Podcast in Death

Hi, Everyone! In this episode, we are reviewing "Kindred in Death," which, to be honest, is pretty graphic in comparison to a lot of the other books in this series. The first murder is a very brutal rape/murder and Nora added a lot of detail, so it's really hard to read. But on the other hand, there are some really great moments in this one, including Eve having to deal with the final preparations for Charles and Louise's wedding, and her Matron of Honor Duties where she has to wear "a yellow thing."

 

Another highlight of this book is that, unfortunately, the first murder victim was good friends with Jamie Lingstrom, and Eve and Peabody have to break this news to him. BUT...the reason this is a highlight, is because Jamie insists on being in on the investigation, and we love whenever we get the opportunity to spend some time with Jamie. He's a great asset to Eve's investigation and to this books as a whole.

 

As always, the writing is top notch, even if some of it is difficult to read.

According to the website TVTropes.org, the definition of a trope is: A trope is a storytelling device or convention, a shortcut for describing situations the storyteller can reasonably assume the audience will recognize. Tropes are the means by which a story is told by anyone who has a story to tell. We [...]

According to the website TVTropes.org, the definition of a trope is:

A trope is a storytelling device or convention, a shortcut for describing situations the storyteller can reasonably assume the audience will recognize. Tropes are the means by which a story is told by anyone who has a story to tell. We collect them, for the fun involved.

Tropes are not the same thing as cliches. They may be brand new but seem trite and hackneyed; they may be thousands of years old but seem fresh and new. They are not bad, they are not good; tropes are tools that the creator of a work of art uses to express their ideas to the audience. It's pretty much impossible to create a story without tropes.

This week, we found out that TVTropes.org has a whole page of tropes that are used for the "In Death" series. There are a TON, and we only have enough time to go through half of them. We'll save the rest for later, but we hope you all enjoy learning about tropes right along with us.

So many angry men this time around! Not sure why that is, but here we are. We have a man complaining about: “…unbelievable characters, or over-sentimentalized emoting and self-congratulating by the main characters. And the futuristic stuff is just plain silly “You can tell who wrote the book when You [...]

So many angry men this time around! Not sure why that is, but here we are. We have a man complaining about:

"...unbelievable characters, or over-sentimentalized emoting and self-congratulating by the main characters. And the futuristic stuff is just plain silly

"You can tell who wrote the book when You get to the sex parts."

"I prefer the way male authors present their stories."

"I think it could use some slimming down, and did not appreciate the decades in the future jargon."

"..the futuristic element was poorly supported and useless to the story or for any entertainment value."

And Many more, unfortunately.

We have MANY people making the "ghostwriter" accusation, including one woman who went so far as to say: "...I also resent that the ghostwriter's presence is not acknowledged - I'd like a little more truth in advertising there." THE NERVE! (Don't worry...we go after her hard...though, we apologize to any of our listeners who have a Masters of Fiber Arts Degree.

But, as always we have some really great reviews too, like the one who says Nora is a Super Genius:

And of course, the Review the Reviews episode wouldn't be complete without praise for Susan Ericksen.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we go over some of the medical stuff that happens in the series that drives Jen crazy. So, we first go over how Jen is super frustrated by when Louise is there for every kind of medical condition or procedure. Then we discuss how concussions actually happen [...]

This is a very emotional book, because it starts with the murder of Li Morris’ girlfriend, Amaryllis Coltraine. When Peabody and Eve are called to the scene and realize who the victim is, they’re heartbroken on Morris’ behalf. We just know that we’re going to get at least one “Eve [...]

This is a very emotional book, because it starts with the murder of Li Morris' girlfriend, Amaryllis Coltraine. When Peabody and Eve are called to the scene and realize who the victim is, they're heartbroken on Morris' behalf. We just know that we're going to get at least one "Eve hasn't grown" comments when we review the reviews, but to us, her growth is VERY apparent in this book, especially in the ways she interacts with Morris throughout this whole book.

Eve quickly suspects someone in Coltrane's squad, but in looking into Coltraine's background, they find that before she moved to New York, she was a detective in Atlanta and had a year-long affair with Alex Ricker who is none other than Max Ricker's son, so Eve also looks there as well.

Added to all of this, Eve is also knee deep in bachelorette party stuff for Louise. Some very funny moments with Eve panicking about not having bought a present yet (Roarke helps here by asking Caro what would be appropriate, which is apparently, in Eve's words: "Fuck Wear.") Funny moments as Eve tries to get out of the party by convincing Roarke to stay home from the bachelor party for Charles in Vegas. Roarke refuses, and Eve begs to go with them rather than have to go to a bachelorette party and get a makeover. Roarke counters by asking to see her penis first.

We're all glad though, that Eve stayed because we got some really great moments of Louise's bachelorette party which included not just makeovers, but skinny dipping in the pool, and a whole conversation about what animal their men are in bed.

When another victim is killed, all the main players in the bachelorette party (Eve, Peabody, Mira, Reo, Louise, Nadine and Mavis) form a "Smart Girls" meeting over breakfast and decide who they think the killer is (and they're not wrong).

The theme of this particular book is "friends" and friendship, and that theme plays out in many, many ways in this book, and we really appreciate it. We also appreciate that this book really leans heavily into a concept that is voiced by Peabody in this book: "It all matters...what we leave behind with the people we brush up against."

On Episode #39 (March 11, 2021) AJ and Tara welcomed a special guest: AJ’s daughter, Caitlin Arend. Even though AJ has been in the “In Death” fandom since the year 2000, her daughter Caitlin has never read an “In Death” book and knows very little about the series. So we [...]

On Episode #39 (March 11, 2021) AJ and Tara welcomed a special guest: AJ's daughter, Caitlin Arend. Even though AJ has been in the "In Death" fandom since the year 2000, her daughter Caitlin has never read an "In Death" book and knows very little about the series. So we thought it would be fun to show her some of the "In Death" book covers and see if she could guess what the plot was. Fast forward two years, and now AJ and Jen welcomed Caitlin for a Round 2 of "In Death" book covers. One thing she has learned after having done two book cover episodes is that Wine Glass Means Poison. She's not wrong!