with only hours remaining before his train home with Archie arrives. We're also joined by the creator of the Inspired By Wolfe food blog, Kirsten Wright, to talk about...

We discuss chapters 1-6 of Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout. Our detective Nero Wolfe and his trusty aide, Archie Goodwin, are invited to Kanawha Spa by some of the world's greatest chefs, but their food extravaganza is abruptly interrupted, when the one chef that everyone was planning to kill is murdered. Will a reluctant Wolfe even try to solve the crime? We also spoke with cozy-crime author Lucy Bur...

Hear our full chat with Dr. Mike Grost on S.S. Van Dine, and a spoiler discussion on both the Benson and Kennel Murder Cases. Our talk with Dr. Grost didn't all make it to air, and on this bonus feature you'll get the chance to hear more about Van Dine's prior career as an art critic, including his partnership with his brother, Stanton McDonald-Wright. After Dr. Grost, you can catch our spoilers-o...

We discuss the 1933 film adaptation of S.S. Van Dine's Kennel Murder Case. Said by some to be one of the best detective fiction adaptations for the silver screen of all time, we talk about all the charms that help this film hold ground over 85 years after it was released. We also speak with Dr. Mike Grost, a murder mystery enthusiast who maintains one of the best online databases of detective fict...

We discuss chapters 19-25 of The Benson Murder Case, by S.S. Van Dine. Our culprit is found, our detective is some kind of super-ninja socialite god, and we prepare for a special twist on the next episode. We also speak with Dr. Chris Coady from the University of Sydney about the Jazz age and the similarities between the styles of music and literature in the early 20th century.

We discuss chapters 9-18 of The Benson Murder Case, by S. S. Van Dine. With a signed confession from a suspect, is there any more room for reasoning, or is it time to turn in for the night? We also speak with Daniel McMahon, writer and voice actor for L.A. Noire, about adapting murder mystery for interactive mediums, and the experiences he had in turning true crimes into mystery crime fiction.

What are these “Twenty Rules” Flex and Herds keep referring to on Death of the Reader? S.S. Van Dine was known originally as a zealous literary critic by the name of Willard Huntington Wright. After adopting the Van Dine pseudonym, he made sure that the game of detective fiction was played his way, and by his rules, with none of those damned tropes he saw other authors using. Listen in to hear us...

We discuss chapters 1-8 of The Benson Murder Case, by S. S. Van Dine. An overzealous art critic turns his detest of detective fiction into a series of its own, but does it hold up on its own? Flex is up against the infallible (and insufferable) Philo Vance to solve this crime before the culprit escapes. We also speak with 2SER News Director Geoff Field about the salacious life and history of S. S....