April 20, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode we chat to Hollywood producer turned crime writer Kelly Mullen about her debut This is Not a Game, and her Iowa roots including a famous serial killer with a connection to the state
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Murder Junction everyone. This week on the show,
we are chatting to Kelly Mullen, former Hollywood producer, marketing
exeg now turned crime writer. Kelly would be talking to
us about her incredible career and her debut. This is
not a game. Kelly, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hi Kelly, Kelly. Where are you right now? Let's ask
that question. Where are you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I am in a hotel room in Des Moines, Iowa,
which is my hometown. I grew up here and spent Yeah, basically,
you know, ages zero to eighteen here and I'm seeing
some family and doing some book events.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Right, because when you said you were from that, we
thought maybe your mum's kicked you out, and that's why
you're in a hotel. Tell us a wee bit about
yourself in Iowa and how you came to be a writer.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, that's a lovely question. Okay, So let's see. So yeah,
I mean, honestly, Iowa was a wonderful place to grow up.
I got a great education here.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
We have.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You know, the term public school, obviously in the US,
means something different than it does in the UK. So
yes went to a public school and really just had,
you know, lovely friends and family, and it was, you know,
very kind of idyllic, I would say, And then yeah,
but I wanted to do something different, you know, with
(01:20):
my life. I wanted to live in the big city.
So I pursued a career in producing, and I lived
in California, in New York, and then London. I've been
in London for nearly a decade now, and to answer
your question about what got me into writing, it was
actually the pandemic I have been. You know, I've had
(01:41):
this creative career as a producer for two decades, and
I was always working with writers and doing creative things
in my daily life. I was writing adjacent, I guess
you could say, but I was actually not ever writing myself,
even though of course I had always wanted to be
a writer. You know, when I was a kid, I
would write short stories and things like that. But in Iowa,
(02:03):
being a writer for a living that is not like,
that's not a thing. Nobody actually thinks that that's a
job that you can do.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
You know what the people in Iowa do.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It's such a great question. We're actually along with London,
I believe, still the insurance capital of the world. There's
a lot of big insurance companies, lots of lawyers, lots
of accountants, lots of farmers. I come from a farming family.
And yeah, I mean there's also, by the way, Meredith
Group is here. You know they publish that are homes
and gardens and lots of big magazines. So there's actually
(02:37):
all kinds of things here. It's you'd be surprised.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So if you're a farmer who's into accountancy, Iowa is
the place. That's why I'm hearing right, that's.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I mean, you just describe my dad literally, that's my dad.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Shall I tell you what else I was quite well
known for?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Is it pigeons?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Killers?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Serial killers?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You google incidents of serial killers Iowa? There are quite
a few famous serial killers who have some connection to Iowa. No,
you were earlier talking, just before we began, you came
in with some nonsensical celebrity tie to to Iowa. William Shatner. No, sorry, William, No, no.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
No, no, no, no, getting it wrong again? It wrong? Not,
I said, because she said I'm in Iowa, and I said, oh,
that's where Captain Kirk's from. And and Kelly said Shatner.
I said, no, not Shartner, the character, because he's asked,
are you from out of space? And he says, no,
I'm from Iowa. I just working out of space. And
Kelly chimed in and agreed with you that she'd only
(03:42):
ever watched Star Wars. But I said, and then I said,
we couldn't be friends.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's probably because of your body Oweder. But you know,
we'll put that to one side for now. The serial
killer that that's most associated well, I wouldn't say he's
most associated with it, but he was in prison in
Iowa for quite a long time. John Wayne gacyh.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, one of the creepiest, scariest because he was a clown, right,
which is so creepy. And actually the town that my
entire family, both sides originates from is called Veliska, and
it is known for one thing which is actually one
of the world's first home invasion murders. It was a
axe murder of I believe twelve people and it's still unsolved.
(04:26):
Bill James wrote a book where he tried to solve
it using statistics with his daughter and they have a
theory about who maybe did it. But I mean, you know,
this was a turn of the century murder. But yeah,
I'm kind of obsessed with murder mysteries and true crime,
so hence, you know, I think this is why I'm here.
I think we're psychoanalyzing me right now.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I just want to like it. One thing. I just
want to want to say one thing about are you
slightly mischaracterizing John Wayne Gacy there in his role as clown?
He was actually much much loved. He cheered up little kids,
he went to hospital, he cheered up sick patients. It
was only his side activity where he murdered thirty young
(05:07):
men and buried them under his house. He wasn't wearing
a clown costume when he did that. That was entirely
off the clown part of his career.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
See, Kelly, you've upset them. Now. This is what happens
when you attack his heroes, right.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I like that we're defending clowns now. Yeah, I'm definitely
not down with that. I'm anti clown in general, especially
killer clowns.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Now, one of the one of the things that my
esteemed or unesteemed colleague just did. One of the things
he just did was to skate over your entire very
successful and glitzy Hollywood career and take you straight to
why do you want to be a writer, which, of
course is because he doesn't do any work. Don't do
any research?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Do you know what, Kelly? Is true? I haven't done
any research. Vast does all the work right, and that's
that's how that's why we work. We've been together how
long then, vas sixty two years?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Sixty two years?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And in that time, how much work done? Put it
in percentage terms? Because she's from Iowa, she liked statistics.
Three percent There you are, Kelly taken. I would have
taken two, but three three is pretty much anyway, Kelly,
before I was interrupted, tell us about your Hollywood past.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Let's see here. So so it all, you know, coming
from Maya while I'll start there. You know, it was
a bit of a bold, kind of you know, surprise
choice that I, you know, was going to move to
California and try to do a producing career. But you know,
I just kind of went for it, and I got
some amazing internships. You know, this is all very unglamorous,
you know, unpaid. This was back before those things were regulated,
(06:38):
but you know it was it was fun, you know,
I I interned for Ridley and Tony Scott. I interned
on the Warner Brothers lot for Jerry Wintraub, who's an
iconic producer of Ocean's Eleven and many other great films.
And I interned on the movie Sideways. Got some great.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Film, right, that was a but wine not one?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And then Kelly, Kelly, what we're going to do with
this guy? Well, I got it right. It was about
why stop it stop stop stop? It was a wine
was just part of the plot. It wasn't about wine.
It was about these two men.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I'm not even gonna get into it.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
You can't remember, can you? You can't remember?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It's one of the great romance movies. And you, guys,
I'm a pretty amazing romance here. So I think the
guys should want to together at the bottle.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
You know what. It's a film about people's love of wine.
So who's the Who's the most attractive man you have
met on set? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Wow, that's such an interesting question. It wasn't on set,
but I this was when I was working in independent film.
I actually later coincidentally went to UH work in development
for the producer of Sideways. His name is Michael London
and his uh he would have, you know, meetings with
amazing actors all the time, and so one time Alexander
(08:02):
Scarsguard came in for a meeting and that was Yeah,
I think I was just speechless.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
And I'm even getting chopped up now, do you know
what's this? Is true fact? I'm often mistaken for Alexander Scarsguard,
Isn't that right?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
You're often mistaken for his shorts maybe, but not not
not many other similarities. Is he not the one Godzilla
as well?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
He's done all sorts of that's a big monster.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Now, he's done all sorts of roles Godzilla.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That's cgi.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Godilla versus Congo, one of those. He's a very good actor,
and his dad was super famous as well.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Absolutely, his dad is an excellent actor. His whole family
actually are very very talented actors.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, okay, but the film I want to talk about
is Trumbull, which is a horrific film. And I know
I've seen on your profile that you you you did
lots of stuff on that and that's got of course.
Brian Cranston of Breaking Bad Fame tell us about that experience.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, that was a wonderful experience that was a script
that was given to me. It had been kind of
laying follow for a number of years. A wonderful television
writer named John McNamara had written it, and I don't
know why nobody had just you know, paid much attention
to it. And and agent I really liked and trusted
called me one day and just said, you know, I
have this amazing script and I don't know why it
(09:22):
hasn't been made. That was kind of the conversation. And
I read it overnight and thought it was the most
brilliant thing I had read in a long time, and
pitched it to my boss, Michael London, and yeah, we
went out and packaged it with an incredible cast Brian Cranston,
Helen Mirrn, John Goodman and and got it made. You know,
(09:44):
back when indie film was still a thing. You know,
it's it's it's unfortunately that the film business is in
kind of a different place now. But you know, I
do feel really lucky that I got to be a
part of that time when it was still you know,
kind of part of the bigger cultural conversation is what
I would say, I feel like movies are not necessarily
(10:05):
on that level anymore. Sadly, but yeah, we had a
wonderful time making it, and we shot it in New
Orleans and I'm still very proud of that movie.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Hell, did you ever get the feeling that everything is
shipped these days? Why is everything shipped these days compared
to you know, where it was?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You know, it's honestly that I feel that. I totally
feel that. I mean, I think a lot of it
is the economy. I think a lot of it is
social media. You know, it's I don't think I have
any kind of groundbreaking, mind blowing answer for you there.
I just and obviously post COVID things change.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I have the mind blower when it comes pigeons, what's
the answer.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
It's close to pigeons. It's young people. People we think
have been comed down for young people who are They
can't they can't, they can't take a movie that actually
has a plot if it doesn't have it doesn't have
fifty minutes of c GI.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yes we can, Yes we can. On behalf of me
and the other fellow kids, we canad.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Okay, So so did you ever get to throw your
weight around on set as a producer. Did you get
into's face and say, you know, whatever.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
That better, Cranston, You can't act first.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Absolutely not, No, no, definitely not. And you know I
still work in entertainment, by the way, So I think
you guys think this is going to be a big
gossip session, but unfortunately I still have to be a professional.
So we might need to start talking about books. But
to answer, no, I don't throw my weight around.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I think no, we should talk about your book. Tell
us about you were in lockdown. We left the conversation
at lockdown because this seemed rudely interrupted to talk about film,
which is dead dying, by the way. So tell us
tell us about the process and how you how you
came to write this book.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Well, it was let's see, so I signed up for
a Curtis Brown Creative Writing your Novel course. It was
a three month course and you know, honestly, it was
the best thing for me. It was it was structured,
but not too structured. I had a full time job.
I still have a full time job, and you know,
there was only so much time I could commit to it.
(12:23):
But it and you know, it felt really vulnerable, like
putting your work out there, posting it, you know, on
this board for twenty people that you don't know to
comment on, you know, to not have written anything before
and then to go to that it was it was
intense at first, but then it was, honestly just the
most lovely group of classmates were all still friends. I
(12:44):
had great instructors, and then wonderful vass Scene came into
my life as my mentor. Thank you vus Seem and
thank you Curtis Brown for connecting us. And yeah, and
then I did their Finishing your Novel course as well,
which helped me. I mean, I to be honest, I
need that accountability. I need that feeling of I don't
(13:05):
want to say homework because that sounds really unsexy, but
you know, I am the kind of a student type personality,
and I think having that feeling of structure helped me
take writing seriously. If I hadn't taken a writing course, honestly,
I don't think I would have ever done this with
my life.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well, the Curtis Brown course is amazing, and there's a
number of people who testify for that, but you deserve
special credit because you know, to overcome the hurdle of
having Vassinine as your mentor and still succeed is it's
very it's less like a moonshot. So congratulations, call you
more than anyone deserve this, right, So tell us, now,
(13:41):
tell us about the book. Has it got elephants in it?
Better not have an elephant in it? He loves elephants.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
There are docsins in it. I'm a huge animal person,
so yes, two doctions are in it. But it is
a murder mystery. It is about a grandmother and granddaughter
who find themselves at a glamorous mansion party and the hostess,
who we find out has been blackmailing the grandmother, Mimi,
ends up dead and they have to pair up and
(14:10):
solve the mystery together, but they also kind of have
to work through their family issues in the process. They're
not they're not as stranged would we meet them, but
they've had a little bit of a falling out and
they kind of have a history of conflict in their relationship,
but there is deep love there. And so yeah, I thought,
I thought that would be a joyful thing to write,
you know, to have that kind of fun, sassy Golden
(14:32):
Girls type dynamic between two female characters as they're solving
a mystery.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Wow, I like that, And I like conflicts. You like
conflicts don't you fuss fake like you like all breakfast cereals.
So he's spiritless.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I'll tell you what's happened here. I've just realized that
you're dressed exactly like Where's Wally? Or where's Waldo? As
they know in space, you're literally wearing a red and whites? Right,
What you've got to say?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Where am I? Where am I?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
All you're missing is a Bubba her the brown? Where's Wally?
Nothing could be more apped.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
You don't have a clue where I am.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm going to go back to Kelly's book for a
second there.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, I think you should the characters.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Where do these characters? Because because I know that you've
got a special connection to these characters, tell us a
bit about the background to these characters.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah. So the grandmother character Mimi is loosely based on
my own grandmother, who I call Mimi. Most of the
similarities stop there, but the character of Mimi is very
kind of brassy and salty, and she kind of says
what she feels like, and she drinks and she smokes,
and she's unapologetic. And I would say some of those
(15:47):
qualities are definitely, you know, qualities that my grandmother has
as well. And then Mimi sorry Addie, her granddaughter is
a video game designer. And I also have a connection
to that because when I was working in my day
job at the time, I was working with all the
big global gaming companies, So I was working with Unreal
(16:08):
Engine and Epic and Roadblocks, and I was learning all
about game design and game storytelling. And it occurred to
me when I was learning all this new new style
basically of storyteller telling, that the way a game designer
thinks and the way a detective thinks actually has a
(16:29):
lot of overlaps. So I thought it would be fun
to explore that through a character in the novel. So
that's that's ADDIE's kind of worldview when she's looking at
the mystery.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
And what you've done here is you've got a lock
room mystery, but you've also got a close circle, you know,
very Christie is they're stuck on this little island with
a handful of suspects, so it's got to be one
of one of them who's guilty. Tell us about the island.
Mackinac Island, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Mackinaw Island is how they say it's it's a beautiful
little jewel of an island in the Great Lakes. There's
actually a ban on cars, which is interesting, and that
was partially why I chose it, because it shuts down
for half the year and you can only actually ride
around on a snowmobile or just by foot, or on
horse taxi. Actually those are the modes of transportation. So
(17:19):
you know, it's isolated. There's kind of a claustrophobia to it,
but it's beautiful. It's got this incredible Victorian architecture and
a big, big hotel there called the Grand Hotels. That's
kind of iconic and it's been in several movies, and
I just thought, oh, it'd be quite fun to set,
you know, a mystery there, and then specifically during the
(17:41):
off season, so you can't get off the island and
you know, there's a big snowstorm and all the fun tropes.
I love tropes. A lot of people are snooty about tropes,
but you know, when you're doing a kind of Golden
Age type mystery, I just feel like it's fun to
play with tropes.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
And you've certainly got some very obnoxious characters, even more
obnoxious than my than my colleague kid.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It's very fun. Honestly to write that kind of cast
of suspects. I mean, it's funny that the label cozy
mystery never totally feels right to me because I think
it's kind of cozy with an edge. It's definitely a
little bit more of a naives out feel. I definitely
love that kind of intersection of like playful humor and crime,
you know, sort of Cohen Brothers, you know style, like
(18:25):
you know, laugh while while people are getting murdered. So
that is, you know, that was definitely something I wanted
to play with with the cast of characters, so there's
all kinds of fun suspects in it. I would just
say to highlight a couple. Woody is you know am
I allowed to swear on the podcast Guys what. He's
(18:45):
an asshole and he was very fun to write because
he and me me, they don't really get along. So
writing the two of them together in a room was
just pure joy. As this is all coming back to conflict.
I enjoy writing conflict.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And you have to describe Woody. I've got I've got
Woody from Toy Story in my head.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I've got Woody from Cheers, who's a much better character.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Wood He is a failed actor, and he's just bitter
about life and he takes it out on everybody, but
specifically Mimi Wood. He has a real problem with women,
and Mimi senses it from minute one, and there's just
constant loggerheads there, and and you know, he's he's also
you know, he's very untrusting and and I probably I
(19:32):
don't want to say too much more about each character
because I feel like then we're getting into spoilers. But
I would say he was my favorite one to write.
And then my other favorite one to write is actually
very Onique, and she's a perfume nose, so I'm obsessed
with perfume. I really got into fragrance during the pandemic.
This is all this book is all, you know, born
(19:54):
out of my pandemic obsessions. And yeah, Very Nique is
she's a French knows and she creates, you know, a
really high end bespoke fragrances for wealthy people, and she
is really fascinating to me. And I also, by the way,
just love that world of people who do that for
a living. I didn't I don't think I even really
(20:15):
realized that that was a real job until I started
doing the research. And honestly, I feel like that's a
career path that I could have gone down. You know,
maybe maybe I still will someday.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You should, you know, you know, because he is rich,
he has got his own fragrance. It's called oh the
sad man.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That didn't even make any sense, That does not make anything.
I am intrigued by the whole nose thing. So is
that is it genetic? Do you can anyone train to
be a.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Nose or noses run in our family?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I think I think definitely, just kind of like wine
or any other kind of you know, sensorial profession. I
feel like you have to have kind of a gift
for it. But but yeah, I mean I think anybody
can can probably train and get better at it. It's
probably a craft, you know, just like writing. Right, we
all can't we all can't be Stephen King, but we can,
(21:17):
you know, work at it and try to be as
good as we can possibly be. So I would imagine
the same is true for noses, if that's the right plural.
For professional perfume makers.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
We can't all be Stephen King. Now Never a true
word has been said, because it would just get confusing.
What are you working on? Next, Oh no, no before that.
So you're in America. Now you're touring this book, You're
in des Moines. Are we going to see you over
here publicizing the bit? You're going to be doing a
bit of a tour here, you bet.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
So I live in the UK and I'm actually you know,
that's my home market, that's my home publisher is Century
in the UK. So I it just kind of worked
out because of timings. I was going to be here first,
but I am going all over the UK. Let's see.
I've got a Capital Crime event that I'm doing, an
amazing panel with Rob Rinder and Jeremy Vine, and I'm
(22:12):
going to be actually doing a few other things. I'm
going to be doing Henley, I believe. And yeah, I
think there's probably going to be about ten UK book
events total, So you may not want to see that
much of me, but I'm definitely going to be around.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
That's brilliant. I think. I think the more people that
come out to see you the better.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Quite frankly, the book is a big deal for your publisher,
it's a big deal for you, and obviously.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
It is actually out, so they moved the publication date
up so it is out now it is in stores,
it is on the shelves. Everybody.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
This is not a game, ladies and gentlemen. It's called
this is not a game. I apologize profusely for Hysim
and for Kelly, who should have told you at least
eight times what it was called by night. I mean, Kelly,
this is not a game, right, This is serious.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
This is serious book business, everybody. And and I've got
my second book coming out April next year, so and
that is a standalone I want. I want to write
a sequel, by the way, to this is not a game.
But first things first, we've got another murder mystery coming
out in April.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
What's that called?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
That is called a murder in eight Cocktails. That's lights
you guys. By the way, I haven't told anybody the
title yet, so you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
It's an exclusive writers exclusive, ladies and gentlemen. I want
a copy. That's my language. Eight Cocktails. That's I'm here for.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
That is is that a similar set in the golden
Golden Age?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Well, it's going to be contemporary, but it's going to
have Golden Age elements. So everything I do I want
to have a timeless quality. So it's inspired by Golden Age,
but it's set in the modern era as well, and
it's going to be a husband and wife duo, so
it's going to have some screwball comedy type fun to it,
some Nick and Nora vibes.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I'm thinking to heart.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yes, heart to heart, Oh my god, amazing throw back.
Yes to heart to heart?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Didn't he kill his wife? Or did I just make
that up? I'm going to get something allegedly. I'm asking
the question. I don't know if it's fact, Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
He wasn't just as a clown though when he did it.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
They wouldn't even let him into Iowa dressed like that.
I don't know I should I want to ask a
quick Now you're here on this line, because you're on
you're in America, and you mentioned this island with horse
drawn carts. Now fast. That reminded me. You've been on
a horse drawn cart this week? You were having a
donkey race in Egypt. You were in Cairo. Why don't
(24:43):
you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, I went to I went to Egypt. I ended
up it was going to be just me and my missus.
Then my two sisters joined in and and then and
their kids. So it ended up at a great, big, fat
Asian holiday.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
And I'm sure your wife loved that.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
She did, actually she did.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
It was most romantic. Twelve people who are do that?
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, it was lovely. And you know, we did all
the touristy things, the pyramids, etc. But we saw these
what would you call them horse carriages for want of
a better word, and we ended up my wife and
I in one that was being driven is that the.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Right word for it?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
By a thirteen year old who decided And of course
if you've been to Cairo, you'll know that there are
no traffic lights. Nobody cares about the fact that people
are just bearing down on you. The way to cross
the road is to basically go in front of cars.
And I've seen this now with my own eyes and
just put your hand up and hope that the car stops.
But they all seem to do it locally. And this
guy just dove into traffic with the with his horse carriage,
(25:47):
and then one of his friends was coming up along
the side, and so he decided to remake what was it,
ben her the chariot race from ben Hur in the
middle of Cairo traffic. I tell you what it was.
It was lovely. It was fun. I wasn't sure i'd
make it to the end of it, end of that
particular ride, but it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Well, we we are very happy that you did, because
otherwise I would have ended up having to do all
the work for the podcast and I don't want to
do that.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
But you had an even more hair hair raising experience
this week. Oh yeah, for some reason that I cannot find, Yeah,
left you in charge.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Well, she's left me for like, she's gone, she's taking
one of the kids and she's gone on a holiday
to South Africa, and I've got the other one. And
it's weird. I'm a single parent and it's mad because
it's it's it's two boys, it's me and the boy,
and it's like none of us have a clue about anything.
But nothing is on fire yet, which is well, well,
(26:48):
nothing much is on fire yet, which is which is
quite good.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
But you are wearing where Wear's Wally's shirt, which.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I'm just I'm just wearing that's I found in the
boys cupboard.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The only good thing I can say about that is
that Where's Wally? The books have sold like one hundred
million copies, which is one hundred million more than you
or I have it I've sold.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
But you've gotta have to say that, You've got to
rub it in that I haven't sold a hundred million books, right,
Maybe maybe if I invented an elephant right to go
around with the characters all the time like a crutch,
like a literary crutch. It's just a gimmick, then maybe
i'd sell a hundred million.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I just don't have crutches. What are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Elephants do have crutches. It's a trunk. You never seen
a trunk crutch.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Kelly, to wind up? You've told us what you're working on.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Next, have you run out of questions the next? Oh,
dear Kelly, look what you've done.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
You see what you've done that you've interrupted me mid flow.
Mid flow, I was gonna ask her when she's gonna
when she's gonna add her name to the roster of
Iowa serial killers. But now you've just you've taken taken
the wind out of myself. There.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry Kelly that you didn't get
to answer that partecular question.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
You know, someday I would like to write or do
something in the true crime space. So you know, maybe
maybe I can consider that research exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Maybe I'll tell you what I'll do, Kelly, to help
you along the way, I will give you Vassams to
dress after this. There you go.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah, but if you're gonna kill me, please please don't
wear a clown costume or do love that.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
He will love that much.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
My mind. They're much pin.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Side is how he wants to go.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Quite frankly, it's been absolutely lovely, absolutely lovely having you
on the show. And this is not a game. He's
already out thorough recommend from from the pair of.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Us, and I suppose vacine. That brings us to the
close of another episode. Once again, if you'd like the show,
can we ask you to leave a ref you sign
up for regular episodes using your favorite podcast app, and
please do spread the word service. If we were a
big shot Hollywood users, do you think we would get
(29:02):
the best actors in the business to work for us.
I'm pretty sure we would. It would work for us.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Well, I've heard that Rick moranis is available.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
That's you sorting. He can play you. And I've got
Alan scars guards right Well.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I was thinking more for you.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
All right, Okay, well you know what. And on that
Hollywood tinsel town note, we have been your friends. The
Red Hot Chiley writers on Murder Junction, See you next time,
Welcome to Murder Junction everyone. This week on the show,
we are chatting to Kelly Mullen, former Hollywood producer, marketing
exeg now turned crime writer. Kelly would be talking to
us about her incredible career and her debut. This is
not a game. Kelly, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hi Kelly, Kelly. Where are you right now? Let's ask
that question. Where are you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I am in a hotel room in Des Moines, Iowa,
which is my hometown. I grew up here and spent Yeah, basically,
you know, ages zero to eighteen here and I'm seeing
some family and doing some book events.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Right, because when you said you were from that, we
thought maybe your mum's kicked you out, and that's why
you're in a hotel. Tell us a wee bit about
yourself in Iowa and how you came to be a writer.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, that's a lovely question. Okay, So let's see. So yeah,
I mean, honestly, Iowa was a wonderful place to grow up.
I got a great education here.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
We have.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You know, the term public school, obviously in the US,
means something different than it does in the UK. So
yes went to a public school and really just had,
you know, lovely friends and family, and it was, you know,
very kind of idyllic, I would say, And then yeah,
but I wanted to do something different, you know, with
(01:20):
my life. I wanted to live in the big city.
So I pursued a career in producing, and I lived
in California, in New York, and then London. I've been
in London for nearly a decade now, and to answer
your question about what got me into writing, it was
actually the pandemic I have been. You know, I've had
(01:41):
this creative career as a producer for two decades, and
I was always working with writers and doing creative things
in my daily life. I was writing adjacent, I guess
you could say, but I was actually not ever writing myself,
even though of course I had always wanted to be
a writer. You know, when I was a kid, I
would write short stories and things like that. But in Iowa,
(02:03):
being a writer for a living that is not like,
that's not a thing. Nobody actually thinks that that's a
job that you can do.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
You know what the people in Iowa do.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It's such a great question. We're actually along with London,
I believe, still the insurance capital of the world. There's
a lot of big insurance companies, lots of lawyers, lots
of accountants, lots of farmers. I come from a farming family.
And yeah, I mean there's also, by the way, Meredith
Group is here. You know they publish that are homes
and gardens and lots of big magazines. So there's actually
(02:37):
all kinds of things here. It's you'd be surprised.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So if you're a farmer who's into accountancy, Iowa is
the place. That's why I'm hearing right, that's.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I mean, you just describe my dad literally, that's my dad.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Shall I tell you what else I was quite well
known for?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Is it pigeons?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Killers?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Serial killers?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You google incidents of serial killers Iowa? There are quite
a few famous serial killers who have some connection to Iowa. No,
you were earlier talking, just before we began, you came
in with some nonsensical celebrity tie to to Iowa. William Shatner. No, sorry, William, No, no.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
No, no, no, no, getting it wrong again? It wrong? Not,
I said, because she said I'm in Iowa, and I said, oh,
that's where Captain Kirk's from. And and Kelly said Shatner.
I said, no, not Shartner, the character, because he's asked,
are you from out of space? And he says, no,
I'm from Iowa. I just working out of space. And
Kelly chimed in and agreed with you that she'd only
(03:42):
ever watched Star Wars. But I said, and then I said,
we couldn't be friends.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's probably because of your body Oweder. But you know,
we'll put that to one side for now. The serial
killer that that's most associated well, I wouldn't say he's
most associated with it, but he was in prison in
Iowa for quite a long time. John Wayne gacyh.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, one of the creepiest, scariest because he was a clown, right,
which is so creepy. And actually the town that my
entire family, both sides originates from is called Veliska, and
it is known for one thing which is actually one
of the world's first home invasion murders. It was a
axe murder of I believe twelve people and it's still unsolved.
(04:26):
Bill James wrote a book where he tried to solve
it using statistics with his daughter and they have a
theory about who maybe did it. But I mean, you know,
this was a turn of the century murder. But yeah,
I'm kind of obsessed with murder mysteries and true crime,
so hence, you know, I think this is why I'm here.
I think we're psychoanalyzing me right now.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I just want to like it. One thing. I just
want to want to say one thing about are you
slightly mischaracterizing John Wayne Gacy there in his role as clown?
He was actually much much loved. He cheered up little kids,
he went to hospital, he cheered up sick patients. It
was only his side activity where he murdered thirty young
(05:07):
men and buried them under his house. He wasn't wearing
a clown costume when he did that. That was entirely
off the clown part of his career.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
See, Kelly, you've upset them. Now. This is what happens
when you attack his heroes, right.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I like that we're defending clowns now. Yeah, I'm definitely
not down with that. I'm anti clown in general, especially
killer clowns.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Now, one of the one of the things that my
esteemed or unesteemed colleague just did. One of the things
he just did was to skate over your entire very
successful and glitzy Hollywood career and take you straight to
why do you want to be a writer, which, of
course is because he doesn't do any work. Don't do
any research?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Do you know what, Kelly? Is true? I haven't done
any research. Vast does all the work right, and that's
that's how that's why we work. We've been together how
long then, vas sixty two years?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Sixty two years?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And in that time, how much work done? Put it
in percentage terms? Because she's from Iowa, she liked statistics.
Three percent There you are, Kelly taken. I would have
taken two, but three three is pretty much anyway, Kelly,
before I was interrupted, tell us about your Hollywood past.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Let's see here. So so it all, you know, coming
from Maya while I'll start there. You know, it was
a bit of a bold, kind of you know, surprise
choice that I, you know, was going to move to
California and try to do a producing career. But you know,
I just kind of went for it, and I got
some amazing internships. You know, this is all very unglamorous,
you know, unpaid. This was back before those things were regulated,
(06:38):
but you know it was it was fun, you know,
I I interned for Ridley and Tony Scott. I interned
on the Warner Brothers lot for Jerry Wintraub, who's an
iconic producer of Ocean's Eleven and many other great films.
And I interned on the movie Sideways. Got some great.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Film, right, that was a but wine not one?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And then Kelly, Kelly, what we're going to do with
this guy? Well, I got it right. It was about
why stop it stop stop stop? It was a wine
was just part of the plot. It wasn't about wine.
It was about these two men.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I'm not even gonna get into it.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
You can't remember, can you? You can't remember?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It's one of the great romance movies. And you, guys,
I'm a pretty amazing romance here. So I think the
guys should want to together at the bottle.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
You know what. It's a film about people's love of wine.
So who's the Who's the most attractive man you have
met on set? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Wow, that's such an interesting question. It wasn't on set,
but I this was when I was working in independent film.
I actually later coincidentally went to UH work in development
for the producer of Sideways. His name is Michael London
and his uh he would have, you know, meetings with
amazing actors all the time, and so one time Alexander
(08:02):
Scarsguard came in for a meeting and that was Yeah,
I think I was just speechless.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
And I'm even getting chopped up now, do you know
what's this? Is true fact? I'm often mistaken for Alexander Scarsguard,
Isn't that right?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
You're often mistaken for his shorts maybe, but not not
not many other similarities. Is he not the one Godzilla
as well?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
He's done all sorts of that's a big monster.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Now, he's done all sorts of roles Godzilla.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That's cgi.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Godilla versus Congo, one of those. He's a very good actor,
and his dad was super famous as well.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Absolutely, his dad is an excellent actor. His whole family
actually are very very talented actors.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, okay, but the film I want to talk about
is Trumbull, which is a horrific film. And I know
I've seen on your profile that you you you did
lots of stuff on that and that's got of course.
Brian Cranston of Breaking Bad Fame tell us about that experience.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, that was a wonderful experience that was a script
that was given to me. It had been kind of
laying follow for a number of years. A wonderful television
writer named John McNamara had written it, and I don't
know why nobody had just you know, paid much attention
to it. And and agent I really liked and trusted
called me one day and just said, you know, I
have this amazing script and I don't know why it
(09:22):
hasn't been made. That was kind of the conversation. And
I read it overnight and thought it was the most
brilliant thing I had read in a long time, and
pitched it to my boss, Michael London, and yeah, we
went out and packaged it with an incredible cast Brian Cranston,
Helen Mirrn, John Goodman and and got it made. You know,
(09:44):
back when indie film was still a thing. You know,
it's it's it's unfortunately that the film business is in
kind of a different place now. But you know, I
do feel really lucky that I got to be a
part of that time when it was still you know,
kind of part of the bigger cultural conversation is what
I would say, I feel like movies are not necessarily
(10:05):
on that level anymore. Sadly, but yeah, we had a
wonderful time making it, and we shot it in New
Orleans and I'm still very proud of that movie.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Hell, did you ever get the feeling that everything is
shipped these days? Why is everything shipped these days compared
to you know, where it was?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You know, it's honestly that I feel that. I totally
feel that. I mean, I think a lot of it
is the economy. I think a lot of it is
social media. You know, it's I don't think I have
any kind of groundbreaking, mind blowing answer for you there.
I just and obviously post COVID things change.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I have the mind blower when it comes pigeons, what's
the answer.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
It's close to pigeons. It's young people. People we think
have been comed down for young people who are They
can't they can't, they can't take a movie that actually
has a plot if it doesn't have it doesn't have
fifty minutes of c GI.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yes we can, Yes we can. On behalf of me
and the other fellow kids, we canad.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Okay, So so did you ever get to throw your
weight around on set as a producer. Did you get
into's face and say, you know, whatever.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
That better, Cranston, You can't act first.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Absolutely not, No, no, definitely not. And you know I
still work in entertainment, by the way, So I think
you guys think this is going to be a big
gossip session, but unfortunately I still have to be a professional.
So we might need to start talking about books. But
to answer, no, I don't throw my weight around.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I think no, we should talk about your book. Tell
us about you were in lockdown. We left the conversation
at lockdown because this seemed rudely interrupted to talk about film,
which is dead dying, by the way. So tell us
tell us about the process and how you how you
came to write this book.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Well, it was let's see, so I signed up for
a Curtis Brown Creative Writing your Novel course. It was
a three month course and you know, honestly, it was
the best thing for me. It was it was structured,
but not too structured. I had a full time job.
I still have a full time job, and you know,
there was only so much time I could commit to it.
(12:23):
But it and you know, it felt really vulnerable, like
putting your work out there, posting it, you know, on
this board for twenty people that you don't know to
comment on, you know, to not have written anything before
and then to go to that it was it was
intense at first, but then it was, honestly just the
most lovely group of classmates were all still friends. I
(12:44):
had great instructors, and then wonderful vass Scene came into
my life as my mentor. Thank you vus Seem and
thank you Curtis Brown for connecting us. And yeah, and
then I did their Finishing your Novel course as well,
which helped me. I mean, I to be honest, I
need that accountability. I need that feeling of I don't
(13:05):
want to say homework because that sounds really unsexy, but
you know, I am the kind of a student type personality,
and I think having that feeling of structure helped me
take writing seriously. If I hadn't taken a writing course, honestly,
I don't think I would have ever done this with
my life.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well, the Curtis Brown course is amazing, and there's a
number of people who testify for that, but you deserve
special credit because you know, to overcome the hurdle of
having Vassinine as your mentor and still succeed is it's
very it's less like a moonshot. So congratulations, call you
more than anyone deserve this, right, So tell us, now,
(13:41):
tell us about the book. Has it got elephants in it?
Better not have an elephant in it? He loves elephants.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
There are docsins in it. I'm a huge animal person,
so yes, two doctions are in it. But it is
a murder mystery. It is about a grandmother and granddaughter
who find themselves at a glamorous mansion party and the hostess,
who we find out has been blackmailing the grandmother, Mimi,
ends up dead and they have to pair up and
(14:10):
solve the mystery together, but they also kind of have
to work through their family issues in the process. They're
not they're not as stranged would we meet them, but
they've had a little bit of a falling out and
they kind of have a history of conflict in their relationship,
but there is deep love there. And so yeah, I thought,
I thought that would be a joyful thing to write,
you know, to have that kind of fun, sassy Golden
(14:32):
Girls type dynamic between two female characters as they're solving
a mystery.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Wow, I like that, And I like conflicts. You like
conflicts don't you fuss fake like you like all breakfast cereals.
So he's spiritless.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I'll tell you what's happened here. I've just realized that
you're dressed exactly like Where's Wally? Or where's Waldo? As
they know in space, you're literally wearing a red and whites? Right,
What you've got to say?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Where am I? Where am I?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
All you're missing is a Bubba her the brown? Where's Wally?
Nothing could be more apped.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
You don't have a clue where I am.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm going to go back to Kelly's book for a
second there.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, I think you should the characters.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Where do these characters? Because because I know that you've
got a special connection to these characters, tell us a
bit about the background to these characters.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah. So the grandmother character Mimi is loosely based on
my own grandmother, who I call Mimi. Most of the
similarities stop there, but the character of Mimi is very
kind of brassy and salty, and she kind of says
what she feels like, and she drinks and she smokes,
and she's unapologetic. And I would say some of those
(15:47):
qualities are definitely, you know, qualities that my grandmother has
as well. And then Mimi sorry Addie, her granddaughter is
a video game designer. And I also have a connection
to that because when I was working in my day
job at the time, I was working with all the
big global gaming companies, So I was working with Unreal
(16:08):
Engine and Epic and Roadblocks, and I was learning all
about game design and game storytelling. And it occurred to
me when I was learning all this new new style
basically of storyteller telling, that the way a game designer
thinks and the way a detective thinks actually has a
(16:29):
lot of overlaps. So I thought it would be fun
to explore that through a character in the novel. So
that's that's ADDIE's kind of worldview when she's looking at
the mystery.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
And what you've done here is you've got a lock
room mystery, but you've also got a close circle, you know,
very Christie is they're stuck on this little island with
a handful of suspects, so it's got to be one
of one of them who's guilty. Tell us about the island.
Mackinac Island, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Mackinaw Island is how they say it's it's a beautiful
little jewel of an island in the Great Lakes. There's
actually a ban on cars, which is interesting, and that
was partially why I chose it, because it shuts down
for half the year and you can only actually ride
around on a snowmobile or just by foot, or on
horse taxi. Actually those are the modes of transportation. So
(17:19):
you know, it's isolated. There's kind of a claustrophobia to it,
but it's beautiful. It's got this incredible Victorian architecture and
a big, big hotel there called the Grand Hotels. That's
kind of iconic and it's been in several movies, and
I just thought, oh, it'd be quite fun to set,
you know, a mystery there, and then specifically during the
(17:41):
off season, so you can't get off the island and
you know, there's a big snowstorm and all the fun tropes.
I love tropes. A lot of people are snooty about tropes,
but you know, when you're doing a kind of Golden
Age type mystery, I just feel like it's fun to
play with tropes.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
And you've certainly got some very obnoxious characters, even more
obnoxious than my than my colleague kid.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It's very fun. Honestly to write that kind of cast
of suspects. I mean, it's funny that the label cozy
mystery never totally feels right to me because I think
it's kind of cozy with an edge. It's definitely a
little bit more of a naives out feel. I definitely
love that kind of intersection of like playful humor and crime,
you know, sort of Cohen Brothers, you know style, like
(18:25):
you know, laugh while while people are getting murdered. So
that is, you know, that was definitely something I wanted
to play with with the cast of characters, so there's
all kinds of fun suspects in it. I would just
say to highlight a couple. Woody is you know am
I allowed to swear on the podcast Guys what. He's
(18:45):
an asshole and he was very fun to write because
he and me me, they don't really get along. So
writing the two of them together in a room was
just pure joy. As this is all coming back to conflict.
I enjoy writing conflict.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And you have to describe Woody. I've got I've got
Woody from Toy Story in my head.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I've got Woody from Cheers, who's a much better character.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Wood He is a failed actor, and he's just bitter
about life and he takes it out on everybody, but
specifically Mimi Wood. He has a real problem with women,
and Mimi senses it from minute one, and there's just
constant loggerheads there, and and you know, he's he's also
you know, he's very untrusting and and I probably I
(19:32):
don't want to say too much more about each character
because I feel like then we're getting into spoilers. But
I would say he was my favorite one to write.
And then my other favorite one to write is actually
very Onique, and she's a perfume nose, so I'm obsessed
with perfume. I really got into fragrance during the pandemic.
This is all this book is all, you know, born
(19:54):
out of my pandemic obsessions. And yeah, Very Nique is
she's a French knows and she creates, you know, a
really high end bespoke fragrances for wealthy people, and she
is really fascinating to me. And I also, by the way,
just love that world of people who do that for
a living. I didn't I don't think I even really
(20:15):
realized that that was a real job until I started
doing the research. And honestly, I feel like that's a
career path that I could have gone down. You know,
maybe maybe I still will someday.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You should, you know, you know, because he is rich,
he has got his own fragrance. It's called oh the
sad man.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That didn't even make any sense, That does not make anything.
I am intrigued by the whole nose thing. So is
that is it genetic? Do you can anyone train to
be a.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Nose or noses run in our family?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I think I think definitely, just kind of like wine
or any other kind of you know, sensorial profession. I
feel like you have to have kind of a gift
for it. But but yeah, I mean I think anybody
can can probably train and get better at it. It's
probably a craft, you know, just like writing. Right, we
all can't we all can't be Stephen King, but we can,
(21:17):
you know, work at it and try to be as
good as we can possibly be. So I would imagine
the same is true for noses, if that's the right plural.
For professional perfume makers.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
We can't all be Stephen King. Now Never a true
word has been said, because it would just get confusing.
What are you working on? Next, Oh no, no before that.
So you're in America. Now you're touring this book, You're
in des Moines. Are we going to see you over
here publicizing the bit? You're going to be doing a
bit of a tour here, you bet.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
So I live in the UK and I'm actually you know,
that's my home market, that's my home publisher is Century
in the UK. So I it just kind of worked
out because of timings. I was going to be here first,
but I am going all over the UK. Let's see.
I've got a Capital Crime event that I'm doing, an
amazing panel with Rob Rinder and Jeremy Vine, and I'm
(22:12):
going to be actually doing a few other things. I'm
going to be doing Henley, I believe. And yeah, I
think there's probably going to be about ten UK book
events total, So you may not want to see that
much of me, but I'm definitely going to be around.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
That's brilliant. I think. I think the more people that
come out to see you the better.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Quite frankly, the book is a big deal for your publisher,
it's a big deal for you, and obviously.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
It is actually out, so they moved the publication date
up so it is out now it is in stores,
it is on the shelves. Everybody.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
This is not a game, ladies and gentlemen. It's called
this is not a game. I apologize profusely for Hysim
and for Kelly, who should have told you at least
eight times what it was called by night. I mean, Kelly,
this is not a game, right, This is serious.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
This is serious book business, everybody. And and I've got
my second book coming out April next year, so and
that is a standalone I want. I want to write
a sequel, by the way, to this is not a game.
But first things first, we've got another murder mystery coming
out in April.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
What's that called?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
That is called a murder in eight Cocktails. That's lights
you guys. By the way, I haven't told anybody the
title yet, so you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
It's an exclusive writers exclusive, ladies and gentlemen. I want
a copy. That's my language. Eight Cocktails. That's I'm here for.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
That is is that a similar set in the golden
Golden Age?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Well, it's going to be contemporary, but it's going to
have Golden Age elements. So everything I do I want
to have a timeless quality. So it's inspired by Golden Age,
but it's set in the modern era as well, and
it's going to be a husband and wife duo, so
it's going to have some screwball comedy type fun to it,
some Nick and Nora vibes.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I'm thinking to heart.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yes, heart to heart, Oh my god, amazing throw back.
Yes to heart to heart?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Didn't he kill his wife? Or did I just make
that up? I'm going to get something allegedly. I'm asking
the question. I don't know if it's fact, Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
He wasn't just as a clown though when he did it.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
They wouldn't even let him into Iowa dressed like that.
I don't know I should I want to ask a
quick Now you're here on this line, because you're on
you're in America, and you mentioned this island with horse
drawn carts. Now fast. That reminded me. You've been on
a horse drawn cart this week? You were having a
donkey race in Egypt. You were in Cairo. Why don't
(24:43):
you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, I went to I went to Egypt. I ended
up it was going to be just me and my missus.
Then my two sisters joined in and and then and
their kids. So it ended up at a great, big, fat
Asian holiday.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
And I'm sure your wife loved that.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
She did, actually she did.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
It was most romantic. Twelve people who are do that?
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, it was lovely. And you know, we did all
the touristy things, the pyramids, etc. But we saw these
what would you call them horse carriages for want of
a better word, and we ended up my wife and
I in one that was being driven is that the.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Right word for it?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
By a thirteen year old who decided And of course
if you've been to Cairo, you'll know that there are
no traffic lights. Nobody cares about the fact that people
are just bearing down on you. The way to cross
the road is to basically go in front of cars.
And I've seen this now with my own eyes and
just put your hand up and hope that the car stops.
But they all seem to do it locally. And this
guy just dove into traffic with the with his horse carriage,
(25:47):
and then one of his friends was coming up along
the side, and so he decided to remake what was it,
ben her the chariot race from ben Hur in the
middle of Cairo traffic. I tell you what it was.
It was lovely. It was fun. I wasn't sure i'd
make it to the end of it, end of that
particular ride, but it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Well, we we are very happy that you did, because
otherwise I would have ended up having to do all
the work for the podcast and I don't want to
do that.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
But you had an even more hair hair raising experience
this week. Oh yeah, for some reason that I cannot find, Yeah,
left you in charge.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Well, she's left me for like, she's gone, she's taking
one of the kids and she's gone on a holiday
to South Africa, and I've got the other one. And
it's weird. I'm a single parent and it's mad because
it's it's it's two boys, it's me and the boy,
and it's like none of us have a clue about anything.
But nothing is on fire yet, which is well, well,
(26:48):
nothing much is on fire yet, which is which is
quite good.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
But you are wearing where Wear's Wally's shirt, which.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I'm just I'm just wearing that's I found in the
boys cupboard.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The only good thing I can say about that is
that Where's Wally? The books have sold like one hundred
million copies, which is one hundred million more than you
or I have it I've sold.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
But you've gotta have to say that, You've got to
rub it in that I haven't sold a hundred million books, right,
Maybe maybe if I invented an elephant right to go
around with the characters all the time like a crutch,
like a literary crutch. It's just a gimmick, then maybe
i'd sell a hundred million.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I just don't have crutches. What are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Elephants do have crutches. It's a trunk. You never seen
a trunk crutch.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Kelly, to wind up? You've told us what you're working on.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Next, have you run out of questions the next? Oh,
dear Kelly, look what you've done.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
You see what you've done that you've interrupted me mid flow.
Mid flow, I was gonna ask her when she's gonna
when she's gonna add her name to the roster of
Iowa serial killers. But now you've just you've taken taken
the wind out of myself. There.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry Kelly that you didn't get
to answer that partecular question.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
You know, someday I would like to write or do
something in the true crime space. So you know, maybe
maybe I can consider that research exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Maybe I'll tell you what I'll do, Kelly, to help
you along the way, I will give you Vassams to
dress after this. There you go.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yeah, but if you're gonna kill me, please please don't
wear a clown costume or do love that.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
He will love that much.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
My mind. They're much pin.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Side is how he wants to go.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Quite frankly, it's been absolutely lovely, absolutely lovely having you
on the show. And this is not a game. He's
already out thorough recommend from from the pair of.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Us, and I suppose vacine. That brings us to the
close of another episode. Once again, if you'd like the show,
can we ask you to leave a ref you sign
up for regular episodes using your favorite podcast app, and
please do spread the word service. If we were a
big shot Hollywood users, do you think we would get
(29:02):
the best actors in the business to work for us.
I'm pretty sure we would. It would work for us.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Well, I've heard that Rick moranis is available.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
That's you sorting. He can play you. And I've got
Alan scars guards right Well.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I was thinking more for you.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
All right, Okay, well you know what. And on that
Hollywood tinsel town note, we have been your friends. The
Red Hot Chiley writers on Murder Junction, See you next time,
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