As the COVID-19 pandemic rolls into its 348th week, Brad from AhSweetMysteryBlog is here with some salutary advice.
See, back in March, Brad made a great case for the approaching crisis and enforced isolation being the perfect circumstances in which to read some mystery fiction, and he’s here today to expand upon that theme and suggest five ways in which a GAD fixation is the perfect preparation for these COVID-curtailed times.
If you’re looking to justify the hours you’ve spent in your reading chair/hammock/nook over the last few weeks, this is the episode for you.Ā You’ll naturally be desperate to know whether we’re able to fit in yet another mention of the films of Alfred Hitchcock — fast becoming an IGWT staple — and, as added incentive, you’ll get to hear me pay a compliment to the First Period novels of Ellery Queen…what more could you want?
The audio player is below, or you can click here to open it in your own browser; I apologise for the sound on my side of things going a bit woolly after a few minutes — it’s almost like Zoom itself knew that you only really want to hear what Mr. Friedman had to say and was trying to edge me out of the conversation.
Hope you enjoy…
Thanks, of course, to Brad for his time — though hopefully he’ll turn his phone off when we next record — to you for listening, and to Jonny Berliner for the music.
18 thoughts on “In GAD We Trust – Episode 5: GAD in the Time of COVID-19 [w’ Brad @ AhSweetMysteryBlog]”
For some reason Iām having to download and convert your podcasts before I can listen…but Iām intrigued by a conversation that covers such a wide range of topics. Who knew Francis Ford Coppola and Margaret Truman had anything in common š¤£
Gleeps, I’m sorry for all the additional effort — WordPress assures me that any appropriately updated browser should be able to play the audio through the website…but, then, I know that some people have trouble even downloading it. I’m sure I could fix this by uploading them to Apple podcasts or something, but that’s where my technological numbskullery comes in (+ I’m not entirely sure what the copyright/ownership situation then becomes…).
One of these days everything everything will run smoothly: the sound won’t be shifty, the playback will work for everyone…and what a time to be alive that will be š
Well, the episodes that weren’t already m3 files have now been replaced with mp3 files, so with any luck that’ll be the end of any difficulties.
Thanks for the kind words; I rather selfishly started doing this to provide entertainment for me during lockdown, so it’s nice to think that others are also getting something out of it š
Very enjoyable as always. I thought you did a good job of touching on a number of books and authors here. I share your disappointment in The Man in the Queue though I love the Agatha Christie nobody thinks of that person story you refer to!
And all that talk of A Kiss Before Dying was obviously right up my street!
I get what Tey is trying to do with TMitQ, and the fact that nothing in the book prepares you for that outcome is in a way almost as revolutionary as anything Anthony Berkeley did…except that it feels like she just ran out of ideas and so had to tack an ending on, rather than it being a deliberate commentary on the detective novel. And that was doubly disappointing after the rigours and intelligence of The Franchise Affair, which I maintain remains her only meaningful contribution to the genre.
Thanks for adding that second audio file, JJ. I had not been able to play the last 2-3 IGWT podcast recordings on my old iPad (thankfully they played on my Windows desktop), but that second format works for my iPad. yay!
I was a bit surprised that the 1981 Brian De Palma movie Blow Out was not mentioned in the fifth segment. Another great movie where someone gets in trouble for hearing / recording something.
Actually, Christophe, JJ made special mention about Blow Out – just as I went on and on about Tour de Force when we talked about disguises. It was only sound troubles and the constant “bing” of my text messages that made us a trifle less brilliant than usual . . . š
Christophe, you should’ve mentioned your technical difficulties before, I’d’ve looked into it. Episodes 1 and 2 are mp3 already, I’ll replace eps 3 & 4 tomorrow with mp3 versions.
And, yeah, Blow Out did get a quicjk mention, but in the midst of a spoiler-rich discussion about Tour de Force…alas, wasn’t possible to salvage any coherent discussion without including some major spoiler talk (hence Brad’s comment about editing a section out) and it fell by the wayside. Thanks, though, for raising it — a great, weird John Travolta movies with a staggeringly sinister turn by John Lithgow (and based on the movie Blow Up, I believe, which is even weirder…)
completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but as the Guy Who Saw “Blow Up” Mistakenly Believing It Was A Mystery Thriller, I can safely confirm that it is, in fact, not a mystery thriller and you should under no circumstances watch it expecting any kind of mystery
Just finished listening to your latest episode. Great stuff as usual!
Craig Rice does an interesting thing with the “murder in public” concept in which someone makes the bet that they can do a public killing and get away with it. The trick in part is trying to figure out which killing they did.
As to your discussion on overhearing/seeing things, two interesting later examples are The Listening Eye by Patricia Wentworth, in which a woman is run over after lip reading a criminal conversation between two people in an art gallery and The Listening Wall by Patricia Carlon, where a woman who has suffered a stroke and cannot move or speak overhears the lodgers beneath planning the murder of a relative who is coming to visit. The second is the best of the two with the tension mounting as the woman doesn’t know how to prevent the killing and keep herself safe.
They sound like great examples, all. Hopefully I’ll find the Rice story once I’m able to start working through her work — Home Sweet Homicide has left me extremely eager to read more, so the difficulty is now tracking her books down (with the Rue Morgue Press gone, too, and they’d reprinted quite a few…).
Ugh I was so disappointed with “The List of Adrian Messenger”! It’s way too gimmicky. Additionally, some of the famous people they said were ‘in’ the movie weren’t actually in it at all. It would have been a much better movie without the whole makeup shtick. I enjoyed the story but the very gimmicky nature of it all put me off.
I think the movie “The List of Adrian Messenger” is an entertaining curio, but far from a masterpiece. So, depending on what your expectations are, I can see how you can be quite disappointed with it.
The Invisible Event 
For some reason Iām having to download and convert your podcasts before I can listen…but Iām intrigued by a conversation that covers such a wide range of topics. Who knew Francis Ford Coppola and Margaret Truman had anything in common š¤£
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Gleeps, I’m sorry for all the additional effort — WordPress assures me that any appropriately updated browser should be able to play the audio through the website…but, then, I know that some people have trouble even downloading it. I’m sure I could fix this by uploading them to Apple podcasts or something, but that’s where my technological numbskullery comes in (+ I’m not entirely sure what the copyright/ownership situation then becomes…).
One of these days everything everything will run smoothly: the sound won’t be shifty, the playback will work for everyone…and what a time to be alive that will be š
LikeLike
No worries…it’s an Apple thing I’m sure (so on my end, not your’s). I believe it’s probably the same problem Christophe has with his iPad.
Great episode…as per usual.
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Well, the episodes that weren’t already m3 files have now been replaced with mp3 files, so with any luck that’ll be the end of any difficulties.
Thanks for the kind words; I rather selfishly started doing this to provide entertainment for me during lockdown, so it’s nice to think that others are also getting something out of it š
LikeLike
Very enjoyable as always. I thought you did a good job of touching on a number of books and authors here. I share your disappointment in The Man in the Queue though I love the Agatha Christie nobody thinks of that person story you refer to!
And all that talk of A Kiss Before Dying was obviously right up my street!
LikeLike
I get what Tey is trying to do with TMitQ, and the fact that nothing in the book prepares you for that outcome is in a way almost as revolutionary as anything Anthony Berkeley did…except that it feels like she just ran out of ideas and so had to tack an ending on, rather than it being a deliberate commentary on the detective novel. And that was doubly disappointing after the rigours and intelligence of The Franchise Affair, which I maintain remains her only meaningful contribution to the genre.
LikeLike
Thanks for adding that second audio file, JJ. I had not been able to play the last 2-3 IGWT podcast recordings on my old iPad (thankfully they played on my Windows desktop), but that second format works for my iPad. yay!
I was a bit surprised that the 1981 Brian De Palma movie Blow Out was not mentioned in the fifth segment. Another great movie where someone gets in trouble for hearing / recording something.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Actually, Christophe, JJ made special mention about Blow Out – just as I went on and on about Tour de Force when we talked about disguises. It was only sound troubles and the constant “bing” of my text messages that made us a trifle less brilliant than usual . . . š
LikeLiked by 1 person
Christophe, you should’ve mentioned your technical difficulties before, I’d’ve looked into it. Episodes 1 and 2 are mp3 already, I’ll replace eps 3 & 4 tomorrow with mp3 versions.
And, yeah, Blow Out did get a quicjk mention, but in the midst of a spoiler-rich discussion about Tour de Force…alas, wasn’t possible to salvage any coherent discussion without including some major spoiler talk (hence Brad’s comment about editing a section out) and it fell by the wayside. Thanks, though, for raising it — a great, weird John Travolta movies with a staggeringly sinister turn by John Lithgow (and based on the movie Blow Up, I believe, which is even weirder…)
LikeLiked by 1 person
completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but as the Guy Who Saw “Blow Up” Mistakenly Believing It Was A Mystery Thriller, I can safely confirm that it is, in fact, not a mystery thriller and you should under no circumstances watch it expecting any kind of mystery
LikeLike
Yes, this is good advice.
LikeLike
Just finished listening to your latest episode. Great stuff as usual!
Craig Rice does an interesting thing with the “murder in public” concept in which someone makes the bet that they can do a public killing and get away with it. The trick in part is trying to figure out which killing they did.
As to your discussion on overhearing/seeing things, two interesting later examples are The Listening Eye by Patricia Wentworth, in which a woman is run over after lip reading a criminal conversation between two people in an art gallery and The Listening Wall by Patricia Carlon, where a woman who has suffered a stroke and cannot move or speak overhears the lodgers beneath planning the murder of a relative who is coming to visit. The second is the best of the two with the tension mounting as the woman doesn’t know how to prevent the killing and keep herself safe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They sound like great examples, all. Hopefully I’ll find the Rice story once I’m able to start working through her work — Home Sweet Homicide has left me extremely eager to read more, so the difficulty is now tracking her books down (with the Rue Morgue Press gone, too, and they’d reprinted quite a few…).
LikeLike
Ugh I was so disappointed with “The List of Adrian Messenger”! It’s way too gimmicky. Additionally, some of the famous people they said were ‘in’ the movie weren’t actually in it at all. It would have been a much better movie without the whole makeup shtick. I enjoyed the story but the very gimmicky nature of it all put me off.
LikeLike
I think the movie “The List of Adrian Messenger” is an entertaining curio, but far from a masterpiece. So, depending on what your expectations are, I can see how you can be quite disappointed with it.
LikeLike
Enjoyed the last two episodes. Are there links to open the earlier episodes in own browser?
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There are now!
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Thank you!
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