An abandoned English manor. A peculiar missing portrait. A cozy, deviously clever muder mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horwitz. Jo Jones has always had a little trouble fitting in. As a neurodivergent, hyperlexic book editor and divorced New Yorker transplanted into the English countryside, Jo doesn’t know what stands out more: her Americanisms or her autism. After losing her job, her mother, and her marriage all in one year, she couldn’t be happier to take possession of a possibly haunted (and clearly unwanted) family estate in North Yorkshire. But when the body of the moody town groundskeeper turns up on her rug with three bullets in his back, Jo finds herself in potential danger—and she’s also a potential suspect. At the same time, a peculiar family portrait vanishes from a secret room in the manor, bearing a strange connection to both the dead body and Jo’s mysterious family history. With the aid of a Welsh antiques dealer, the morose local detective, and the Irish innkeeper’s wife, Jo embarks on a mission to clear herself of blame and find the missing painting, unearthing a slew of secrets about the town—and herself—along the way. And she’ll have to do it all before the killer strikes again…

Episode was recorded live October 24, 2024.

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Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn’t a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms—like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children’s book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed. But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt that implies he’s aware of her surveillance, her tenuous hold on a normal life crumbles. Driven by compulsion, she enacts the most powerful ritual she has to reclaim control—a midnight visit to the Cayatoga Bridge—and arrives just in time to witness Kurt’s suicide. Before he jumps, he slams her with a devastating accusation: his death is all her fault. Horrified, Katrina combs through the clues she’s collected about Kurt over the last three years, but each revelation uncovers a menacing truth: for every moment she was watching him, he was watching her. And the past she thought she’d left behind? It’s been following her more closely than she ever could have imagined. Don’t miss this gripping thriller of a novel that explores the tenuous nature of our mental health—and might just cause us to question our own seeming realities. Live chat with author Maria Dong on Oct 10th—the perfect book for starting off the spooky season!

Episode was recorded live October 10, 2024.

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Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Tremors in the Blood, we are discussing a movie about the invention of the lie detector with Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this sexy origin story of the lie detector and Wonder Woman. We'll discuss themes such as Dominance and Submission, Polyamorous relationships, and was Luke Evans just to handsome to play this role.

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Tracing uranium’s past, and how it intersects with our understanding of other radioactive elements, this book aims to disentangle our attitudes and to unpick the atomic mindset. Chain Reactions looks at the fascinating, often-forgotten, stories that can be found throughout the history of the element. Ranging from glassworks to penny stocks; medicines to weapons; something to be feared to a powerful source of energy. This global history explores the scientific history of the element, but also shines a light on its cultural and social impact. By understanding our nuclear past, we can move beyond the ideological opposition to technologies and encourage a more nuanced dialogue about whether it is feasible – and desirable – to have a genuinely nuclear-powered future. Lucy Jane Santos’s upcoming book Chain Reactions: A Hopeful History of Uranium will no doubt be a “glowing” success! Lucy looks beyond the familiar narratives to explore an alternative history of uranium in a lively, accessible way. Her previous work includes Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium.

Episode was recorded live September 26, 2024.

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You asked and we delivered! Pulitzer-prize winning science journalist Deborah Blum—author of The Poisoner’s Handbook—returns to PBC! This time, she comes to us as HOST! Two additional authors will be joining us, picked by Deborah herself: Amit Katwala as author of TREMORS IN THE BLOOD and Patti McCracken for ANGEL MAKERS. Where did lie detectors come from? Are they really accurate? The history isn’t just fascinating, it’s evocative—and bears an interesting connection to artificial intelligence. Everyone wants a machine that tells the truth. But chillingly, it turns out that machines can lie, too. Our next thrilling true-crime narrative takes us to a small town in Hungary. McCracken follows a trail of white powder—the colorless, odorless, deadly poison arsenic. Distributed by a wily midwife to women who needed a ‘cure’ for abusive spouses, the little vials emptied and the grave yards started filling up. What caused a group of housewives to become a murder ring? Who were these “angel-makers” and how did their crimes (at least 160 dead) go so long undiscovered?

Episode was recorded live September 12, 2024.

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Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book A Gentleman and a Thief, we are discussing our own gentleman conman with The Music Man.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this classic Hollywood (and Broadway) musical to discuss our favorite songs, finding our someone, and seeing the good in someone else.

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Suave and movie-star handsome, Arthur Barry charmed New York celebrities as he planned and executed some of the most brazen and lucrative heists of the 1920s. Think Cary Grant’s character was clever and slick in the Hitchcock classic To Catch a Thief ? This gentleman thief was smarter, smoother. It sounds like fiction. But it isn’t. Barry was real-life con artist who donned a tuxedo to crash the parties of the rich and famous as he planned his burglaries. Known as a “second-story man,” he could even slip in and out of bedrooms undetected as his victims slept only inches away! “I know he’s terrible, but isn’t he charming?” – wrote Robbery victim Dorothea Livermore. Barry was, shall we say, the aristocrat of crime—and a modern day Robin Hood. Well, except for the giving it to the poor part. In a span of seven years he stole diamonds, pearls and other precious gems worth almost $60 million today—in a whirlwind of roaring 20s decadence. Don your dapper attire, raise a coup cocktail glass—and join us for the latest by the brilliant Dean Jobb: A Gentleman and a Thief!

Episode was recorded live August 22, 2024.

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Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Whalefall, we are discussing the greatest tale of Whales ever told, the classic Moby Dick.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this classic tale of temptation, obsession, was Gregory Peck right for the role of Ahab (he didn't think so), and what are our white whales.

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