Mostly Murder (But Sometimes Not)

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...

New episode out now! We watched the 1995 neo-noir film The Usual Suspects and got right into the storytelling of it all. We discussed how most of the movie is told from an unreliable narrator’s perspective, and tried to decipher what was real and what perhaps wasn’t, deciding how that plays into the “mystery” if we cannot know the truth. We also talked about the true goals of Keyser Söze, revealed...

New episode out now! We watched the first installment of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher , “The Murder at Road Hill House”. We cover how this is a pretty faithful adaptation of a horrifying true story, discuss the character of Mr. Whicher and his real history as “the prince of detectives”, and talk about the nature and purpose of justice within flawed systems that are just made up. We also wonder wha...

New episode out now! We delve into the world of Booth and Brennan in the season 2 episode of Bones , “Spaceman in a Crater”. We talk about what feels different about this show as a procedural, with a focus on literal bones, as well as the tropes it shares with other similar shows. We discuss the possible portrayals of the autism spectrum, wonder who exactly funds the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab,...

New episode out now! We played The Wolf Among Us from Telltale Games, a kind of choose-your-own-adventure video game where you solve a mystery set in a twisted underground world filled with characters from fairy tales, myths, and more. We discuss our strategies in making decisions, debate the moral and ethical values of our choices, and ultimately discover how those choices affected the kind of sh...

New episode out now! We watched the original Swedish film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), based on the 2005 book by Stieg Larsson. We talk about the extremely dark and jarring themes that are present throughout the story, praise the excellent acting, and discuss how the content is adapted from the book to the film. We compare the intentions, behaviors, and decisions of Mikael...

New episode out now! We cover one of Hollywood’s most famous noir films, Double Indemnity (1944). We pick apart the moral quandaries and decisions of the main characters, discuss the banter inherent in these types of films, and debate whether or not certain acts took place offscreen. We talk about how the people in these movies seem to fall in love extremely quickly, wonder exactly when Neff creat...

New episode out now! We cover Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor (2018), a modern-day thriller starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. We dissect the wild twists and turns taken, think that the sapphic undertones were really not that “under,” debate the characters’ shifting motivations and loyalties, and decide that no one in this film is all that healthy, mentally. We also talk about the depictions of m...

New episode out now! We watched Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder (2003), a cult crime movie often considered one of the best East Asian films ever made. We get right into the main characters, discussing how they are not good at their jobs and start out morally and ethically terrible, rightfully being called out by the community. We talk about the journeys the detectives go through and how their c...

New episode out now! We watched the season four episode of Inspector George Gently , “Gently Upside Down”. We discuss how this show feels a little different than other period British mystery shows, and how it handles tough subjects in what seems to be a more realistic manner. We talk about the differences between Gently and Bacchus, and how those different strengths and weaknesses allow them to wo...

New episode out now! We cover 1963’s Charade and discuss this “absolute whirlwind” of a movie. We get right into the multiple mysteries and twists involved, and try to figure out the timelines of all the identity reveals. (So many identity reveals). We discuss our issues with the age gap between Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and wonder if calling it out in the script was the right move even if th...

New episode out now! We cover the complicated world of obsessive Victorian magicians in 2006’s The Prestige , and beware–spoilers abound! This movie is wild and we get right into it by trying to unravel the many layers and timelines of this mystery-adjacent film. We talk about the themes of obsession, sacrifice, class, and of course magic while wondering if the addition of a sci-fi element muddles...

New episode out now! We’re back to our regular schedule with a dive into the world of Disney animation, covering 1986’s The Great Mouse Detective. We learn how it adapts a children's book which in turn mirrored Sherlock Holmes, wonder at the world-building of mice parallels to human monarchies and war, and don’t really understand the rules concerning which animals get to talk. We also discuss the...

Special episode out now! We watched the new Rian Johnson whodunit Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , starring Daniel Craig as the gentleman detective Benoit Blanc! We discuss how Johnson both pays homage to the Agatha Christie of it all while also making unconventional and surprising choices, as well as wonder whether it’s really a sequel or if it was forced to be called so by Hollywood expectati...

New special episode out now! We enter the world of Victorian London yet again with the new Netflix film Enola Holmes 2 . We get right into picking apart the multiple mysteries, discuss how our feelings compare to the original, debate how the film handled the balance between being an Enola vs a Sherlock movie, and wonder if we are just too old to care about young romance. We all liked the inclusion...

New episode out now! We encounter another jewel-heist-in-London-involving-Muppets film with 2014's Muppets Most Wanted ! We discuss the appeal of the Muppets and how the format they're in can really make or break the offbeat humor, and debate whether this movie accomplished that traditional zaniness. We talk about how we love the practical nature of the Muppets, wonder if we may have liked this mo...

New episode out now! We dip back into the CBS procedural with a season one episode of The Mentalist , “Russet Potatoes”.  We discuss the trope of “odd specialist consultant helps law enforcement” and how this show attempts to explore that idea, and debate whether or not it succeeds. We also have some difficulty accepting the premise of this particular episode, and try to get into the specific...

New episode out now! We cover a comic book for the first time on the podcast for our 69th episode! The four of us read Volume 1 of Wicked Things by John Allison and Max Sarin. We discuss the character of Charlotte Grote, the teen detective, and how her methods compare to other crime-solvers we’ve encountered. We love the visual art style and how it feels animated, get slightly confused by some of...

New episode out now! We enter the quippy, extremely 2000’s world of Veronica Mars right at the beginning with the pilot episode. We cover the “Nancy Drew meets Philip Marlowe” of it all, how the show utilizes PI tropes (or PI-ness, if you will) but gives them a fresher look with a cynical teenage protagonist in modern-day Southern California. We get into some of the more problematic storylines and...

New episode out now! We watched the pilot episode of Ripper Street , “I Need Light”, and dig into the ins and outs of Victorian crime once again. We discuss the wonderfully detailed world-building, from the great costumes, to the period-specific dialogue and parlance, to the masses of set dressing that give a lived-in feeling. We talk about how it’s interesting that the show begins in the aftermat...