Keep Mystery Alive!
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ALL THE EPISODES
We’re starting with Edgar Allan Poe, making our way to Wilkie Collins and Arthur Conan Doyle, and then journeying through the twentieth century with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Dashiell Hammett, and more. We’re talking about the best mysteries, thrillers, and detective stories ever written. Join us, won’t you?
The Thirty-Nine Steps
March 30, 2023
Sarah and Carolyn and special guest Wendi Anderson love The Thirty-Nine Steps, a fast-paced man on the run thriller published in 1915. Warning: Listening to this episode will make you want to become a freelance spy and move to Scotland. If you’re already a freelance spy and live in Scotland, we’re jealous.
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Trent's Last Case: The First Golden Age Detective Story
March 9, 2023
Carolyn dislikes Trent, and she would not invite him to her dinner party. Sarah, on the other hand, would probably bring Trent as her guest to Carolyn’s dinner party, putting Carolyn in an awkward hostess-ly position. The Golden Age begins here, folks, and we are too excited to type more words.
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Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley
February 24, 2023
Trent’s Last Case is one of the best mystery stories of all time according to Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and The New York Times. What do YOU think? Does the book live up to the hype? Carolyn and Sarah have some strong opinions to share. You’ll want to listen in!
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Father Brown Stories
January 24, 2023
Our fabulous guest Deb Donner is back to discuss the stories in The Innocence of Father Brown. (By now, you surely have a copy of the book, right?) Father Brown solves mysteries by looking into men’s and women’s hearts and souls. We’re talking human nature, folks. It’s some heady, thought-provoking stuff.
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Father Brown Mysteries
January 24, 2023
Sarah and Carolyn discuss this AMAZING collection of Father Brown mysteries with their first Tea, Tonic & Toxin podcast guest, Deb Donner! Deb is wise, insightful, and patient. She didn’t complain once during the ~14 hours it took Sarah and Carolyn to get their act together. Way to go, Deb!
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Golden Age of Detective Fiction: What's Coming in 2023
February 7, 2023
Oh, yeah, Sarah and Carolyn are unreasonably excited about the books we’ll be reading and discussing in 2023. We’re diving head first into the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, dear listeners. We’re talking Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Dashiell Hammett … It’s gonna be a wild ride. Join us, won’t you?
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Poe and Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins and More -- A 2022 Retrospective
January 30, 2023
Holy moly, we read and discussed some amazing mysteries and detective stories in 2022: “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe, The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, and loads more. Check out our 2022 retrospective!
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Lady Molly of Scotland Yard
January 23, 2023
Sarah and Carolyn adore Lady Molly of Scotland Yard and Mary, her devoted friend (servant?). Molly’s like Charlie Cale in Poker Face (if Charlie Cale had more social graces, that is). Molly instinctively knows when people are lying and solves cases that the Scotland Yard guys can’t. Rock on, Molly.
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Holmes and Watson: The Hound of the Baskervilles
January 20, 2023
Holmes and Watson are an amazing pair. Sherlock Holmes is a force of nature, and Watson’s a pretty impressive investigator in his own right. Both are terrified of supernatural hounds. To be fair, we’re also terrified of supernatural hounds. We are, however, BIG fans of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
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The Science of Deduction
January 14, 2023
The curse of the Baskervilles is scary stuff, and Dartmoor is terrifying. Until, that is, you realize that Dartmoor is stunning. (Seriously, Arthur Conan Doyle, it’s a lovely area.) Would you move into the Dartmoor family mansion if given the chance? We would. Most definitely, curse or no curse.
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The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill
January 9, 2023
Israel Zangwill may not be a household name, but it should be. His 1892 novel, The Big Bow Mystery, is a locked-room mystery set in London’s working-class East End. Two detectives race to solve a murder, an innocent man is condemned, and the solution’s a shocker. (And it’s laugh-out-loud funny.)
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The Big Bow Mystery - Locked Room Mysteries
January 3, 2023
We weren’t familiar with locked room mysteries when we started The Big Bow Mystery, but now we’re way into them. Many books have since borrowed the book’s twist ending, but Israel Zangwill did it first. What twist, you ask? Um, you really need to read the book AND listen in!
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A Study in Scarlet
December 27, 2022
Carolyn and Sarah are both confused by the narrator’s description of the hellish wasteland known as the Salt Lake Valley. Did you know that much of A Study in Scarlet takes place in Utah of all places? We didn’t. We’re behind on our Sherlock Holmes studies. Anyhow, minds blown.
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Study in Scarlet Podcast
December 21, 2022
Carolyn wishes she could invite Sherlock Holmes and Watson to a dinner party. Sarah finds Holmes off-putting. Both Carolyn and Sarah love Holmes’s concept of a “brain attic,” wherein the brain can store only a limited amount of information at any given time. That, dear friend, is a true story.
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Melbourne Mystery: The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
December 1, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn think Victorian Melbourne was delightful. So, who committed the hansom cab murder? You’ll have to listen to the Fergus Hume podcast to find out. Or you can find out by reading the book. Here’s an idea: Read the book AND listen to the podcast episode!
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The Mystery of a Hansom Cab Podcast
November 18, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn decide to book one-way tickets to Melbourne because Fergus Hume’s 1886 novel is just that good. The mysteries are aplenty, and the Australian setting is pure delight. Who committed the murder in the hansom cab – and why? So many twists, turns, and red herrings …
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Wilkie Collins Podcast: The Moonstone
November 7, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn dig into the second part of Wilkie Collins’ 1868 novel, The Moonstone. Who stole the Indian gem from the young woman who inherits it from the guy who initially stole it. (You tracking?) The second part (second period) is called The Discovery of the Truth. It's SO good!
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The Moonstone Podcast
August 14, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn discuss the first part of Wilkie Collins’ 1868 novel, The Moonstone. This masterpiece includes a stolen Indian gem with a bloody past, plot twists, red herrings, a small circle of suspects, and a couple amazing detectives. The first part (first period) is called The Loss of the Diamond, and it’s a serious page-turner.
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The Notting Hill Mystery
June 26, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn discuss a little-known 1865 mystery that's purportedly set in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood. The New York Times Book Review called the story “both utterly of its time and utterly ahead of it.” Sarah also discusses her hatred of italics, and Carolyn regrets stealing a French fry back when she worked at McDonald’s.
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The Woman in White: Ode to Marian Halcombe
June 25, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn discuss Wilkie Collins' masterpiece. And by masterpiece, Carolyn means The Woman in White. Though Sarah might argue his masterpiece is The Moonstone. Thing is, The Moonstone doesn’t have Marian Halcombe in it. Or Count Fosco, for that matter. If you’re picking up what I’m putting down, then you’re on Team Carolyn.
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The Woman in White Podcast
June 25, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn debate whether Wilkie Collins' 1860 thriller The Woman in White is a sensation novel or detective story … or both. See, we’re playing both sides here, because books can be many things. And because Carolyn’s annoyed by Hartright and Sarah’s annoyed by all of the women characters. Or something along those lines.
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Bleak House Podcast - All About Lady Dedlock
June 26, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn discuss Dickens's stunning novel, which introduces the smartest guy in the room (and possibly all of London), Inspector Bucket. He’s a model for so many detectives to come, which is reason 4,372,876 why Carolyn thinks this novel is Dickens’s best. For her part, Sarah thinks he’s a little sketchy (Bucket, not Dickens).
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Bleak House Podcast: All About Jarndyce and Jarndyce
June 26, 2022
In our Bleak House Podcast, Sarah and Carolyn discuss Dickens's very best novel, Bleak House. Yes, that's the Tea, Tonic & Toxin gang throwing down the gauntlet. If you know of a more compelling, more heart-wrenching Dickens novel, please let us know. If you don’t, start reading this amazing book now. As in, right now.
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The Purloined Letter Podcast
June 25, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn discuss Edgar Allan Poe's famous "howdunit" starring C. Auguste Dupin. We determine that Dupin and the narrator would make terrible dinner guests, as they both seem sort of hermit-like and night-owl-ish and full of themselves. However, we do wish Poe had written a dozen more mystery stories with Dupin at the helm.
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Auguste Dupin and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
June 25, 2022
Sarah and Carolyn discuss the near impossibility that anyone could figure out who murdered those two women in Edgar Allan Poe's “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” The story introduces amateur detective Auguste Dupin. He’s as annoying as he is smart, and he could give Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot a run for their money.
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What Is Tea Tonic and Toxin?
January 1, 2022
Tea, Tonic & Toxin is a book club and podcast for anyone who loves the best mysteries, detective stories, and thrillers ever written. We’re taking a chronological journey through game-changing books that were instrumental to the evolution of the genre. Read. Reflect. Weigh in. And be sure to subscribe and listen!
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