Death of the Reader

Coming in at 10th for 2021 in our rankings is internet-darling production studio Rooster Teeth's 'Dead Little Roosters'. Directed by Josh Flanagan and Fiona Nova, the third edition of this multi-layered interactive video puzzle takes the colour-rich, room/weapon/culprit challenge of Cluedo, the layered rhyme of And Then There Were None, and lets an enormous audience run ravenous over it for weeks...

Our 11th Recommendation for 2021 goes to Masako Togawa's 'The Master Key'. A novel that at once told a laidback mystery while also layering in as many narration perceptions as I could personally stomach. There are moments of mirth and comedy but it is much more a sad tragedy than anything else. Masako Togawa has written a story about the lived-in experiences of the ladies around her, old women wit...

Anthony Horowitz’ 'Magpie Murders' takes out our twelfth recommendation spot for 2021, a story that took us under its wing for not one but two murder mysteries with completely different detectives, Watsons, and culprits. We covered Magpie Murders as part of a stretch of stories involving metafiction, and heartily recommend it if you have a lot of time to pore over the text, ideally camping out in...

Our 13th recommendation for 2021 on your Murder Mystery World Tour is Seicho Matsumoto’s ‘Inspector Imanishi Investigates’, also known as Castle of Sand. The edition we read was translated into English by Beth Cary, and published by Soho Crime in 2003. If you’re looking for a slow-pace, thoughtful mystery that thrives on letting its intrigue hang in the open air, this is your stop.

Our 14th-highest recommendation for the year is Maria Angelica Bosco’s ‘Death Going Down’. This 1954 novel - translated to English by Lucy Greaves and released by Pushkin Vertigo in 2017 - strikes a bizarre point for me. I think, for the right reader, this novel is uniquely charming, and if anything we say about it intrigues you - please, go check it out, because if you are that reader, we need to...

Coming in spooky as the 15th most recommended murder mystery for this year’s Review Season is Murder On The Way! by Theodore Roscoe. A story of zombies, magic, impossible locked room mysteries, and romance! Representing the enormous spiritual overlap between the Pulps and Murder Mystery with the appropriate lack of tact, it's a fun read but some clench-worthy moments make it hard to place higher.

Review Season 2021 kicks of with a review of three stories and a festival, as we reflect on the haunting connection between mystery fiction and All Hallow's Eve. Featuring discussion of Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin Mysteries (Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, and The Mystery of Marie Rogêt), and Agatha Christie's Halloween Party, plus a few wild assertions with little to no legal basis,...

We discuss chapters 43 to the end of Nev March's historical mystery, 'Murder in Old Bombay'. Jim and the Framjis return to Bombay, and the investigation takes yet another turn. Lives are on the line, there's a traitor in the midst, and Jim may have met his match. Can he pin the culprit before the last pieces fall into place? Probably not, but we still believe in him. We're also joined by Nev again...

We discuss chapters 25-42 of Nev March's historical mystery, 'Murder in Old Bombay'. Our quaint 19th-century urban detective story takes an abrupt, aggressive detour into a mountainous war-story, following Jim Agnihotri's venture to pincer-attacked Lahore, and his flight with several young orphans to escape the battle lines. We also have a chat with author Vaseem Khan about his Baby Ganesh series,...

We discuss chapters 1-24 of Nev March's historical mystery, 'Murder in Old Bombay'. Retired Captain Jim Agnihotri finds himself as a new-hire journalist in Bombay, only to have an immediate promotion to Private Detective under the eye of Adi Framji, a young widower whose wife died in mysterious circumstances some weeks earlier. Bonding over their mutual sense of loss, and with a growing attachment...

We discuss chapters 7-8 of María Angélica Bosco's 'Death Going Down', translated by Lucy Greaves. The novel comes to a bewildering end, with dramatic re-enactments, disappearing dogs and apparating new characters with the ability to disappear. This charming Argentinian novel has us a little torn, but we still think it's a worthy read as we come to the pointy end of 2021.

We discuss chapters 4-6 of María Angélica Bosco's 'Death Going Down', translated by Lucy Greaves. As the interrogations go on, Inspector Blasi is taking his time getting to know the suspects, and soon some relationships between the inhabitants of the tower start to pique his interest. Why did the power go out? Why was Gabby at the Eidinger's house? Can Herds figure it all out in time? The clock is...

We discuss chapters 1-3 of María Angélica Bosco's debut mystery 'Death Going Down', translated by Lucy Greaves. After Frida Eidinger, a German immigrant, is found dead in the elevator of an apartment block in Buenos Aires, the police go through the motions resolving her apparent suicide, but the lead investigators have doubts. Who in this small tower could be responsible for Frida's death? It's up...

In our Halloween Spooktacular, we're joined by Brad Friedman from Ah Sweet Mystery to discuss Agatha Christie's infamous 'Hallowe'en Party' and its 2011 British Television adaptation with a screenplay by Mark Gatiss. Taking very direct inspiration from elsewhere in her own franchises, Agatha Christie penned a derivative tale that Gatiss has reworked into a charming, if bizarre, romp for perfect Ha...

Flex's quest to disgrace the origins of Murder Mystery continues as we not only put forward solutions for Poe's second mystery, but also the true crime that inspired it. Is it possible, nearly 200 years on, to discern a nature to these crimes other than their traditionally presented solution? After listening to True Crime podcasts for aeons, surely we have the tools prepared to debunk this long-co...

Our Halloween spooktacular begins with the grandfathers of Murder Mystery, with a little twist. Despite being familiar with the solutions, Flex is challenged with putting together a unified solution for Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue & The Purloined Letter. Is it possible to explain the exploits of Dupin with just one trick, linking the gothic horror master's puzzles together? We also sit down wi...

During our discussion of Theodore Roscoe's 'Murder on the Way!', you might have heard us mention Death Among the Undead, which was recently translated by Ho-Ling Wong published by Locked Room International, adding to their collection of both niche and incredibly significant translated works from Japan. We sat down with John Pugmire from Locked Room International to talk a bit about what goes into...

We discuss chapters 1-14 of Theodore Roscoe's Murder on the Way! Edited by Jim Noy of The Invisible Event and In GAD We Trust. An unfortunate adventure into the Haitian wilderness results in Cart buried alive, it seems our tale is over. Fortunately for Cart, it turns out Pete Dale was the detective all along, and we end up in a tempestuous confrontation with our killer in the mansion after her dar...

We discuss chapters 6-9 of Theodore Roscoe's Murder on the Way! Edited by Jim Noy of The Invisible Event and In GAD We Trust. Cart and Pete are caught in the middle of the tontine, with corpses dropping around them as the guests at the mansion vie for wealth. Meanwhile, in the storm outside, a zombie rallies the local population into an uprising that sweeps the safety net out from under the surviv...

In modern crime fiction, or perhaps just modern fiction, there are few authors as prolific and genre-diverse as Anthony Horowitz, so it was a delight to have him on the show to cap off our 2021 journey through Metafiction to discuss his latest, 'A Line To Kill', as well as the many ideas and themes we've been investigating on this leg of our Murder Mystery World Tour. From unlikely thematic pairin...

We discuss chapters 1-5 of Theodore Roscoe's Murder on the Way! Edited by Jim Noy of The Invisible Event and In GAD We Trust, this pulp nightmare of a murder mystery takes the whole island of Haiti and turns it into the country house of the Golden Age. Artist Edwin 'Cart' Cartershall and Patricia 'Pete' Dale are invited to the funeral of Pete's distant relative, Eli Proudfoot. A bizarre tontine en...

We discuss parts 9-12 of Emma Stonex's 'The Lamplighters', as the waves calm and the true detective of the story steps into the light. What really happened on the Maiden? We get our answer, but whose answer is it? Does it constitute truth, and does that matter? As each question is replaced by the next, the surface calms and this queasy story comes to a gentle end. We're joined this week by Emma St...

We discuss parts 5-8 of Emma Stonex's 'The Lamplighters', its chaos and turbulence only growing as we approach the inevitable incident that spurred the whole story on. In 1972, the three keepers on the lighthouse grow distrustful. Their secrets are brought to bear, and an agent of chaos arrives amid distressing visions of bodies and ghosts. In 1992, the widows try to reconcile their differences, t...

We discuss parts 1-4 of Emma Stonex's 'The Lamplighters', with its haunting lyricism here to spook Herds off the scent of truth. Three men disappear from 'The Maiden', leaving the perfect mystery in their wake. Twenty years later, writer Dan Sharp shows up to unravel the case, speaking with the women who were left behind. Raising many questions about the genre we inhabit, there's a lot to soak in...

We discuss Parts 6-7 of 'Magpie Murders' by Anthony Horowitz, with Andrew Pople from 2SER's 'Final Draft' in the hotseat. Susan's amateur-sleuth-editing career pays off as we reach the dramatic, burning conclusion of Magpie Murders. This dramatic send-off for both Pund and his author ends with a bizarre reveal that left us scratching our heads. Do both Horowitz' and Conway's stories meet the mark...