Most of us have a soft spot for mysteries and even if we don't, everyone knows the basic premise of a who-dunnit. Starting with Wilkie Collins and the first detective novel, following through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and finally taking a fixed shape in Agatha Christie's mystery novels, the who-dunnit appeals to us on multiple levels. Interestingly, it has also influenced other genres lending aspects of mystery, well known tropes and elements of suspense and tension to fantasy, sci-fi and even romance. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at why we're wired to find a who-dunnit compelling; why the story form has very much become it's own thing and how you can leverage that for your own writing.
On the slab this week: Knives Out, Death on the Nile, See How they Run and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Episode 415: Seafarers, Swashbucklers and Chaotic Archaeologists - the evolution of Adventure Fiction
Episode 414: Seasons May Change - Stars Farmers & Wild Weather Calendars
Episode 413: Dragon riders & wolf speakers - the Animal Soul Bond in Speculative Fiction
Episode 412: By the Blade - the Evolution of Heroic Fantasy
Episode 411: Kitchen Heroes - Humble Protagonists who get Things Done in Speculative Fiction
Episode 410: In a Rural Dream - The Rise of Cottagecore
Episode 409: Pitched Perfectly - The Film was Better than the Book
Episode 408: There’s good news and...more good news - 2023 in review
Episode 407: Jingle Bell Rock - Storytelling through the medium of songs the Christmas edition
Episode 406: A Picture Says a Thousand Words - The Rise of the Graphic Novel
Episode 405: The Fairest of Them All - The Pursuit of Beauty as a Literary Device
Episode 404: It was Great Apart from the Ending - Beloved Fiction that Wobbled on the Dismount
Episode 403: The Old Family Business - Gangster Witches and Legacy Monster Hunters
Episode: 402 Of Gold and Hubris - Tracing the Origins of Rumpelstiltskin
Episode 401: Girls on Ice - a History of the Fridging Trope
Episode 400: Strange Fruit in the Gallant South - Exploring the Southern Gothic
Episode 399: This Set is Cursed - Strange Events Behind the Scenes at Horror Films
DD Episode 398: Joyous Companions Forever - examining the queerness of the vampire genre
Episode 397: The Beautiful and the Damned - examining the Queerness of the Vampire Genre
Ep 396: It Came from Out of the closet - The Queer Relationship with Horror
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