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Full-time writer KEMPER DONOVAN is currently publishing an ongoing mystery series via Kensington Books. He joins us to discuss The Busy Body, the first in the Ghostwriter series, and The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

Previously, he published the standalone novel The Decent Proposal (HarperCollins). He is also the host of the podcast All About Agatha, dedicated to all things Agatha Christie, in which guise he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio New Zealand and written for the official Agatha Christie website, agathachristie.com.

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Former Senator Dorothy Gibson, aka “that woman,” is the most talked-about person in the country. Dorothy had been the independent candidate for President, and after her very public defeat she has retreated to her home in rural Maine. She invites a ghostwriter to join her so they can work on her memoir.

A ghostwriter tells other people’s stories for a living, and this is a dream assignment. The ghostwriter is impressed by Dorothy’s work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the lovely surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer, and she and the ghostwriter team up to launch their own murder investigation.

The best ghostwriters are adept at asking questions and spinning stories … two talents, it turns out, that also come in handy for sleuths. Dorothy’s political career, meanwhile, has made her an expert at recognizing lies and double-dealing. Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects, to the exasperation of local police. But this investigation—much like the election—may not unfold the way anyone expects …

Influence

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan has been described as a mystery in the “timeless tradition of Agatha Christie.” In what ways has Christie’s writing influenced you?

Do you agree that the novel is Agatha Christie-esque? In what ways? Was that by intention?

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THE ABC MURDERS (1936) is one of the earliest examples of the “serial killer” novel. Striking in alphabetical order, a killer challenges renowned detective Hercule Poirot to a battle of wits. With ingenious twists and red herrings, the book will keep you guessing until the end.

Special guest Kemper Donovan joins us to discuss Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

Full-time writer KEMPER DONOVAN is currently publishing an ongoing mystery series via Kensington Books. In the next episode he joins us to discuss The Busy Body, the first in the Ghostwriter series, and The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

Previously, he published the standalone novel The Decent Proposal (HarperCollins). He is also the host of the podcast All About Agatha, dedicated to all things Agatha Christie, in which guise he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio New Zealand and written for the official Agatha Christie website, agathachristie.com.

Get your book here!
Watch clips from our conversation with Kemper!
Join our brand new Patreon community here! It's free to join, with extra perks for members at every level.

Serial Killer

The ABC Murdes is commonly considered the first serial killer book. In a sense, it wasn’t because the serial killing was a screen.

In another sense, were serial killers becoming more common? Jack the Ripper was referenced. several times. HP & the police seem to be drawing on a body of knowledge.

The Psychological Aspect

Similar to Gaudy Night, Agatha Christie in The ABC Murders spends time trying to analyze the psychological makeup of the killer as a key to solving the crimes.

Freud and Jung started to become more well known starting in 1910. Is this related? The rise in psychoanalytic thinking? This does turn out to be the key to solving the mystery. Poirot guesses the dual aspect presented of the killer. Hercule Poirot even dabbles in dream interpretation.

In contrast to Sayers, Christie books have less psychological elements to discuss. They are terrific and satisfying stories though.

The Vanishing and the Problem of Memory

In The ABC Murders, Cust is an epileptic World War I veteran who suffers from bouts of short-term blackouts due to a wartime head injury. He has been hired as a traveling stocking salesman and happens to be in the towns where the murders occur. Cust can’t recall his whereabouts during the last murder, and he was found with blood on his sleeve and a knife. He has no memory of writing letters to Poirot or of committing any of the murders, but he thinks he might have committed them because of his blackouts.

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We were thrilled to chat with Craig Johnson during the 2024 Longmire Days this year about his 20th book, First Frost!

Tea, Tonic & Toxin is a history of mystery book club and podcast. We’re reading the best mysteries ever written, as well as interviewing some of the world’s best contemporary mystery and thriller writers.

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Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire novels, which are the basis for Longmire, the hit Netflix drama. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming (pop. 26).

The books have won multiple awards: Le Prix du Polar Nouvel Observateur / Bibliobs, the Wyoming Historical Association’s Book of the Year, Le Prix 813, Western Writers of America Spur Award, the Mountains & Plains Book of the Year, SNCF Prix de Polar, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, The Watson Award, Library Journal’s Best Mystery of the Year, the Rocky, and the Will Rogers Award for Fiction.

Find Craig's website, follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

It’s the summer of 1964, and recent college graduates Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear read the writing on the wall and enlist to serve in the Vietnam War. As they catch a few final waves in California before reporting for duty, a sudden storm assaults the shores and capsizes a nearby cargo boat. Walt and Henry jump to action, but it’s soon revealed by the police who greet them ashore that the sunken boat carried valuable contraband from underground sources.

The boys, in their early 20s and at the peak of their physical prowess from playing college football for the last 4 years, head out on Route 66. The question, of course, is how far they’ll get before the consequences of their actions catch up to them — the answer being, not very.

Back in the present day, Walt is forced to speak before a Judge following the fatal events of The Longmire Defense. With powerful enemies lurking behind the scenes, the sheriff of Absaroka County must consider his options if he wishes to finish the fight he started.

Going back and forth between 1964 and the present day, Craig Johnson brings us a propulsive dual timeline as Walt Longmire stands between the crossfire of good and evil, law and anarchy, and compassion and cruelty at two pivotal stages in his life.

New York Times bestseller First Frost is the 20th novel in the Walt Longmire mystery series. It was released on May 28, 2024. Sarah Harrison and Carolyn Daughters are thrilled to be in Buffalo, Wyoming, to meet with Craig Johnson during the annual Longmire Days festival.

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Tea, Tonic & Toxin is a history of mystery book club and podcast. We’re reading the best mysteries ever written, as well as interviewing some of the world’s best contemporary mystery and thriller writers.

In Gaudy Night, Harriet Vane returns to her alma mater, Oxford, only to find the tranquil setting disturbed by a series of unsettling incidents. Published in 1935, it’s considered by some to be the first feminist mystery novel, and it’s a prime example of Dorothy L. Sayers’ elegant prose, complex characterization, and intricate, emotionally charged storytelling.

Guest ZJ Czupor (Zoltan James) joins Sarah and Carolyn in a delightful discussion.

Zoltan James is the pen name of ZJ Czupor. He writes mysteries, thrillers, and the occasional poem, and is proud to be represented by Terrie Wolf, founder and owner of AKA Literary Management.

His monthly column ON TOUR WITH DEAD WRITERS features vignettes about famous mystery writers and is available exclusively on Rogue Women Writers blog. Check it out here.
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We chose Gaudy Night as one of our “history of mystery” book reads. Let’s discuss why … and make a case for having chosen the other.

For instance, Gaudy Night shows up on several lists of important books. Written by a woman, with a woman acting as detective, at a critical historical juncture, AND this is a huge departure for Sayers, with A LOT of internal monologue for Vane, the detective. It feels very autobiographical in many ways.

Gaudy Night pushes the mystery genre in the direction of philosophical treatise, asking questions about duty and where our ultimate loyalty lies. It’s a social commentary, specifically on the question of prospects for women who are smart and would like both a career and family.

A Hearkening Back to College Days / Love Letter to Oxford

John Donne (quoted in the book): “The university is a paradise, rivers of knowledge are there, arts and sciences flow from thence. Council tables are Horti conclusi, (as it is said in the Canticles) Gardens that are walled in, and they are fontes signati, wells that are sealed up; bottomless depths of unsearchable counsels there.”

We get a picture of Oxford life, with all its traditions and habits. Oxford itself becomes a character. Harriet wants to recapture the love that she had for Shrewsbury while she was there. She seems to want to reclaim her student experience. But what is it about that student experience that resonates for her (and for Carolyn) so deeply?

Shrewsbury is an oasis/retreat where she can detach from the day-to-day world and reflect (or meditatively not reflect). It’s a civilized safe haven where order (normally) reigns.

(Warden) ‘Probably you are not specially interested in all this question of women’s education.’

(Wimsey) ‘Is it still a question? It ought not to be. I hope you are not going to ask me whether I approve of women’s doing this and that.’

‘Why not?’

‘You should not imply that I have any right either

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Tea, Tonic & Toxin is a history of mystery book club and podcast. We’re reading the best mysteries ever written, as well as interviewing some of the world’s best contemporary mystery and thriller writers.

In Gaudy Night, Harriet Vane returns to her alma mater, Oxford, only to find the tranquil setting disturbed by a series of unsettling incidents. Published in 1935, it’s considered by some to be the first feminist mystery novel, and it’s a prime example of Dorothy L. Sayers’ elegant prose, complex characterization, and intricate, emotionally charged storytelling.

Guest ZJ Czupor (Zoltan James) joins Sarah and Carolyn in a delightful discussion. Join us, won’t you?

Zoltan James is the pen name of ZJ Czupor. He writes mysteries, thrillers, and the occasional poem, and is proud to be represented by Terrie Wolf, founder and owner of AKA Literary Management.

His monthly column ON TOUR WITH DEAD WRITERS features vignettes about famous mystery writers and is available exclusively on Rogue Women Writers blog. Check it out here.
zjames.substack.com

Buy the book here!

We chose Gaudy Night as one of our “history of mystery” book reads. Let’s discuss why … and make a case for having chosen the other.

For instance, Gaudy Night shows up on several lists of important books. Written by a woman, with a woman acting as detective, at a critical historical juncture, AND this is a huge departure for Sayers, with A LOT of internal monologue for Vane, the detective. It feels very autobiographical in many ways.

Gaudy Night pushes the mystery genre in the direction of philosophical treatise, asking questions about duty and where our ultimate loyalty lies. It’s a social commentary, specifically on the question of prospects for women who are smart and would like both a career and family.

Sayers includes long passages of complicated dialogue — long scenes where Oxford dons debate matters of ethics and social policy or conversations where Harriet Vane ponders what it means to write mysteries.

Gaudy Night has been called the first feminist mystery novel. Is it a mystery novel posing as a philosophical treatise (or the opposite)? How did you feel about the many discussions of life, love, men/women, marriage and family, class/status, education, …. Is it less a mystery novel than a romance, social commentary, comedy of manners, philosophical exploration, feminist manifesto, novel of personal growth, künstlerroman (artist’s novel) …?

Which is paramount here: plot or philosophy? In what ways do the ideas introduced at the beginning of the book evolve throughout the book? In what ways does Harriet herself change?

Backstory: Harriet Vane is an Oxford graduate with a First in English. She attends Shrewsbury College then moves to London to write mystery novels. She’s wrongly accused of murder. Lord Peter Wimsey secures her release from prison. For the past five years, he has wanted to marry her. Harriet hasn’t been back to Shrewsbury since she finished her studies and is nervous about attending the Gaudy. (Contained in Strong Poison & Have His Carcase)

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Montana thriller writer Christine Carbo joins Sarah and Carolyn to discuss her book The Wild Inside.

Christine is a recipient of the Womens’ National Book Association Pinckley Prize, the Silver Falchion Award, and the High Plains Book Award. She and her family live in Whitefish, Montana.

When Christine’s not teaching Pilates or writing suspense, she’s enjoying all that living in Northwest Montana has to offer.

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It was a clear night in Glacier National Park. Fourteen-year-old Ted Systead and his father were camping beneath the rugged peaks and starlit skies when something unimaginable happened: a grizzly bear attacked Ted’s father and dragged him to his death.

Now, twenty years later, as Special Agent for the Department of the Interior, Ted gets called back to investigate a crime that mirrors the horror of that night. Except this time, the victim was tied to a tree before the mauling. Ted teams up with one of the park officers—a man named Monty, whose pleasant exterior masks an all-too-vivid knowledge of the hazardous terrain surrounding them. Residents of the area turn out to be suspicious of outsiders and less than forthcoming. Their intimate connection to the wild forces them to confront nature, and their fellow man, with equal measures of reverence and ruthlessness.

As the case progresses with no clear answers, more than human life is at stake—including that of the majestic creature responsible for the attack. Ted’s search for the truth ends up leading him deeper into the wilderness than he ever imagined, on the trail of a killer, until he reaches a shocking and unexpected personal conclusion.

As intriguing and alluring as bestselling crime novels by C.J. Box, Louise Penny, and William Kent Krueger, as atmospheric and evocative as the nature writing of John Krakauer and Cheryl Strayed, The Wild Inside is a gripping debut novel about the perilous, unforgiving intersection between man and nature.

Christine grew up in Gainesville, Florida – the same town her main character in The Wild Inside grows up in. She then moved to Kalispell, Montana when she was twelve.

Throughout this process, Christine has come to realize that writing is even more fulfilling when she stays involved with other writers. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Authors of the Flathead, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, International Thriller Writers, Outdoor Writers Association of America and Montana Women Writers.

More importantly, she is aware of the investment of time and money when readers take a chance on a new author and a book in general. For this, she is eternally grateful for the support!

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When a man is found dead in a quaint English village, Inspector Hannasyde must unravel the secrets of the eccentric family involved. In DEATH IN THE STOCKS (1935), a beloved classic, Georgette Heyer infuses the traditional mystery with her signature style of historical romance (and its Regency romance sub-genre).

Reflect: Check out the conversation starters below.

Weigh In: Speak up, and you might get an on-air shout out and a fabulous sticker!

Jennifer Kloester is the bestselling author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World, Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller, and Society The Novels of Georgette Heyer: A Celebration.

Jennifer is a Patroness of the International Heyer, and a producer of the forthcoming documentary Who the Hell is Georgette Heyer?

She is also a popular presenter and public speaker and, in 2015, with Stephen Fry, she was delighted to speak at the unveiling of Georgette Heyer’s English Heritage Blue Plaque in Wimbledon.

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For a peek at some of the Show & Tell Jen was sharing, check out our YouTube channel.

Finding the Romance

Kenneth and Antonia both start the book engaged, and spend most of the book engaged, to people they don’t like and no one else likes. Took a bit to find where the romance would be emerging from in the story. Carolyn particularly enjoyed Tony’s “sorry not sorry” breakup with Rudolph (336).

Kenneth and Antonia Vereker

Death in the Stocks by Georgette Heyer includes interesting and unique characterizations of people who say exactly what they’re thinking, without malice. The siblings in particular seem to have a hard time relating to social niceties or expectations. They are both wholly lacking in tact and, at times, human feeling and good sense. They have zero interest in their half-brother’s murder (other than the 250,000€ inheritance coming Kenneth’s way) and couldn’t care less who killed him .

Hannasyde, the voice of reason, says that Tony “doesn’t appear to conceal a thing. It’s the same with her brother: you don’t know whether they’re very clever, or completely innocent, or a pair of lunatics” (170). At one point, Hannasyde wishes he could convict both siblings for murder. Charles Carrington refers to the siblings as “those Vereker brats” (177).

Hannasyde to Kenneth in reference to Roger’s death: “You have reminded me yourself that I am not a Vereker. I don’t joke on such matters.”

Kenneth: ‘These hands … are worth more than all Arnold’s filthy money, and when he’s been forgotten for centuries people will still be talking about me!” (103)

Kenneth and Antonia live in a home “decorated in a modernist style, with curtains and a carpet of cubist design.” Giles refers to the upper-crust bohemian Kenneth as “looking like a third-rate artist from Chelsea” (95) and says he hates his “effeminate tie.” It’s the Great Depression (1929-1939), but they seem to be doing just fine. Are these siblings modern? Are they rebels who reject traditional moral principles?

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When a man is found dead in a quaint English village, Inspector Hannasyde must unravel the secrets of the eccentric family involved. In DEATH IN THE STOCKS (1935), a beloved classic, Georgette Heyer infuses the traditional mystery with her signature style of historical romance (and its Regency romance sub-genre).

Reflect: Check out the conversation starters below.

Weigh In: Speak up, and you might get an on-air shout out and a fabulous sticker!

Jennifer Kloester is the bestselling author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World, Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller, and Society The Novels of Georgette Heyer: A Celebration.

Jennifer is a Patroness of the International Heyer, and a producer of the forthcoming documentary Who the Hell is Georgette Heyer?

She is also a popular presenter and public speaker and, in 2015, with Stephen Fry, she was delighted to speak at the unveiling of Georgette Heyer’s English Heritage Blue Plaque in Wimbledon.

Jen's Facebook
Instagram
Check out Jen's website here
And check out our Amazon store where we've compiled all things Georgette Heyer and Jennifer Kloester!

Several of our books, though not many, have had elements of humor. There’s The Thin Man, with the witty Nick and Nora. And there’s this one, with humorous banter throughout. How successful did you feel the humor was?

At times, the banter reminded Carolyn a bit of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. These lines made Carolyn smile – Roger says to Hannasyde: “if I know just how much you know, it’ll save a great deal of bother. I mean, it’s no use my telling you I went to the Zoo if you’re going to prove I spent the day in the British Museum. At the same time, I don’t want to tell you anything I needn’t. You see my difficulty?” (224)

Of the characters in the novel, Dorothy L. Sayers said: ‘Miss Heyer’s characters and dialogue are an abiding delight to me…I have seldom met people to whom I took so violent a fancy from the word “Go”.’

“Death in the Stocks is not only a very neat and mystifying detective story, it is also an excellent example of what can be achieved when the commonplace material of detective fiction is worked up by an experienced novelist. Miss Heyer’s characters act and speak with ease and conviction that is as refreshing as it is rare in a mystery story.” ~ Jennifer Kloester

Regency Romance

From Goodreads: Georgette Heyer “was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point.”

It’s fascinating that she seems to have invented the genre. Georgette Heyer wrote in two genres — regency romance and detective ficti

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