Episodi

  • The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin with Guest David Whittle

    The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin with Guest David Whittle
    Oct 19 2026

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    David Whittle joins Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (Bruce Montgomery).

    First published in 1946, The Moving Toyshop is one of the most celebrated and inventive mysteries of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The novel follows poet Richard Cadogan, who stumbles upon the body of an elderly woman inside a toyshop late one night. By morning, however, both the body and the toyshop have vanished, leaving behind an ordinary grocery store and no evidence that the crime ever occurred.

    Unable to convince the police of what he witnessed, Richard Cadogan turns to his friend Gervase Fen, the brilliant, eccentric Oxford professor and amateur detective. Together, the pair unravel a delightfully improbable puzzle filled with hidden identities, secret passageways, witty dialogue, literary references, and Crispin’s trademark blend of fair-play detection and irreverent humor.

    Combining a classic locked-room mystery with sharp comedy and an affectionate parody of detective fiction conventions, The Moving Toyshop remains one of Edmund Crispin’s best-loved novels and a landmark of Golden Age crime writing.

    History of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!

    Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.

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    Watch clips from our conversations with guests!

    David Whittle is a music scholar, educator, and author whose research has helped illuminate the remarkable life and legacy of Bruce Montgomery, better known to detective fiction readers as Edmund Crispin. He studied music at the University of Nottingham, where he completed his PhD on Montgomery, examining the intertwined careers of the acclaimed composer and Golden Age mystery writer.

    David’s book, Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books, is the definitive biography of Bruce Montgomery, drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with those who knew him. The biography explores Montgomery’s extraordinary dual career as the creator of the beloved Gervase Fen mysteries and as the composer of concert works and the scores for nearly fifty feature films, including the Doctor series and the first six Carry On films.

    David has also contributed to numerous reference works, including The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and Irish Musical Studies.

    A classically trained musician, David served as Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for 32 years while remaining active in folk and big band music. His lifelong passion for both music and detective fiction made him uniquely qualified to tell the story of Edmund Crispin, offering readers fresh insight into one of the Golden Age’s most gifted—and most fascinating—creative figures.


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    The very best in short mystery fiction

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    56 min
  • Stay Mysterious: The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin

    Stay Mysterious: The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
    Oct 10 2026

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    Every wish you had a chance to preview a classic mystery book, with no spoilers? Maybe you'd like to see if you want to read farther, or maybe you're planning to in the future, or just want to be convinced? Our new Stay Mysterious segments give you just that. A tasting menu for the history of mystery. Listen to each mini-episode without regard for needing to pause.

    The Moving Toyshop (1946) by Edmund Crispin is a classic in the mystery genre for its blend of intellectual humor, eccentric characters, and a delightfully surreal premise.

    When a poet stumbles upon a murder in a toyshop that mysteriously vanishes, unconventional Oxford professor Gervase Fen takes on the case, weaving logic with whimsy to reveal the truth. Edmund Crispin’s playful writing style, literary references, and ingenious plot twists make the novel a joy to read. Its inventive approach to the detective story, coupled with a vivid Oxford setting, has secured its place as a beloved and enduring work in crime fiction.

    History of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!

    Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.

    For bonus episodes, video content, and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.

    Watch clips from our conversations with guests!

    Opening Thoughts About The Moving Toyshop and Edmund Crispin

    What were your overall impressions of The Moving Toyshop?

    Why do you think this novel has endured as Edmund Crispin’s best-known work?

    P. D. James called it a “spirited frolic.” How do you feel about that description?

    Is The Moving Toyshop primarily a mystery, a comedy, an adventure story, a literary satire, or an entertainment?

    How does it compare with other 1940s mysteries we’ve read for Tea, Tonic & Toxin?

    Richard Cadogan: Poet in Search of Adventure

    Cadogan begins the novel feeling bored, uninspired, and middle-aged. How relatable is his desire to escape his ordinary life?

    What do you make of his decision to seek adventure in Oxford of all places?

    Cadogan actively wishes for excitement and then gets far more than he bargained for. Is the novel poking fun at people who romanticize adventure?

    At what point does Cadogan begin regretting his wish for excitement?

    How effective is Cadogan as a protagonist? What if Fen were the sole lead?

    Edmund Crispin and the Mystery of the Moving Toyshop

    How effective is the opening sequence in the toyshop?

    When Cadogan returns with the police and finds a grocery store, were you hooked?

    What makes the disappearing toyshop such a memorable mystery premise?

    Did you identify the killer before Fen did? Does the solution feel like fair play?

    How well does Edmund Crispin balance the impossible-crime element with the more conventional inheritance plot?

    Is the solution satisfying, or is the fun really in the journey?

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    29 min
  • The Great Game with Arvind Ethan David

    The Great Game with Arvind Ethan David
    Sep 22 2026
    Send us Fan MailArvind Ethan David returns to Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss The Great Game, his debut prose novel. This historical mystery and conspiracy thriller brings an Indian military veteran and law student into the worlds of A. J. Raffles, Sherlock Holmes, and a young Winston Churchill.A writer and producer whose work spans novels, graphic fiction, audio, television, film, and theatre, Arvind previously joined us to discuss his graphic adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business.History of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.Watch clips from our conversations with guests!Published in 2026, The Great Game is the debut prose novel by Arvind Ethan David.London, 1905. Balvinder dev Singh is an Indian military veteran, law student, and accomplice to the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles. When an imperialist general is brutally murdered in his Mayfair library, Bal and Raffles find themselves implicated in a series of killings that draws the attention of Scotland Yard—and Sherlock Holmes.As Bal attempts to clear his name, his friendship with the Irish violinist Maud Adler forces him to reconsider his relationship with Britain and its empire. What begins as a historical murder mystery expands into a conspiracy thriller and a provocative examination of loyalty, belonging, and colonial power.Arvind Ethan David is a writer and producer whose work spans novels, graphic fiction, audio, television, film, and theatre.His debut prose novel, The Great Game, is a historical mystery and conspiracy thriller set in London in 1905. The novel follows Balvinder dev Singh, an Indian military veteran and pupil barrister who supplements his income by committing burglaries with the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles. When their intended target is murdered, Bal and Raffles become entangled in a widening conspiracy involving Scotland Yard, an aging Sherlock Holmes, and an ambitious young Winston Churchill.Arvind has written seven graphic novels, including his adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business and the Bram Stoker Award–nominated Darkness Visible, created with Mike Carey. His other graphic work includes the Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency series and Gray, a reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.His audio work includes The Crimes of Dorian Gray, the science-fiction anthology series Earworms, and Douglas Adams: The Ends of the Earth, a nonfiction exploration of Adams’s life, work, and environmentalism.For the stage, Arvind has adapted Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. His adaptation of Sir Lenny Henry’s The Boy With Wings was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Family Show. He also contributed additional material to The Infidel and was an originating and lead producer of the Tony and Grammy Award–winning Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill.Arvind’s television work includes Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency for Netflix and BBC America, Anansi Boys for Amazon, and the Asian Academy Award–winning The Garden of Evening Mists for HBO.Across these different forms, Arvind frequently revisits classic stories and characters from new perspectives, combining affection for the original works with questions about identity, power, empire, and who has traditionally been allowed to occupy the center of an adventure.Linden BotanicalsWe sell the world’s healthiest herbal teas and extracts.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showhttps://www.instagram.com/teatonicandtoxin/https://www.facebook.com/teatonicandtoxinhttps://www.teatonicandtoxin.comStay mysterious...
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    1 ora e 3 min
  • The Monsters We Make by Rachel Corbett

    The Monsters We Make by Rachel Corbett
    Sep 14 2026
    Send us Fan Mail“The Monsters We Make is narrated so sagely and coolly, I almost didn’t realize how much it had to teach. It is a provoking, moving, and original book that has stuck with me long since I turned its last page.”— Maggie Nelson, New York Times best-selling author of The Argonauts“Serial killers have spawned hundreds of books, but none like this. With a daughter’s heart and a reporter’s keen gaze, Rachel Corbett turns the stories inside out. She profiles the profilers―their methods, their hubris, and the evils they unwittingly commit. An expertly titrated mix of history, true crime, and memoir, The Monsters We Make is the most intriguing crime book I’ve read in quite some time.”― Mary Roach, New York Times best-selling author of Fuzz, Gulp, and StiffHistory of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.Watch clips from our conversations with guests!Rachel Corbett is a features writer at New York magazine and the author of You Must Change Your Life (Norton, 2016), which won the Marfield Prize, the National Award for Arts Writing, and The Monsters We Make (Norton, 2025). She has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and other publications. She grew up in Iowa and lives in New York City.Special guest Rachel Corbett joins Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss her book The Monsters We Make: Murder, Obsession, and the Rise of Criminal Profiling.Criminal profiling―the delicate art of collecting and deciphering the psychological “fingerprints” of the monsters among us―holds an almost mythological status in pop culture. But what exactly is it, does it work, and why is the American public so entranced by it? What do we gain, and endanger, from studying why people commit murder? In The Monsters We Make, author Rachel Corbett explores how criminal profiling became one of society’s most seductive and quixotic undertakings through five significant moments in its history.Rachel Corbett follows Arthur Conan Doyle through the London alleyways where Jack the Ripper butchered his victims, depicts the tailgate outside of Ted Bundy’s execution, and visits the remote Montana cabin where Ted Kaczynski assembled his antiestablishment bombs.Along the way emerge the people who studied and unraveled these cases. We meet self-taught psychologist Henry Murray, who profiled Adolf Hitler at the request of the U.S. government and later profiled his own students―including the future Unabomber―by subjecting them to cruel humiliation experiments. We also meet the prominent Yale psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis, who ended up testifying that Bundy was too sick to stand trial.Finally, Corbett takes the story into our own time, explaining the rise of modern “predictive policing” policies through a study of one Florida family that the analytics targeted―to devastating effects.With narrative intrigue and deft research, Corbett delves deep into the mythology and reality of criminal profilers, revealing how thin the line can be separating those who do harm and those who claim to stop it.Buy The Monsters We MakeRachel Corbett – Where the Story BeginsYour book begins on May 13, 1993, when you were six years old. Can you take us back to that day and tell us what happened?You knew Scott as a kind and protective person who seemed very different from your father. Years later, you learned that before taking his own life, he had killed his girlfriend and his dog. What was it like to discover that the story you’d grown up with wasn’t the whole story?You spent two years going through police records, interviewing witnesses, and trying to understand Scott. At one point you describe studying his photo for some visible trace of monstrosity. Did you feel that if you looked closely enough, there had to be an explanation?Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Mystery TraditionThe Tea, Tonic & Toxin podcast and book club has discussed The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, along with A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles. The first criminal profilers were fictional. Rachel Corbett, how did Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle help create the idea of the criminal profiler?You write that profiling is often a “quixotic, haphazard blend of science and fiction.” Arthur Conan Doyle didn’t simply write Sherlock Holmes; he tried to apply Holmes’s methods to real crimes, including Jack the Ripper. What happens when a method that works great within the controlled universe of fiction gets applied to messy human reality?Sherlock Holmes begins with a clue and reasons backward toward a person. That’s immensely satisfying to readers. Has detective ...
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    58 min
  • Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh with ZJ Czupor, Part 2

    Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh with ZJ Czupor, Part 2
    Sep 1 2026
    Send us Fan MailZ.J. Czupor has joined us TWICE to discuss Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers and Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh.His new murder mystery, Dead Men Don’t Drink, is published at zoltanjames.substack.com. He’s also the author of THE BIG WEIRD: Haikus in Times of Pandemic and Chaos. He is immediate past president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.History of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.Watch clips from our conversations with guests!For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.He is also the author of THE BIG WEIRD: Haikus in Times of Pandemic and Chaos, a collection of sublime poetry about his observations of the pandemic. More of his haiku poems are featured in Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic, (Thalia Press), which includes authors, poets and essayists from around the world.His noir short story, The Man in the Corner, is featured in Crossing Colfax, by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.4. The Victim: Flossie as Power, Personality, and ProvocationFlossie is no shrinking-violet. How does Ngaio Marsh make her presence linger after she’s gone—through portraiture, reputation, household dynamics, and the aftershocks of her control?Flossie: Heroic public servant or unbearable authoritarian benefactor? What does the book seem to want us to feel about women who take up space publicly?Why would someone want Flossie dead? Rank the motive categories: personal resentment, romantic rivalry, political threat, ideological conflict, or something colder.5. Class, Gratitude, and the “Patron” ProblemThere’s a recurring tension around patronage—who is “helping” whom, and what that help costs. What does the book say about gratitude as a weapon?When a benefactor decides they’re entitled to your future, is that kindness or coercion? Where do you see the book landing?Several characters in Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh feel trapped by the role they’re assigned in the household hierarchy. Who seems most conscious of class—and who uses it as a shield?6. Character Web: Relationships, Pressure, and Emotional TruthLet’s talk characters. Who in this book is most capable of self-deception? Who is most brutally honest? Which characters behaved like adults under wartime pressure, and which behaved like sulky adolescents?Which relationships felt most combustible—and which felt most quietly sad?The idiom suggests fixedness—being set in your nature.Who is most “dyed in the wool” here: the victim, the killer, the ideologue, the loyalist, the snob, the romantic?7. Clues & Craft: Fair Play, Objects, and Alibis in Died in the Wool by Ngaio MarshThe musical alibi: fair, clever, or too cute? Did you enjoy the technicality of it—or did it feel like a trick you’re meant to swallow?What is Ngaio Marsh’s misdirection style here? Is it “hide the clue,” “hide the significance,” or “let you see everything but look the other way”? Which clues felt most “classic puzzle,” and which felt most psychologically revealing?Beyond shock value, what does the wool-bale concealment accomplish? Is it about industry, identity, compression of truth, the station’s economy, the idea of being packaged and exported? Does the method feel symbolically New Zealand or gimmicky?)The final trap: thrilling theatre or ethically dicey? Where do you land on detectives who lure the killer into action to prove a case?Fair play court: Did the solution feel genuinely inevitable in hindsight or mostly “authorial magician’s flourish”?Crippen and LandruThe very best in short mystery fictionDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showhttps://www.instagram.com/teatonicandtoxin/https://www.facebook.com/teatonicandtoxinhttps://www.teatonicandtoxin.comStay mysterious...
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    55 min
  • Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh with guest ZJ Czupor, Part 1

    Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh with guest ZJ Czupor, Part 1
    Aug 14 2026

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    DIED IN THE WOOL (1945) by Ngaio Marsh is a set in the remote New Zealand countryside on a sheep farm during World War II. The story follows Inspector Roderick Alleyn as he investigates the suspicious death of a politician while conducting counter-espionage work.

    The book is known for its blend of murder mystery and wartime espionage. Marsh’s vivid characterization and clever narrative structure make it a compelling and timeless entry in the genre. She was one of the Queens of Crime, and this novel is among her best.

    History of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!

    Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.

    Watch clips from our conversations with guests!

    For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.

    Z.J. Czupor has joined us TWICE to discuss Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers and Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh.

    His new murder mystery, Dead Men Don’t Drink, is published at zoltanjames.substack.com. He’s also the author of THE BIG WEIRD: Haikus in Times of Pandemic and Chaos. He is immediate past president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. He’s represented by Terrie Wolf (AKA Literary Management).

    Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh

    1. The Hook & the Vibe in Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh


    Opening image: a missing public figure turns up inside a wool bale. Did that seem instantly macabre, instantly weird, instantly kind of funny? What was your initial response?

    Ngaio Marsh is doing “Golden Age puzzle” in a distinctly New Zealand landscape during wartime. Did that feel like a refreshing shift from the usual manor-house geometry, or did it still read as country-house logic in different clothes and during bleak times?

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    48 min
  • On Fire and Under Water with Ippolito, McKenna, Guha & Brash

    On Fire and Under Water with Ippolito, McKenna, Guha & Brash
    Aug 1 2026
    Send us Fan MailOn Fire and Under Water is a new crime fiction anthology from Rock and a Hard Place Press. The anthology explores the intersection of climate change and crime through the lens of 15 short stories from some of today’s best crime fiction writers.Edited by Anthony Award-winning author Curtis Ippolito and the editorial team at RHP Press, the stories peel back the curtain on the ways in which climate change impacts real people in their most desperate hour.Get your copy of our guest's books here! History of Mystery book slections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.Watch clips from our conversations with guests!For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.“The Devil Doesn’t Live Hand to Mouth” is a short story in the anthology by Puja Guha. Mozambique has been hit hard by Cyclone Jasper. Antonio’s Bahia Mar Sanctuary, a boutique resort/coastal B&B, has been destroyed. But he has another option. A Chinese spy, Ernest Mao, has asked Antonio to place a few bugs in the home of the uber-wealthy Fred and Gina.His dream is dead. His resort is gone. He drives a 10-year-old Toyota Corolla. Everything about Fred and Gina is a reminder of what he will never have. Antonio grapples with his decision – what should he do?“Long Night of the Polar Bear” by C.E. McKenna takes place in Longyearbyen, a small coal-mining town on Spitsbergen Island, in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. Svalbard is between Norway and the North Pole. Atle Solas has been banished by his boss, Vlad, to Svalbard for accidentally killing an old woman during a job. He has a plan for escape: before heading to Svalbard, he had copied the contents of his boss’ daughter’s laptop onto a thumb drive. He has stored the thumb drive in a small cavern carved into the back of the leg of a dancing polar bear in the bar. His plan is to collect €2 million for the contents and retire in Thailand.“No one is allowed to be born on Svalbard and the dead are shipped immediately to be buried off-island. This place is a land of living, but not life, of dying, but not death.”C.E. McKenna is a writer and historian from Colorado. She has history theses in the libraries of Reed College and Oklahoma State, and her short stories have found awards and publication with Writing by Writers, Desperate Literature, Cagibi, Lumina, Quarterly West, Northwest Review, and Shift. In 2022, she completed AWP’s 17th Writer to Writer Mentorship Program, and in 2024 was invited to the Chateau d’Orquevaux for a 4-week writing residency. She is currently an MFA student at Emerson College with an expected graduation of 2026.Most of C.E. McKenna’s work focuses on the untold stories of the American West. Her short fiction and research often deals with the dangers of western environments—particularly wildland fire. Her long-form work combines deft historical research with speculative fiction, resulting in vivid, thrilling pageturners. Her debut novel, The Primary Source, is about the murderous origins of Stanford University.C.E. McKenna lives in Boulder, Colorado, where she works as a software developer and spends her free time traipsing local hiking trails, attempting to avoid moose.Tea, Tonic & Toxin interviews Raymond J. Brash, who discusses his short story “Ban Yuh Belly,” published in On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology. He’s joined by authors Curtis Ipppolito, Puja Guha, and C.E. McKenna.He’s is a Trinidadian-American writer residing in Colorado with his wife and rescue pittie, Bessie.He enjoys reading and writing speculative fiction, noir, and anything that crushes multiple genres into a pulpy, edible mash.Raymond has stories published or forthcoming in The Lines We Cross: Bouchercon 2026 Anthology, On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, Shotgun Honey, Rock and a Hard Place Press, and others, and has been nominated for a Best of the Net Award. Follow him on Instagram @raymond.j.brash, Bluesky @rjbrash.bsky.social, or visit his website raymondjbrash.work“Ban Yuh Belly” is a short story by Raymond J. Brash published in the anthology. “Ban yuh belly” is Caribbean patios meaning “brace yourself and prepare for hard times. The story is set in Trinidad and Tobago. “Rainy season getting worse and worse by the year,” Jeffrey Perrera says. “And they say God is a Trini.”Jeffrey finds bodies washed up on the shore and takes their money. When we first meet him, he has also taken a watch. Jeffrey tells us, “I don’t read names on cards or stare at pictures too much. It’s easier that way.” Jeffrey is trying to do right by his sister, Denise, and her daughter, Hazel. Denise’s sound and look remind him of Mumzie, their mother.Curtis ...
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    1 ora e 7 min
  • Death Comes As the End by Agatha Christie with Guest Egyptologist Dr Nicky Nielsen! Part 2

    Death Comes As the End by Agatha Christie with Guest Egyptologist Dr Nicky Nielsen! Part 2
    Jul 14 2026
    Send us Fan MailDEATH COMES AS THE END by Agatha Christie is a groundbreaking historical mystery set in ancient Egypt. When a wealthy patriarch’s death sparks a series of murders within his family, suspicion and secrets abound. It’s the first full-length historical whodunit.History of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.Watch clips from our conversations with guests!For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.Dr. Nicky Nielsen is a Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Manchester. Originally from Denmark, he was awarded an AHRC Block Grant to undertake PhD research at the University of Liverpool, investigating subsistence strategies and craft production at the Ramesside fortress site of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham. He obtained his PhD in 2016.Get your copy of our guest's books here!Read his article Agatha Christie: World’s First Historical Whodunnit Was Inspired by 4,000 Year‑Old LettersAuthor’s Note on Death Comes as the End“The action of this book takes place on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes in Egypt about 2000 B.C. Both places and time are incidental to the story. Any other place at any other time would have served as well, but it so happened that the inspiration of both characters and plot was derived from two or three Egyptian letters of the XIth Dynasty, found during the 1920-1921 season by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in a rock tomb opposite Luxor, and translated by Professor Battiscombe Gunn in the Museum’s Bulletin.“It may be of interest to the reader to note that an endowment for ka-service–an everyday feature of ancient Egyptian civilization–was very similar in principle to a medieval chantry bequest. Property was bequeathed to the ka-priest, in return for which he was expected to maintain the tomb of the testator, and to provide offerings at the tomb on certain feast days throughout the year for the repose of the deceased’s soul.“The terms ‘Brother,’ ‘Sister,’ in Egyptian text regularly meaning ‘Lover,’ are frequently interchangeable with ‘Husband,’ ‘Wife.’ They are so used on occasion in this book.“The agricultural calendar of Ancient Egypt, consisting of three seasons of four months of thirty days, formed the background of peasant life, and with the addition of five intercalary days at the end of the year, was used as the official calendar of 365 days to the year. This ‘year’ originally began with the arrival in Egypt of the flood-water of the Nile in the third week of July by our reckoning. The absence of a leap year caused this to lag through the centuries, so that at the opening of the agricultural year, i.e. in January instead of July. To save the reader from continually having to make allowance for this six months, however, the dates here used as chapter headings are calculated by the agricultural year of the time, i.e., Inundation–late July to late November; Winter–late November to late March; and Summer–late March to late July.”Characters in Death Comes as the EndImhotep, a mortuary priest (ka-priest); fussily pompous; provider for his large householdNofret, Imhotep’s beautiful young concubine, newly arrived from the northEsa, Imhotep’s mother; blunt-spoken, disdainful of much of her family; she calls her son a foolRenisenb (ren-eh-seb), Imhotep’s recently widowed daughter (husband Khay); mother of TetiYahmose, Imhotep’s eldest son; he’s kind and hesitant, rarely asserting his rights as eldest sonSatipy (sah-tee-pee), Yahmose’s wife; tall, energetic, loud woman who bullied her husbandSobek, Imhotep’s second son; handsome braggart who resents his dependent statusKait, Sobek’s wife; her love for her children dominated her every word and actIpy (ee-pee), Imhotep’s youngest son; only his father could tolerate his adolescent arroganceHenet, obsequious, malicious family retainer, poor relation of Ashayet, Imhotep’s dead wifeHori, Imhotep’s family’s scribe and man of business; he is in love with RenisenbKameni, a handsome scribe and kinsman from the North; he sings songs of love for RenisenbCrippen and LandruThe very best in short mystery fictionDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showhttps://www.instagram.com/teatonicandtoxin/https://www.facebook.com/teatonicandtoxinhttps://www.teatonicandtoxin.comStay mysterious...
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    57 min