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Writing a book can be hard. Add in the twists and turns of a mystery... Where to even start?!

Three authors join us today to help us cozy up to confusing capers. In the latest edition of our "Ask A" series, we're asking mystery novelists about how they mystify and confound amateur sleuths and gumshoes the world over.

From the red herrings to the smoking guns, how do they craft their whodunits?

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2024 was a hard year for people who make games — the industry saw mass layoffs and increasing consolidation. But for the people who play them, releases didn't slow down.

Indie developers released games like the monster-hunting game "Palworld" and "Animal Well," an expansive puzzle game.

Big developers moved some releases back — like new additions to the "Assassin's Creed" and "Grand Theft Auto" series. Remakes of legendary titles from the "Silent Hill" and "Final Fantasy" series delighted longtime fans. And "Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom" saw Princess Zelda take a leading role.

In this installment of Game Mode, we get into the video games of 2024 and what this year can tell us about the state of the video game industry.

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Art, for many of us, is an escape.

Whether it's turning on your favorite album during a traffic-heavy commute or getting lost in your favorite book before bed – art helps us cope with the stresses of everyday life.

But how does the role of art shift when your way of life is turned upside down in an instant? That's what happened to Slava Leontyev, his wife, Anya, and their friend Andrey when Russia invaded Ukraine. Instead of leaving, the three Ukrainian artists chose to fight erasure and Russian aggression through their work.

A new documentary called "Porcelain War" follows their journey surviving and defending their country while holding onto their humanity.

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If you live in a U.S. city, you've likely seen a rat or two running around. According to the pest control company, Orkin, an estimated 21 million U.S. homes face rodent invasions, each fall.

But rats play a much larger role in human history. These creatures have been sacrificed for the advancement of scientific research.

Rats are complicated — and it inspire equally complicated feelings in us.

This year, New York City held its first ever annual national urban rat summit to address the city's chronic rat problems.

Rats pose real health and safety risks to human, we discuss what we lose by only seeing them as pests.

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2024's year in film saw a sequel 36 years in the making.

There was also a musical that had theater-goers singing along. And a drama-comedy set around a Polish Holocaust tour.

We break down the best and most disappointing films of the year. We also talk documentaries, TV shows you need to binge, and what to plan to watch in the new year.

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Kris Bowers is no stranger to using music to build a world. The Oscar-winning composer has worked on films like "Green Book," 'Origin," and "The Color Purple," and on the hit Netflix series "Bridgerton." He's also known for his on-the-spot compositions, illustrated in this conversation with 1A Entertainment Correspondent John Horn.

His latest project is "The Wild Robot". In the animated feature directed by Chris Sanders, Roz is a robot is marooned on a deserted island, unable to communicate with the animals and the natural world she finds herself in.

As her programming evolves, and as she learns to speak to her animal neighbors, the score evolves with her.

Kris Bowers joins us to talk about putting music to this wild world.

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Think back to the first time someone told you about the game Tetris. Was it a friend? An older sibling or a parent? Maybe you saw someone playing it at an arcade.

How long did it take you to get what Tetris is — what you had to accomplish in the game and how to play it?

2024 boasts the 40th anniversary of the classic game of falling blocks, known as tetrominoes.

More than 520 million copies of Tetris have been sold since its worldwide release in the 1980s.

For our series "Game Mode", we're setting up to stack — looking at the game's history and why it became and has stayed popular.

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Most of us know that trees can help reduce the impacts of climate change by taking in carbon dioxide.

Most of us also know that scientists and environmental authorities have been sounding alarms for the better part of the last decade about the devastating effects of climate change.

Could trees store enough carbon, with a lot of help from us, to offset humanity's carbon emissions? What's the role of trees in our fight against climate change? And what's better left to other climate solutions?

We talk to an author whose new book explores whether or not serious reforestation efforts can really be an effective solution to reducing the carbon in our atmosphere.

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It's no surprise we love talking about food here at 1A.

From the latest cookbooks to answering your questions about your favorite foods.

As a holiday treat, we're bringing you highlights from the latest episode of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Radio Podcast.

For the complete episode, and to learn more about Milk Street be sure to visit milkstreetradio.com.

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Just hours before federal funding for the government runs out, Congress is left scrambling to find a way to keep the government open after midnight tonight.

Meanwhile, a New York judge has decided that Trump can't use his presidential immunity to shed his felony conviction.

And Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was charged with murder as an act of terrorism.

In global news, following the fall of the Assad regime, prosecutors, aid workers, and journalists are learning more about the atrocities committed under Syria's former president.

Israeli attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza have left the medical facilities barely able to provide basic care and no longer capable of surgical procedures or maternal services.

And Canada's embattled prime minister, Justin Trudeau, saw his position as the country's leader weaken this week after the resignation of his finance minister.

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