Afoot

Veronica Mars is the greatest detective series that many people watched, but clearly not enough! A determined, hard-nosed teenager, Veronica had absolutely no concern about invading the privacy of others in her pursuit of solving a case her father is working on, troubles her classmates brought to her, or getting to the bottom of the season’s overall arc—the murder of her best friend. It’s time to revisit the first season of the show 12 years after it debuted, and a bunch of great fans of the show and one newcomer, the host, talk episodes, characters, themes, and comparisons to other programs. We start off without disclosing anything, then blow the spoiler horn at 13 minutes, 20 seconds into the episode.

marshmallows in an iron glove

Host Glenn Fleishman with Erika Ensign, James Callan, Jenni Leder, and Katie Lane.

Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed, parodied, adapted, and extended detective in the history of the genre. In this episode (part 2 of 2), Afoot panelists discuss more of their favorite Holmes' depictions and extensions. This time: Failed TV pilots that use Holmes or Holmes-like characters, the movie Young Sherlock Holmes, House, M.D., Robert Downey, Jr's portrayal in movies, the movie of The Seven-Percent Solution, and the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King.

Sherlock adaptations

Host Glenn Fleishman with David J. Loehr, Monty Ashley, and Shannon Sudderth.

Young Sherlock Holmes (Glenn) Monty's quick picks:

• Slylock Fox
• Flashman and the Tiger 

House, M.D. (Monty) 

• The Case of the Two Watsons by Kate Beaton

• Mentions in other mystery novels: Dorothy Sayers' Peter Whimsy, Agatha Christie, Star Trek's Data Robert Downey, Jr. movies (Shannon) 
• Set Decoration for the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes (particularly the first shot, "Holmes & Watson's Quarters," with the fireplace) 

David's quick picks: 

• Tom Baker's Hound of the Baskervilles 
• "Talons of Weng Shia-Ang," Doctor Who 
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country 
• Alan Rickman as Holmes in a stage play (1976) 

The Seven-Percent Solution (David) 

More picks 

• The Final Solution by Michael Chabon (David)
• "Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman (Glenn)

Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed, parodied, adapted, and extended detective in the history of the genre. In this episode (part 1 of 2), Afoot panelists discuss their favorite Holmes’ depictions and extensions. This time: Jeremy Brett, Sherlock (BBC), an episode of Magnum, P.I., the movie They Might Be Giants, Elementary (US TV), and The Great Mouse Detective.

Sherlock Holmes

Host Glenn Fleishman with David J. Loehr, Monty Ashley, and Shannon Sudderth.

From nearly the dawn of broadcast radio came scripted shows, and the biggest genre outside of soap operas were radio mysteries. Remarkably, these not only thrived across dozens and dozens of shows during radio’s heyday, but for decades beyond, into the 1980s. And podcasting has offered some new life, from Thrilling Adventure Hour to…The Incomparable Radio Theater. We discuss our favorite shows, some great episodes, how we grew up with radio mysteries, and where to find them, old and new.

Old-time scripted radio mystery programs

Host Glenn Fleishman with Monty Ashley and David J. Loehr.

We mentioned a lot of programs, and here are the links to all of them in order of appearance in the episode, if you’re trying to find your spot.

Gunsmoke

Miss Marple may have been a pioneer crime-tape crosser, but there are oodles of women writing detective fiction and starring in it. In this episode, we talk about our faves, what a woman detective brings to the picture (Miss Fisher!), and introduce folks to perhaps some lesser-known treasures.

Female mystery authors and protagonists

Host Glenn Fleishman with James Callan, Katie Lane, Jean MacDonald, and Shannon Sudderth.

Glenn’s picks:

Shannon’s picks:

James’ picks:

Jean’s picks:

Katie’s picks:

Welcome to the latest member of The Incomparable family of podcasts: Afoot, the mystery podcast! What makes a mystery a mystery? It’s a genre with a puzzle at the middle, but which takes many forms across all media. Many mystery elements have also percolated out into mainstream fiction and media.

This show will be “genre for people who aren’t genre snobs,” where we will talk books, comic books, television, movies, audio plays, theatre, and more, and stretch boundaries while staying true to the form. We may even play mystery games. We’ll have a number of book-club episodes, too, and announce choices ahead of time so listeners can weigh in or read along.

In this inaugural episode, your host and several panelists describe what sucked them into reading and watching mysteries, and their favorites, and we all discuss what salient factors turn a story into a mystery.

Follow us on Twitter at @afootcast!

Introducing Afoot!

Host Glenn Fleishman with Erika Ensign, David J. Loehr, Shannon Sudderth, Jean MacDonald, and James Callan.

Erika mentioned:

(Glenn notes Highlander is a mystery, and he never said the word Zardoz)

Shannon mentioned:

And The Name of the Rose!

James notes:

Future episode will discuss radio mystery plays.

David refers to:

Jean

Glenn

Shannon also cited Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers as a murder-free mystery.