Death of the Reader
Join Flex and Herds as they take you on a Murder Mystery World Tour in Death of the Reader. From classic British puzzles in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction to the weirdest of foreign detective fiction, explore everything in the grizzly world of the 'locked room'. Each week we'll feature academics, authors and more as we trace the influences of the genre around the world.
Episodes
December 15, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss the second part of Simogo's 2024 mystery-puzzle-box video game 'Lorelei and the Laser Eyes'. The jig is up, and Lorelei Weiss finally has to be honest with herself about what happened in 1963. Our final puzzles see us answering the Quiz Club on all of the knowledge we've acquired so far, and delving right into the heart of the supercomputer at the core of it all.
We're also joined by Iain Ryan to talk about his second no...
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December 8, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss the second part of Simogo's 2024 mystery-puzzle-box video game 'Lorelei and the Laser Eyes'. As we delve deeper into the realm of Lorelei Weiss, we're challenged by anachronisms, a cast of characters that could be one person or many, and so, so many padlocks. What further mysteries does the mansion hold, and how can we untangle the fragmented maze buried within it?
We're again joined by Vanessa McCausland to talk about h...
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December 1, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss the first part of Simogo's 2024 mystery-puzzle-box video game 'Lorelei and the Laser Eyes'. The hotel Letztes Jahr, or 'last year' is a monochrome mansion with a splash of red. A body has been found in the courtyard, after our character, whoever she might be, was summomned, whyever she might be, by the enigmatic Renzo Nero, film director. Or is that all? Combination locks and impossible chronology abound as we attempt to...
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November 17, 2024 • 30 mins
A dive back into the recent past as we talk with Melbourne-based author Aoife Clifford about her latest novel, 'It Takes a Town'. Policewoman Carole, distressed mother Frankie, town drunk Mer(maid) and a gaggle of schoolchildren reminiscent of the Scooby Gang all team up to corner the killer of local town star Vanessa Walton, recently returned from a grand tour of fame and fortune, now found dead in the cottage of local MP Barton L...
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November 10, 2024 • 30 mins
We're joined by author and playwright Gabriel Bergmoser to talk about the print edition of his story 'The Hitchhiker', originally published as an audiobook. With the latest iteration in his 'Maggieverse', 'The Lodger' out on Audible, and a great interview from our friend Crag Sisterson up recently, we decided to revisit our earlier chat with Gabriel and share the full deep-dive (dubbed 'The Full Berg' by our editor). Diving into th...
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November 3, 2024 • 28 mins
We're joined by author Benjamin Stevenson to talk about his Christmas Special for Ernest Cunningham, 'Everyone this Christmas has a Secret'. Ernest receives a call from his ex-wife Erin - she's been arrested in the Blue Mountains, accused of her husband's murder. Lyle was days away from a big fundraiser event for his charity, only to turn up dead, the word 'Christmas' scrawled on the floor next to him in his own blood. The rest of ...
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October 27, 2024 • 30 mins
We take another visit to the floor of BAD: Sydney Crime Writers Festival 2024, to talk all about the mysteries we love so much, and the network of authors that bring it together. It takes all sorts to write mystery of all sorts, and we look at where some of Australia's best authors have been moving their ideas. The Crime Fiction community has amazing festivals all over the world, and here at Death of the Reader we're lucky enough t...
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October 20, 2024 • 30 mins
We take a visit to the floor of BAD: Sydney Crime Writers Festival 2024, to talk all about the big themes, and the way that crime fiction is tied up with the world of Justice. The Crime Fiction community has amazing festivals all over the world, and here at Death of the Reader we're lucky enough to have BAD in our own backyard. This week, the pressing issues that inspire our crime fiction. From accounts of under-resourced courts in...
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October 13, 2024 • 25 mins
Flex talks with Australian Crime Fiction great Chris Hammer about his newest novel, 'The Valley'. Ivan and Nell are summoned, suspiciously early, to a homicide just outside the town of Saltwood, in a community called The Valley. Struggling after decades of failed schemes to restore wealth to the resource-rich town, Nell stumbles upon a personal link to the crime, and has to juggle her professional interest with the risks a personal...
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September 29, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss Memories of Murder, the 2003 Crime-Drama film by Bong Joon-Ho. In rural South Korea, a series of horrifying murders has paralysed and overwhelmed the local police, who are under-resourced and inexperienced in crimes of this scale. Fortunately, a cop from the big city is here to fix everything up and save the small-town cops from themselves. Or so you'd think. We're joined by our editor Cameron Furlong of 2SER's Inquiry a...
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September 8, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 19-27 of Ngaio Marsh's Eighth Roderick Alleyn novel, 'Overture to Death'. The stage is set to catch a killer, and the domino that tipped all this monstrosity into place. So the ordeal began in the theatre, it will return. Roderick Alleyn and his squad of investigators must bring all the information together to decide on who is guilty, who is responsible, and if those two are even the same person.
We also talk wi...
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September 1, 2024 • 25 mins
We discuss chapters 10-18 of Ngaio Marsh's Eighth Roderick Alleyn novel, 'Overture to Death'. Alleyn is now on the case, and unpicking the local drama of Pen Cuckoo. The murder weapon is determined to be a rigged-up pistol linked to the soft-pedal of the piano. More the domain of childish pranks than murder weapons, Alleyn hunts down clues that lead him to Georgie Biggins, a local boy who confesses to setting the trap, but with a w...
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August 24, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 1-9 of Ngaio Marsh's Eighth Roderick Alleyn novel, 'Overture to Death'. In Pen Cuckoo, the village's top families get together to discuss their latest community effort - a fundraising play to buy a new piano. All of the village drama comes to the fore as the inheritor of the largest estate seeks to marry, setting off dominos of interpersonal drama in the love lives of those involved. It all comes to a head when ...
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August 18, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 24-33 of Michael Te Arawa Bennett's 'Return to Blood', the second novel in the Hana Westerman series. As the pieces of the puzzle begin to slot into place, Hana once again is forced to wrangle with the personal cost of justice. Addison is deep in Kiri's social circle, coming to terms with how similar they may have been had Kiri's parents not been ripped away from her as a kid. The Gods of Auckland have no favour...
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August 11, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 12-23 of Michael Te Arawa Bennett's 'Return to Blood', the second novel in the Hana Westerman series. It would seem the killer has been revealed, but could it be so easy? Hana's investigation digs up clues as to the disappearance of Paige, 20 years ago, but can she link him to Kiri's recently found skeleton? And crucially, can she do it without committing crimes herself? Addison is drawn deeper into the world of...
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August 4, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 1-11 of Michael Te Arawa Bennett's 'Return to Blood', the second novel in the Hana Westerman series. Hana has retired from the Auckland police, but her place as a crime fiction protagonist means trouble is never far away. Her daughter stumbles upon a skeleton in the sand in her hometown on a weekend away, replicating a horrible murder that happened in Hana's youth. Was the wrong killer put away, or is a copycat ...
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July 28, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss various screen adaptations of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple story, 'A Caribbean Mystery'. As is often the case with Christie's less renowned stories, the writers of adaptations take creative license that either makes things better, or makes things "better". This time around, Flex brought us the ever-reliable BBC adaptation; Agatha Christie's Miss Marple starring Joan Hickson, and Herds brought the French reimagining, Les...
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July 21, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 18-25 of Agatha Christie's 10th Miss Marple Novel, A Caribbean Mystery. The resort is plunged into open chaos as a third murder takes place and it's up to the unlikely duo of Miss Marple and the deposed Mr Rafiel to solve everything at the last minute and set the record straight. Flex and Herds debate the implications of a medical murder mystery as Nemesis takes the stage...
We're also joined by Michael Brissend...
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July 14, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 10-17 of Agatha Christie's 10th Miss Marple Novel, A Caribbean Mystery. A second murder has shaken up the holidaygoers in St Honoré. One of the hotel staff, Victoria, found dead by a bloodied Molly Kendal. Molly was seen roaming with the knife that did her in, but no alibi seems to quite line up. Has a killer struck twice, or is desperation turning more of us to monsters? It's up to Herds to find out...
We're al...
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July 7, 2024 • 30 mins
We discuss chapters 1-9 of Agatha Christie's 10th Miss Marple Novel, A Caribbean Mystery. Sent on her lonesome for a holiday she'd perhaps rather not have taken, Jane Marple is in St Honoré. After an abrupt conclusion to conversation with the usually verbose Major Palgrave, Miss Marple's perplexion turns to alarm when he is found dead the following morning. Who amidst the many scorned lovers on the island has the most to hide?
We'r...
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