S2 Ep 4: More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham

More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham is our book this fortnight, and so we take a highly enjoyable trip through an eccentric, absurd, and Dickensian London with amateur detective Albert Campion and his companions.It's a complex, slightly fantastical mystery, but as usual with the Golden Age writers, evoked with deep insight and acute …

S2 Ep 3: To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey

This fortnight we are talking about Josephine Tey's To Love and Be Wise, starring the immensely lovable Detective Alan Grant. This is an underappreciated mystery novel by an underappreciated author, in our humble opinions!Josephine Tey is the dark horse of this season, and the author we have shoehorned into our "Queens of Crime" category (displacing …

S2 Ep 2: Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh

Our first Queen of Crime is Ngaio Marsh, who was a prolific New Zealand author of the Golden Age, penning 32 books featuring her dapper detective "Handsome Alleyn," as well as a plethora of short stories, stage plays, and non-fiction. We have chosen her witty and surprising novel Surfeit of Lampreys to hook you in …

S2 Ep 1: Queens of Crime and the Golden Age of Detective Fiction

Welcome to Season 2! This season we are taking a look at four excellent female writers from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction: Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers.These authors were writing fiercely intelligent, wonderfully witty, and extraordinarily astute mystery novels in the 1920s and 1930s. Join us for a romp …

Castle Minisode 3: The Book Drunkard Festival’s Nod to Maud

Welcome to our third and final Castle Minisode! This wraps up our first season, so tune in to get your final fix of castles before we move on to season 2! (Spoiler: this minisode has literally nothing to do with castles.)This past autumn we had the pleasure of traveling to The Book Drunkard Literary Festival …

Castle Minisode 2: Studio Ghibli

For this episode, we are diverting a wee bit from books and authors to give a shout out to Studio Ghibli. This Japanese film production company is a maker of beautiful, whimsical movies that are pure delight.As we mentioned in our Howl's Moving Castle episode, that book was adapted by Studio Ghibli into a film …

Castle Minisode 1: Isabella Valancy Crawford

Hello, folks! After a little break over the winter holidays, we are baaack!To tide you over until our Season 2 debut, we humbly offer the first of three minisodes, which will be released weekly for the next three Wednesdays. These are all mini-episodes that tie, in one way or another, into the books from our …

S1 Ep 4: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Well folks, buckle in for an extra-long, extra-rambling episode! We get pretty engrossed in our discussion of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and TBQH, our bowl of prompts kinda goes out the window.But fear not! Well, fear a little. Shirley Jackson is, after all, the goddess of terror. This is a …

S1 Ep 3: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Episode 3 is a deep dive into Dodie Smith's classic coming-of-age story, I Capture the Castle.Full of summery vibes, starry nights, and swan-filled moats, this novel is bursting with charm. Its witty and insightful narrator, Cassandra, is just one of a brilliant cast of characters who manage to be both hilariously eccentric and utterly believable.​Spoilers …

S1 Ep 2: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Episode 2 carries on with some fairy tale motifs, as we explore another favourite: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Some people may know this title because of the Studio Ghibli animated film of the same name, but trust us—watching the film is no substitute for reading this fantastic book.​As always, spoiler warning! Read …