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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.

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