Mystery Books Podcast

Latest Episodes:

🌸The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

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, Dahlia Lively.

⭐️ Three rival actresses, connected to Dahlia's adaptations, must collaborate to solve a murder rooted in the stories themselves.

🔎 Themes discussed include fandom, author legacy, and female friendship, with a modern twist on the classic country house mystery.

🎥 Read-alike recommendations include mysteries set around filming and Hollywood.

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

The Socialite's Guide to Murder by S. K. Golden Sep 21, 2023

Show notes

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 dress boutique, and attentive staff. In fact, she hasn’t left the hotel premises in fourteen months, so when a theft disrupts life at the hotel, she sets out to find the culprit.

🔎 But a murder follows on the heels of the theft and Evelyn’s boyfriend becomes a suspect. She recruits hotel bellboy Mac to help her snoop for clues to find the murderer.

🍸 “The Socialite’s Guide to Murder” is a mid-century murder mystery with a dose of the madcap flare of a 1950s romantic comedy movie, but Evelyn’s struggles with agoraphobia ground the book and make for an interesting read in a fun setting.

📚 Read-alike recommendations include mysteries set at hotels and 1950s mysteries.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for a review copy. All opinions are my own.

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

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 death was murder. Where “Unnatural Ends” departs from many classic mysteries is the depth of characterization of the three adult children as well as explorations of the themes of control, independence, expection, and competition. Add in a layer of Gothic overtones and you have a novel tailor-made for deep and interesting book club discussions.
📚Read-alikes include mysteries with sibling sleuths, Yorkshire settings, and Huang’s first book, “A Gentleman’s Murder.”
❓What other mysteries feature siblings as sleuths?
Link to Youtube video about influence of Agatha Christie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkxV9gNOiPU

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

Intro to Season 4 Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

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. 🔎📚✨

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers Oct 06, 2022

Show notes

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 ways, he’s a 1920s update to The Scarlet Pimpernel, a mystery-solving Sir Percy Blakeney.
☠️ When a veteran of the Great War dies, Wimsey is asked to look into the time of death, a simple matter that turns complex as a murder is revealed.
⚡️ From shell shock (what we’d call PTSD) to the shifting cultural mores, impacts of the Great War reverberate throughout the book. There is also a look at crime scene forensics, 1920s style.
🕵️‍♂️ Read-alike recommendations include more books with gentlemen sleuths as well as my own book with that explores shell shock, Murder in Black Tie.
❓Have you read any Dorothy L. Sayers?

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

Poison at Pemberton Hall by Fran Smith Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

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 to Vita’s dry wit, the story has a light, fun tone. I was rooting for Vita to catch the culprit and pursue her dreams.
📖Read-alike recommendations include mysteries with female scientists/sleuths and more Edwardian mysteries.
❓What are your favorite Edwardian mysteries?

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

Death in a Deck Chair by K.K. Beck Sep 08, 2022

Show notes

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 Catherine Moreland.
🚢It’s the 1920s and Catherine is on an Atlantic crossing when one of the passengers is murdered. Class, generational, and cultural conflicts abound among the diverse passengers on the ship, which is a perfect closed circle mystery setting.
📖Read-alike recommendations include more ship-board mysteries (historical and contemporary settings) as well as another “plain Jane” mystery protagonist.
❓What is your favorite “average Jane” mystery?

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

The Librarian Always Rings Twice by Marty Wingate Jul 14, 2022

Show notes

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 layers with mysteries in the main storyline as well as in the story within the story.Read-alike recommendations include contemporary cozies by Martie Wingate, books set in Bath UK, and books about books.What’s your favorite book or series about books?

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

Under Lock and Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

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.
📚Read-alike suggestions include more locked room mysteries as well as multi-cultural protagonists.
❓Have you read any other books featuring magicians?

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

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 upset her plans. Besides the gorgeous cover, the exploration of the impacts of The Great War along with the academic setting made this book irresistible. And did I mention the characters are planning for a research trip to the Amazon? 🦜
Read-alike suggestions include other academic mysteries as well as gardening mysteries. 🔎

Support the show

📚 Buy Sara's books: SaraRosettBooks.com
🔎 Get more mystery in your life when you sign up for Sara's updates.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected