Mystery Books Podcast

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🤨 Are you fond of impossible crime mysteries? What about swanky settings for 1920s mysteries? If you answered yes to either question,  join me for a look at the inspiration and research behind Murder in the Alps , a 1920s mystery set in the glamorous winter playground of St. Moritz. 🔎 Olive Belgrave, discreet sleuth for the posh set, and her dashing c...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! Tis the season for . . . holiday mysteries!   Get your holiday reading sorted with this list of mysteries that feature holly, mistletoe, and plenty of murder. Snowed-in country estates abound with tense family gatherings in these books. Cranky family members, too much food, and a patriarch threatening to change his will are the ingredients of a festive...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🕵️‍♀️ 🕵️ Get double the detection with this episode about odd couple crime-solving duos on TV.  🔎 The mismatched partners span the globe, from small town librarians to big city detectives, grumpy inspectors and sunny caterers. Even though they get off to a rocky start, these teams find their differences make them unstoppable. From ancient Roman Baths t...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! ⚓️ All aboard for a look at Death on the Isle , an amateur sleuth mystery from M. H. Eccleston with a nautical theme. 🚤 This isle-set mystery takes you to the Isle of Wight during yachting season. When freelance art restorer Astrid takes on a freelance job of appraising the art in an estate on the island, she ends up investigating a suspicious death w...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🍿 If you're in the mood for a mystery with Golden Age overtones combined with a behind-the-scenes look at the film industry, grab your popcorn and settle in for a discussion of The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson.  🏛️ The modern day mystery is set at Aldermere House, home to the legendary author Lettice Davenport and her fictional 1930s sleuth, Dahli...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 📺 If you ever wished your favorite Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie was a whodunit, then the 1950s mystery, “The Socialite’s Guide to Murder,” by S. K. Golden is for you.  🏢 Wealthy Evelyn lives a life of privilege in the New York hotel her father owns. The swanky Park Avenue address has everything she could want–a luxurious suite, excellent cuisine, a dre...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🔎 Are you looking for a mystery for a book club pick with a Golden Age flavor similar to Agatha Christie with the bonus of deep themes and interesting characters? Then you’ll want to read “Unnatural Ends” by Christopher Huang. 🧩 “Unnatural Ends” has a classic set-up. A patriarch dies and when the family gathers to read the will, it’s revealed the deat...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! Mystery Books Podcast is back with Season 4.  Join me for spoiler-free discussions of mystery fiction along with “read-alike” book recommendations to keep your TBR (to be read) pile stocked. 🔎📚✨  🕵️‍♀️ 📦  Cozy Books Corner Subscription Box  (affiliate code), a book box curated for cozy mystery readers. ➡️ Use code SaraR5 and get 15% off! ⬅...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🔎 If you like mysteries with dapper gentlemen sleuths, vintage CSI, and Golden Age fiction with themes that still resonate today, you’ll enjoy The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers. 🎩 Lord Peter Wimsey is the epitome of the dapper gentleman sleuth. He hides his sharp intellect under a foppish and sometimes silly manner. In many w...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🏛Take “Downton Abbey,” add a lady interested in science who becomes involved in a murder mystery, and you’d have “Poison at Pemberton Hall” by Fran Smith.  🧪As Vita Carew pursues the murderer, the book considers some serious questions about education (and obstacles women encountered in 1903), the perceptions of beauty, and beauty versus brains. Thanks...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🧐If you every wished for a mashup of Jane Austen’s Catherine Moreland from Northanger Abbey and a Christie-type shipboard murder, you’ll want to check out “Death in a Deck Chair” by K.K. Beck. 🕯While “Death in a Deck Chair” doesn’t have gothic overtones or take place at an abbey, it does feature Iris Cooper, a plain-Jane kind of heroine similar to Cath...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! Who wouldn’t want to visit a library made up of first editions from Golden Age authors? That’s the premise of The First Edition Library series by Marty Wingate. Haley is a curator at the unique private library in Bath. The third book in the series, “The Librarian Always Rings Twice” delves into the fun Books About Books trope. It’s a story rich in layer...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! 🗝 Locked rooms, secret staircases, and a family curse–-three things a mystery reader can’t resist! 🔎Join me as I delve into Gigi Pandian’s modern day locked room mystery, "Under Lock and Skeleton Key." With plenty of nods to Golden Age mysteries, this book will appeal to fans of classic crime as well as contemporary traditional mysteries. 📚R...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! Do you have a fondness for lady scientists of the early 20th century who encounter mysteries? Then you'll want to read “A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons” by Kate Khavari. 🔬 Research assistant Saffron Everleigh wants to follow in her father's footsteps and teach botany at University College London, but a poisoning threatens to up...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! Do you enjoy enjoy the “Upstairs, Downstairs” contrasts of Downton Abbey, but wish it had the added element of a murder mystery? Then you’ll want to check out "Murder at Mallowan Hall" by Colleen Cambridge, which features a mashup of fiction and real life as it considers the the question, "What if Agatha Christie’s housekeeper had to solv...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! If you’d like a fresh take on 1920s historical mysteries, check out “The Bangalore Detectives Club” by Harini Nagendra, which takes readers to India. Newly married to a doctor, Kaveri is juggling her own ambitions to get a degree in mathematics with society’s pressure to be a good wife. When a murder occurs, Kaveri is compelled to investiagate. Besides...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S3 E20 / If you enjoy eccentric sleuths of a certain age, crosswords, and ensemble cast mysteries, you'll want to check out The Marlow Murder Club . 👩‍🦳Seventy-seven year old Judith Potts is just fine on her own, thank you very much. That is, until she overhears a murder. Her questions bring her into contact with two women who are quite different...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! Mystery Books Podcast is back with a new season of spoiler-free discussions of mystery fiction along with “read-alike” book recommendations to keep your TBR (to be read) pile stocked. 🔎📚✨  🕵️‍♀️ 📦  Cozy Books Corner Subscription Box  (affiliate code), a book box curated for cozy mystery readers. ➡️ Use code SaraR5 and get 15% off! ⬅️ Suppo...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S2 E19 / We return to Singapore for Revenge in Rubies by A. M. Stuart, but this time we're seeing things through the British Colonial perspective.  👒The 1910s are a bit of an underserved time period for historical readers, so if you're fond of books set during the Edwardian era you'll want to check this novel with a sleuthing couple.  🙂...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S2 E18 / Travel to romantic Hawaii in the 1920s for Charlie Chan's first case in The House Without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers.  🏝️Chan’s "Watson" is a stuffy Bostonian who thaws out in the tropics.  🔺→ 🟥 We have another exotic locale for a murder plus a black sheep victim trope along with something a bit different from the usual love tr...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S2 E17 / If you want a look at a little-known aspect of World War II, check out the historical mystery Olive Bright, Pigeoneer by Stephanie Graves.  🏡 It's got an English village full of quirky characters, a romantic subplot with a pretend relationship, and the classic trope of a name spoken as the victim dies. Poirot references also abound!  🕵️‍♀...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S2 E16 / If you like to experience other cultures through reading, you'll enjoy The Mimosa Tree Mystery .  🌴Ovidia Yu gives us a look at Singapore in the 1930s during the Japanese occupation.  🤔 Her brainy young female protagonist must figure out not only codes and ciphers but also her place in society. 🕵️‍♀️ 📦  Cozy Books Corner Subscripti...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S2 E15 / Murder, Mystery, and . . . Subtitles!  I've discovered two foreign language TV shows, Crimes of Passion and The Art of Crime, that I think mystery readers will enjoy. 🧩 Find out how the shows work in hints of Agatha Christie, Jurassic Park Syndrome, tension triangles, lost Old Masters, and the always popular tropes of crime in beautiful l...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S2 E14 / Mix together a World War II setting and a heist story, and you’ve got the very entertaining novel, A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver.  🔒This book has so many twists on tropes--cat burglars, Cinderella, and opposites attract, to name just a few. Plus, a safecracker protagonist torn between loyalty and revenge. So much to unlock! See what...

Suggest a book for the podcast or say hello! S2 E13 / If you have a soft spot for rather dense sidekicks and you miss detectives from the 1920s, you'll enjoy The Sloane Square Mystery , a novel from one of Golden Age fiction's prolific writers, Herbert Adams.  🕵 Published in 1925, The Sloane Square Mystery gives us a look at how the Bright Young People lived in High Society, and how they...