Mostly Murder (But Sometimes Not)

Bonjour and bienvenue! We have our first repeat character in today’s new episode—Hercule Poirot! We watched 1974’s Murder on the Orient Express starring Albert Finney as the famous detective, and do quickly disuss both David Suchet and Kenneth Branaugh’s take on this story as well. We have a (very spoilery) discussion disentangling the multitude of famous actors and how you can’t identify the culp...

New episode up now! We watched one of the famous(?) Boston Blackie mysteries, the 1946 film The Phantom Thief . We talk about his problematic name, secret house skeletons and slides, the penchant for wartime movies to have bumbling comic relief, and how to decide who’s the protagonist in an old movie because everyone is terrible. Katy did some archival research, Carrie gives us a book report, Madd...

New episode out today! We read the “children’s” novel The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, and discuss this delightful Christie-like story— so beware, spoilers abound! We cover the immersive and stylistic writing choices, talk about how the "game" may have induced empathy in the characters, learn that the 1970s were not PC, and wonder if kids know who Abbot and Costello are anymore. Katy reveals the...

New episode! We cover season 3, episode 4 of The X-Files, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”. Please heed the trigger warnings in this time of heightened anxiety! They’re listed at the end of this description. We discuss this critically-acclaimed episode of the 90’s phenomenon, and cover how it gave us childhood flashbacks, how shocking it feels that it was filmed 25 years ago, how we individually ex...

New episode out now! We watched season 1, episode 8 of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and discussed just how awesome the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher truly is. We cover the beautiful and dynamic costume design, the obvious and delightful tension between Phryne and DI Jack Robinson, how toxic masculinity ruins everything, have a sidebar about feeling connected to fictional characters, and discover...

New episode is up now and friends, it covers some dark stuff. We watched S1E1 of the British adaptation of Wallander and really got into the egregious depiction of  “man pain.” We discuss whether the Swedish Chef is offensive, the “austerity and bleakness” of the visual landscape, how it took longer than it should have to realize it was set in Sweden, and come up with cool nicknames for Tom H...

New episode! We talk about the original Hot Priest (okay, vicar) as we cover the pilot episode of Grantchester. We do interchange ‘priest’ with ‘vicar’ and ‘reverend’ so be prepared for that; we can’t help our past indoctrination. We discuss swearing in front of our parents, pitch a new TV show (with great titles), speculate about what is in a Victoria sponge, and again, talk about how great dogs...

New episode out now and It. Gets. Real. We discuss the 1995 film Se7en , a modern day morality play about an everyman violently casting judgement on a sinful society . . . or maybe just a ‘90s thriller with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman? We discuss whether or not we would survive an apocalypse, how the city is basically Gotham, how the killer was kinda brilliant with how he timed out his whole plan...

New episode out now! Take a break from the drafty English manors and the drizzly Pacific Northwest and head on down to the sunny, breezy island of Saint-Marie. We watched season one, episode five of Death in Paradise , “Spot the Difference,” and got caught in a twisty plot—that half of us figured out twenty minutes in. We discuss the lackadaisical nature of island law enforcement (who gives suspec...

Bonus Extra Special Episode Out Now! It’s Friday the 13th and the Knives are Out! SPOILERS ABOUND! We watched the still-in-theaters Rian Johnson film Knives Out and discuss this excellent subversion of/update to the classic whodunit. We talk about the difference in audience reactions in different theaters, how much fun the actors seemed to be having, how the movie misrepresents the publishing indu...

It’s time to spend the summer in Gravity Falls ! We watched the third episode of season one “Headhunters” and unpacked a surprising amount of detail from a 22-minute episode of animated television. The four of us talk about the mechanics of ax handling, when kids learn about John Wilkes Booth, how amazing dogs are and how much we want Ducktective to be real. (Like, so much.) Katy extols the virtue...

Welcome to Film 101! We watched the first film in our tin that appears on the AFI’s Best 100 Movies list, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 feature Rear Window . We talk about the amazing and suspenseful worldbuilding of the film, using music, lighting, soundscapes, background actors and sets to essentially create Hitchcock’s Dream Dollhouse™. Katy channels a bit of her inner white male film nerd (sorry), C...

“Let’s talk about cannibalism!” We go full book club and talk about our first mystery/thriller read— The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris! We try to avoid talking about the filmed version as we all read the book, so instead we talk about murder houses and whether we’d live in them (even if they are prime Chicago real estate), the mechanics of reading about/picturing book characters and how we...

Let’s-Get- Criminal ! We watch season five, episode sixteen of Criminal Minds , “Mosley Lane” and wow... do we talk about things other than the episode. We play What’s-That-Actor-From-Again?, discuss some unfortunate dated hair choices from both ourselves and the actors, and really talk some shit about CSI: Miami for people who’ve never really watched it. Katy says “muffin buffalo” more than once...

Back to the British crime procedural! For our eighth episode we watched season two, episode four of Rosemary and Thyme , “The Invisible Worm.” We talk about the “vaguely sexual flower opening” of the opening titles and one of us gets very excited about Scarborough Fair. Katy pretends to know more about the British school system than she actually does, Carrie spends her first Joke Buck, Maddy loves...

Join us for coffee and doughnuts as we discuss all 51,201 residents of Twin Peaks ! We watch the pilot episode of this early 1990’s TV show and get into the small town gossip of the Pacific Northwest. Katy tries not to spoil anything from the series, Carrie and Maddy are both very tired, and Mack keeps trying to derail the conversation with doughnut history and hot men. We talk awkward crying, Buf...

Bonjour listeners! Welcome to Mostly Murder ( But Sometimes Not ), a podcast where four siblings discuss mysteries and whodunits throughout a vast array of pop culture. Recorded originally in May 2017, the inaugural episode of what is sure to be an illustrious podcast starts with us discussing one of the most famous detectives in the Western canon—Hercule Poirot! Although more recently made famous...

Out of the mystery jar for our second episode is a personal favorite investigative gang of all of ours—the Scoobies! We love Buffy The Vampire Slayer and were jazzed to talk demons and dating so soon into this endeavor . Buffy and her friends try to figure out who threatens the students at Sunnydale High in episode eighteen of season three, “Earshot” . Originally airing out of sequence on Septembe...

For our third episode we get c-c-c-cold in Fargo ! (Seriously you will feel cold watching it there’s ice and snow all over). We watch the first episode of the first season of Fargo , “The Crocodile’s Dilemma,” which aired in 2014. Katy still can’t keep a synopsis short, Carrie and Maddy each individually coined the phrase “Agent of Chaos,” and Mack spends some more Joke Bucks. We talk difficult Am...

Get ready for our scariest episode so far—we watch the 1981 classic The Great Muppet Caper ! The Muppets sing, dance, fall out of buses, and more while investigating a jewel heist in a movie Carrie subtitled: “Piggy and Kermit’s London Romance.” We talk about the nightmare that is an eight-foot Miss Piggy suit, drugs, latchkey VHS’s, and terrifying Muppet parentage. Katy talks up Admiral Lord Nels...

WHO was Rebecca? WHAT was her deal? WHY is everyone so obsessed with her and her underwear? We watch the first mystery that is brand new to all of us, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), and (wo)man, do we have some opinions. As modern “woke”* people, we give the main character an actual name and talk about feminism, lesbianism, and the control of women and power dynamics of 1940’s Hollywood. Maddy...

Grab your deerstalkers, fill up your pipe from your Persian slipper and let’s talk Holmes! We discuss the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, in particular the one portrayed by Robert Stephens in the 1970 film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes . This episode is a bit longer partly because it’s the first time we talk about the character in general and partly because Katy is still learning how to su...

A quick hello and introduction to our podcast, premiering soon!