Death of the Reader

We discuss Parts 3 & a portion of part 4, Chapters 16-24 of Jim Noy from The Invisible Event's 2022 debut murder mystery, 'The Red Death Murders'. Prince Prospero has died, poisoned by a cup Thomas last touched himself. The explanations are few, and the prime suspects fewer. How can one thirteen-year-old boy cope with the pressure as rumours abound that his life is about to take a turn greater tha...

We discuss Parts 1 & 2 of Jim Noy from The Invisible Event's 2022 debut murder mystery, 'The Red Death Murders'. Based on 'Masque of the Red Death' by Edgar Allan Poe, we find ourselves looking through the eyes of a young boy named Thomas, as the plague assailing the kingdom of Prince Prospero has finally broken the Prince's quarantine. A knight is found dead with slit wrists atop the Prince's tow...

We discuss chapters 14-18 of Dutch diplomat Robert van Gulik's reinterpretation of an 18th-century Chinese magistrate-detective, Judge Dee. One of the Judge's associates invites him to see a play about a fictional magistrate solving three mysteries. Despite his bewilderment at the convolutions of theatre, Judge Dee realises that he's just watched a meta-narrative, and goes about unravelling the fi...

We discuss chapters 8-13 of Dutch diplomat Robert van Gulik's reinterpretation of an 18th-century Chinese magistrate-detective, Judge Dee. With a growing surety of how his predecessor was killed, speakers bring new cases before the tribunal, telling stories of missing women, abandoned marriages, and the ever-present threat of a tiger, potentially of supernatural persuasion. As religious affiliatio...

We discuss chapters 1-7 of Dutch diplomat Robert van Gulik's reinterpretation of an 18th-century Chinese magistrate-detective, Judge Dee. In the fifth book in Robert's series, we revisit Judge Dee's appointment to Peng Lai, witness him meeting his aides, and solving his first three cases as the lead magistrate of the district. The Bolting Bride, the Butchered Bully, and his murdered predecessor al...

We discuss two films adapted from Seishi Yokomizo's 'The Inugami Curse', both made by Kon Ichikawa, both starring Kōji Ishizaka as Kosuke Kindaichi. Originally adapted in 1976, then remade in 2006, the film follows the inheritance dispute of the powerful Inugami pharmaceutical family. The patriarch passes, and his various wives and their children have their claim to wealth upended by the return of...

We discuss chapter 6 of Szu-Yen Lin's impossible-house impossible-crime novel, 'Death in the House of Rain'. Translated by the author himself, the House of Rain is an enormous mansion in the shape of the Chinese character for rain. Device X rears its dubious head as Ruoping Lin has to complete his picture of four horror-movie deaths in eerily similar circumstances. Do they all point to one killer?...

We discuss chapters 1-4, and later 5, of Szu-Yen Lin's impossible-house impossible-crime novel, 'Death in the House of Rain'. Translated by the author himself, the House of Rain is an enormous mansion in the shape of the Chinese character for rain. Bodies keep dropping in mysterious, small rooms around the House of Rain. Cranial injuries galore, who is bloodthirsty enough to be rid of these young...

We discuss the first chapter of Szu-Yen Lin's impossible-house impossible-crime novel, 'Death in the House of Rain'. Translated by the author himself, the House of Rain is an enormous mansion in the shape of the Chinese character for rain. A year ago, three gruesome and stomach-turning murders took the original inhabitants of the house. A year later, the family of the deceased, and their daughter'...

We're joined by Brad Friedman of 'Ah Sweet Mystery' to discuss chapters 12-14 of Yukito Ayatsuji's second outing in his Mansion Murder series. Two more murders have taken place, and Shimada has to accept his role as detective before more blood is spilled. Brad and Herds unite to burn Felix at the stake for his ridiculous gambit to solve the unsolvable. How does this novel stack up against the icon...

We're joined by Brad Friedman of 'Ah Sweet Mystery' to discuss chapters 6-11 of Yukito Ayatsuji's second outing in his Mansion Murder series. Brad and Herds are convinced they know what the trick is, and how the trick works, but can they figure out why it happened, and to whom? A simple mystery may not be as simple as it seems, as the doom befalling the Mill House draws out further accounts of the...

We're joined by Brad Friedman of 'Ah Sweet Mystery' to discuss chapters 1-5 of Yukito Ayatsuji's second outing in his Mansion Murder series. Entering into a relentless writing pace that saw two books published in 1988, Ayatsuji welcomes us into the struggle between Shimada Kyoshi and the enigmatic, deceased Seiji Nakamura. Every year, the son of a famous artist begrudgingly invites guests to view...

We discuss stories ten to twelve in G.K. Chesterton's debut outing with his most iconic detective, Father Brown. An innocuous preacher with an eye for the human spirit, Father Brown cares less for the wrong and right of the law, than the soul. As the collection closes, leadership upends trust, religion is turned on its head, and an impossible crime is committed. Truly there is no better man for th...

We discuss stories six to ten in G.K. Chesterton's debut outing with his most iconic detective, Father Brown. An innocuous preacher with an eye for the human spirit, Father Brown cares less for the wrong and right of the law, than the soul. Can Flex solve 'The Hammer of God' without being abducted by United States intelligence? Did 'The Sins of Prince Saradine' even really happen? The subdued surr...

We discuss the first five stories in G.K. Chesterton's debut outing with his most iconic detective, Father Brown. An innocuous preacher with an eye for the human spirit, Father Brown cares less for the wrong and right of the law, than the soul. In The Blue Cross, the great detective Valentin hunts down the notorious Flambeau, one of the world's most famous criminals, only to be met with a curious...

We discuss Part 3, chapters 13-21, of 'Death and the Seaside' by Allison Moore, a creepy, ominous tale of women learning each others' secrets and demons. Bonnie's holiday to Seaton, or is it Seatown, with her landlady Sylvia, is off to a very strange start. Sylvia, a lady who preaches order and method, arrives late covered in some sort of glue. Strange, but I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable...

We discuss Part 2, chapters 7-12, of 'Death and the Seaside' by Allison Moore, a creepy, ominous tale of women learning each others' secrets and demons. It's Bonnie's birthday, which means everyone is going to take a small break from their constant one-on-one bullying of her to bully her as a group. But at least to break up the monotony, Sylvia Slythe, her landlady, is going to take a holiday with...

We discuss Part 1, chapters 1-6, of 'Death and the Seaside' by Allison Moore, a creepy, ominous tale of women learning each others' secrets and demons. Set between two bleak homes, one by the sea, another as far from it as possible, author Bonnie Falls and landlady Sylvia Slythe discuss their future and pasts in the shadow of Bonnie's character Susan. Personal links and splintering secrets unsettl...

We discuss chapters 33-41 of Robert Thorogood's second Marlow Murder Club novel, Death Comes to Marlow. The hunt for our culprit reaches its head, but so does the police department's hunt for itself. Tanika has a pivotal role to play in unraveling this case, but it's going to take guile to get the Marlow Murder Club to their destination. Will Flex accept the answers, and did they make sense? We're...

We discuss chapters 15-32 of Robert Thorogood's second Marlow Murder Club novel, Death Comes to Marlow. If you thought Judith, Suzie and Becks weren't going to be able to keep up with young modern crime protagonists, you'll be pleased to discover that this sequence includes car chases, technological espionage, high-value financial crime, climate protests, tense pub showdowns, and somehow they all...

We discuss chapters 1-14 of Robert Thorogood's second Marlow Murder Club novel, Death Comes to Marlow. Judith and her unlikely friends are back in action solving crime in their quaint hometown. Sir Peter Bailey, perhaps the biggest name in Marlow, calls Judith to ask for her insights on his impending wedding, as he fears for his life. Perplexed by the request, Judith gathers Suzie (because Becks w...

We discuss chapters 14-17 of Alex Pavesi's innovative 2020 metafiction 'Eight Detectives'. The White Murders are over, or are they? In their final conversations, Grant and Julia unveil the secrets still held, both of their own, and within the pages of The White Murders. Herds' solution may have been dense and wonderful, but we break down the weird tricks that make it harder than usual to unravel t...

We discuss chapters 6-13 of Alex Pavesi's innovative 2020 metafiction 'Eight Detectives'. Grant and Julia continue going through the remaining chapters of 'The White Murders', and the inconsistencies continue getting more bizarre. A dead man investigating his own death? A surprise birthday party where the surprise was that it's a birthday? An impossible crime owned and operated by Device X? The co...

We discuss chapters 1-5 of Alex Pavesi's innovative 2020 metafiction 'Eight Detectives'. Decades ago, Grant McAllister put his mathematician's mind to writing 'The Permutations of Detective Fiction', which explored the quantifiable bounds that make murder mysteries what they are. Soon thereafter, an accompanying novel 'The White Murders' brought his theorems to life. Before it was released, Grant...

We discuss chapters 6-8 of Janice Hallett's bizarre media-meta-fiction 'Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels'. Amanda Bailey's toying with Oliver Menzies has taken the investigation to a new extreme. Oliver's delusions are pushing him to action, and as Amanda approaches the actual truth, he fabricates a whole new one, and takes action. How do the disparate pieces of both fact and fiction collide...