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Three schoolgirls and a teacher disappear from a mysterious volcanic rock. No bodies. No explanation. And a novel so convincing that generations of Australians believed the story really happened. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness unravel the strange mystery behind Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock.

We dig into how Lindsay’s deliberately ambiguous storytelling blurred the line between fiction and history, how the novel became embedded in Australian folklore, and discuss how an unresolved fictional mystery can sometimes feel more compelling than one with a neat solution.

We also delve into the mysterious final chapter, The Secret of Hanging Rock, which was published after Lindsay's death and offered a very different, potentially supernatural explanation for what happened to the missing girls. Finally, we turn to our Mystery Book Club segment and chat about the mystery novels this haunting story brings to mind.

Do you think Picnic at Hanging Rock works because we never discover exactly what happened—or would you rather have the mystery solved? Have you always believed the story was based on a real event? Leave a review and tell us your theories, or share your favourite mystery read!

Book Links:

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey

The Secret of Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey

Argyle by Elly Conway

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

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For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast

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A dead man on an Adelaide beach. No wallet. No identification. Labels cut from his clothes. A mysterious scrap of Persian poetry hidden in his pocket. And a coded message that has baffled investigators for decades. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness unravel the extraordinary mystery of the Somerton Man.

Listen in as we follow the trail of strange clues—from the abandoned suitcase at Adelaide railway station and the words "Tamam Shud" hidden in a secret pocket, to The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a mysterious sequence of letters, and a phone number that led police to nurse Jessica Thompson. Then we explore the modern DNA investigation that may finally have put a name to the unidentified man: Carl Charles Webb. But if Webb really was the Somerton Man, does that solve the mystery—or simply give us another name to add to one of Australia's most enduring cold cases? Finally, we head into our Mystery Book Club segment to chat about the fascinating mystery novels this extraordinary real-life case brings to mind.

Do you think having a name solves the case of Somerton Man or are there still pieces of this mystery waiting to be uncovered? Leave a review and tell us your theories on Somerton Man or share your current mystery reading list!

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Book Links:

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Pictures of You by Emma Grey

The Woman in the Veil by Laura Joh Roland

Tamam Shud: The Somerton Man Mystery by Kerry Greenwood

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

Subscribe so you never miss a weekly dive into Australia's most curious cases and cracking good reads.

For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Imagine driving alone through the pitch-black outback at night when a mysterious glowing orb of light appears out of nowhere, tailing your car, splitting in two, and completely defying the laws of physics. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness travel deep into western Queensland's remote Channel Country to unpack the legendary Min Min Lights—Australia's most eerie and enduring unexplained phenomenon.

Listen in as we separate fact from decades of campfire folklore—exploring the spooky 1918 origin story of a stockman chased from the burning ruins of the Min Min Hotel, ancient Indigenous warnings about following the lights, and a fascinating scientific theory involving a rare desert mirage called a Fata Morgana. Then, we head into the Mystery Book Club segment to chat about the best mystery novels this chilling outback case brings to mind!

Do you think these glowing orbs are just an optical trick played by distant car headlights, or is there a genuine anomaly floating out there in the dark? Leave a review and tell us your thoughts on the Min Min Lights or share your favourite mystery read!

Book Links:

Alien Anomaly by Amanda M Lee

Uneasy Spirits by M. Louisa Locke

The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

The Min Min by Mavis Thorpe Clark

The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel

The Min Min light and the Fata Morgana by Jack Pettigrew

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

Subscribe so you never miss a weekly dive into Australia's most curious cases and cracking good reads.

For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

A children's amusement ride. A devastating fire. Seven lives lost. And decades of questions about what really happened. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness travel back to June 9, 1979, to unpack the tragic and terrifying fire at Sydney's Lunar Park Ghost Train that changed the nation forever.

Listen in as we separate hard facts from decades of dark underworld folklore—exploring the alarming speed of the blaze, frantic eyewitness accounts of burning kerosene, and the persistent, chilling allegations that Sydney crime boss Abe Saffron orchestrated a mob arson that was aggressively covered up by corrupt police. Then we head into our Mystery Book Club segment to chat about the best mystery novels this devastating cold case brings to mind!

Do you think the tragedy was a historic structural accident, or a calculated crime that got away? Leave a review and tell us your theories on the Ghost Train fire or share your current mystery reading list!

Sorry for the audio gremlins in this episode! A temporary mic glitch caused a slight tinny sound, but it's fixed for next week.

Book Links:

The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood

Mystic Caravan series by Amanda M. Lee

Paradise Heights Miniature Railway Bust-Up by Kate Solly

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

A Roaring Murder by Ava Ness

Joyland by Stephen King

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

Subscribe so you never miss a weekly dive into Australia's most curious cases and cracking good reads.

For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Imagine waking up a glamorous millionaire with a Dover Heights mansion and a closet full of Chanel, only to vanish into thin air the morning after federal agents raid your front door—leaving behind an empty corporate vault and a trail of shattered lives.

In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness delve into the extraordinary real-life mystery of Melissa Caddick, the Sydney woman who spent years running a systematic multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme before completely disappearing without her keys, wallet, or phone.

We’ll be unpacking the crazy history of her high-end fraud, the bizarre public conspiracy theories that erupted when her running shoe and foot washed up hundreds of kilometres away, and wrapping up with our Mystery Book Club segment to chat about the fiction books that match this exact vibe of unreliable narrators and financial ruin!

Leave a comment and tell us your thoughts: was it a calculated corporate escape act or did the truth finally catch up with her? And don't forget to share your favourite mystery book.

Book Links:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

The Model Murder by Amanda Hampson

The Campers and Criminals series by Tonya Kappes

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

Subscribe so you never miss a weekly dive into Australia's most curious cases and cracking good reads.

For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Imagine a network of secret Cold War bunkers, underground spy headquarters, and hidden corridors large enough to drive through sitting right beneath Australia’s capital city. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness travel down into the urban legends of Canberra to unpack the persistent myths surrounding secret underground tunnels running beneath the city's most iconic institutions.

Listen in as we separate fact from decades of local folklore—exploring mysterious subterranean networks beneath the Australian National University (ANU), the Department of Defence in Russell, and Old Parliament House, alongside a wonderfully weird conspiracy theory about the foundations of the Treasury building being layered with thousands of leftover meat pies from 1927. Then we head into the Mystery Book Club segment to chat about the best mystery novels this underground case brings to mind!

Do you think government officials are navigating hidden subterranean shortcuts beneath the capital, or are these just the pipedreams of a purpose-built capital? Drop us a comment with your favourite conspiracy tales and current reading recommendations!

Book Links:

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Secret of the Lost Tunnel by Franklin W. Dixon

Swamp Spirit by Jana DeLeon

The Italian Secret by Tara Moss

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

How to use psychology to write a best seller with Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

Subscribe so you never miss a weekly dive into Australia's most curious cases and cracking good reads.

For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Imagine a massive luxury liner so hauntingly similar to the Titanic that it featured the exact same "unsinkable" design, yet vanished without a single trace three years before the famous disaster even happened. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness chart a course back to 1909 to unpack the baffling disappearance of the SS Waratah and discuss how Australia’s premier steamship completely disappeared into the ocean along with everyone on board.

Listen in as we trace the liner's final steps through the eyes of the last sailors to see her alive, exploring a chaotic mix of hurricane-force waves, chilling unconfirmed accounts of mid-ocean explosions and a mysterious final lamp signal cut short by the dark. Then, we head into our Mystery Book Club segment to chat about the best mystery novels this eerie cold case brings to mind!

Do you think the Waratah was swallowed by a freak wave, or did fatal engineering flaws doom her to the deep? We want to hear your theories. Make sure you share your current mystery reading list!

Book Links:

Wake by Shelley Burr

Vanish by Shelley Burr

Deep Six by Clive Cussler

Scend of the Sea by Geoffrey Jenkins

Brewing Up a Storm by Amanda M. Lee

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Lady Clues and the Mystery of the Vanishing Valet by Ava Ness

The Lost Ship SS Waratah: Searching for the Titanic of the South by PJ Smith

S.S. Waratah – a Maritime Mystery (facebook group)

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

Subscribe so you never miss a weekly dive into Australia's most curious cases and cracking good reads.

For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Imagine a bank heist so perfect, the thieves didn't break a single lock and the town ran entirely out of cash by Monday morning. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness travel back to 1932 to unpack the legendary, unsolved Cloncurry bank robberies and discuss how the robbers hit two major banks in one night using the ultimate security oversight.

Listen in as we separate the hard historical facts from 90 years of beer-soaked folklore—including a wild river party, a duped bank manager, and a secret wax impression. Then we head into the Mystery Book Club segment to chat about the best mystery novels this wild outback case brings to mind!

Do you think it was an inside job, or did a group of local larrikins actually pull off the ultimate heist? We want to hear your theories and your reading lists!

Book Links:

Can't Buy Me Love by Dan McNeil

Everyone in the Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

Nemesis by Joe Nesbo

The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson

The Locked Room by Holly Hepburn

Six Keys: The Cloncurry Bank Robberies by John Williamson

The Bank Manager (short film)

Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.

Subscribe so you never miss a weekly dive into Australia's most curious cases and cracking good reads.

For the full reference list visit The DownUnder Mystery Club website at ajblythe.com/podcast