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Georgia Jeffries joins Sarah and Carolyn to discuss The Younger Girl, a supernatural thriller based on a true crime.

Georgia is a writer of Emmy Award-winning drama and acclaimed noir fiction. Honored with multiple Writers Guild Awards, Golden Globes, and the Humanitas Prize, her work in film has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as “standing ovation television.” 

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A DARK LABYRINTH OF FAMILY BETRAYAL

Based on a true crime, The Younger Girl, by trailblazing, award-winning writer Georgia Jeffries combines historical fiction and supernatural suspense to unravel a thrilling tale of family deception and long-denied redemption.

In 1933, Chicago tabloids trumpeted the death of twenty-year-old town belle Aldine Younger.

“HEIRESS SLAIN, MARRIED MAN HELD.”

In the aftermath of Aldine Younger’s tragic death, her grieving brother Owen suspects that their wealthy uncle orchestrated a sinister murder plot to cover up the theft of Aldine’s inheritance. Fast forward to 1996, when an aging Owen, burdened by the weight of the past, is compelled to discover the truth before he dies. His daughter, Joanna, becomes the key to unraveling the family’s twisted history.

Father and daughter journey back to Pontiac, Illinois, to claim Owen’s rightful bequest. They find themselves caught in a labyrinth of lies born of family greed and treachery crossing three generations. Amidst violent storms and dramatic revelations, Owen’s sanity teeters on the edge as he confuses Joanna with the sister he lost. Joanna, racing against time, unearths secrets that could shatter her world and discovers a psychic bridge linking past, present, and future. But at what cost? And who will survive the revelations?

Georgia Jeffries is a writer of Emmy Award-winning drama and acclaimed noir fiction. Honored with multiple Writers Guild Awards, Golden Globes, and the Humanitas Prize, her work in film has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as “standing ovation television.”

Born in the Illinois heartland, Georgia worked as a journalist for American Film before writing and producing the groundbreaking female-driven dramas Cagney & Lacey, China Beach, and Sisters. Her screenwriting career has been distinguished by extensive field research, from patrolling the mean streets of Rampart with the LAPD to crashing a Vegas bounty hunters’ convention to reporting from a Walter Reed Army Hospital surgical bay. Each investigation was the basis for one of her many docudramas and series pilots for CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO, and Showtime.

Her short stories have appeared in national suspense anthologies, including Mystery Writers of America’s Odd Partners and Sisters in Crime’s The Last Resort. She has also written biography and historical profiles for HuffPost, Los Angeles Review of Books, and University of California Press. A cum laude UCLA graduate, Georgia Jeffries is a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she created the first BFA Television Thesis program at an American university.

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Shana Kelly began her career as a literary agent at the William Morris Agency in New York and London for 10 years. She currently works as a documentary screenwriter, book editor, writer, and publishing consultant. She also teaches at Denver-based Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

In 2024, Shana won an Emmy for writing A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps, a historical documentary that aired on PBS in 2023. She is currently writing a historical documentary about the League of Women Voters.

Shana Kelly joins Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Learn more below!

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Reader Response: Did you enjoy Rebecca? Had you read it before, or was this your first time?

Gothic Setting

• Gothic fiction is characterized by an environment of fear, the threat of supernatural events, and the intrusion of the past upon the present (Je Reviens). Reminders of the past, like ruined buildings, signify a previously thriving world that’s decaying.
• In the narrator’s dream, Manderley is overtaken by unnatural growth: “Nature had come into her own again and … in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long, tenacious fingers. The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed in the end. They crowded, dark and uncontrolled, to the borders of the drive.”
• In the dream, she sees plants, once cultured. “No hand had checked their progress, and they had gone native now, rearing to monster height without a bloom.”
• Daphne du Maurier uses the weather to signal and even drive the events in the novel. The wind is often a friendly presence, and stillness brings with it a sense of doom. The fog plays a role in the shipwreck that exposes Rebecca’s boat and corpse. Many characters hope for rain throughout the book. There are repeated references to fire as well, which seems connected to Rebecca (as well at the color red, see below).
• They enter Manderley up a serpent drive (it reminds her of the forest path in a Grimm’s fairy tale, surrounded by bloodred rhododendrons (powerful monsters). There is no sense of beauty in this jungle growth. “That tangle of shrubs there should be cut down to bring light to the path. It was dark, much too dark. … The birds did not sing here.”
• How is Daphne du Maurier using Gothic tropes in the book? What are your thoughts about the sense of loss and physical/spiritual exile in the opening pages?

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We are beyond excited to be starting our fourth year, and to share with you the books we have on tap!

Give a listen and let us know what you think, or if we're leaving out pivotal content to the genre.

See the  full book club list here!
Watch clips from our conversations with guests (and  ourselves)!
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Tea, Tonic, and Toxin is a mystery and thriller podcast and book club for people obsessed with mysteries and thrillers. Each month, your hosts, Sarah Harrison and Carolyn Daughters, will discuss a game-changing mystery or thriller, starting in the mid-19th century onward. Together, we’ll see firsthand how the genre evolved.

Along the way, we’ll entertain ideas, prospects, theories, and doubts, along with the occasional guest. And we hope to entertain you, dear friend. We want you to experience the joys of reading the best mysteries and thrillers ever written.

We’ll read and explore ideas about the book and about ourselves. And we’ll start at the very beginning with “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe.

We’re excited to read these books. And we’re excited that you’ll be reading these books. Please share your ideas early and often. We want to hear from YOU.

Follow us month to month or jump in anywhere you like. You’re our people, and we’re glad we found you (and vice versa). We’re thrilled to have you join us anywhere on this marvelous journey through the best mysteries, thrillers, and detective stories ever written.

On a final note, with your encouragement and support, we’re getting better at this podcasting adventure each and every day. Our goal: Make Tea, Tonic & Toxin a mystery and thriller podcast and book club that provides a forum for introspection, good conversation, and inspiration.

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“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again …”

A young bride is haunted by the lingering shadow of her husband’s first wife at the eerie Manderley estate. Secrets, jealousy, and suspense converge in a chilling tale of love and deception.

The classic Gothic suspense novel REBECCA (1938) by Daphne du Maurier won the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the Century.

Shana Kelly was the signing agent for many successful authors, including New York Times bestseller Curtis Sittenfeld, author of PREP and ELIGIBLE.

In 2024, Shana Kelly won an Emmy for writing A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps, a historical documentary which aired on PBS in September 2023.

Founded during the Cold War, the Peace Corps stands as an icon of American idealism. From the beginning its mission of world peace and friendship proved to be a towering task. Imbued with the unbounded energy and vision of its charismatic leader, Sargent Shriver, and thousands of vigorous volunteers, the story of the Peace Corps is a uniquely American tale.

From the political machinations to establish not just a brand new government agency, but a new concept in international relations, to the growing pains of an agency striving to define its mission, A Towering Task takes viewers on a journey of what it means to be a global citizen.

Shana Kelly is also currently writing a a feature-length historical documentary exploring the past, present, and future of women’s political power through the lens of the 100-year history of the League of Women Voters and allied groups.

This new documentary will inspire audiences to use their power, vote, get involved and make a difference on issues they care about. As a work that connects history to the present day with an accessible and entertaining approach, the film will be both a catalyst during the 2024 election year and an enduring work to spark voter turnout, civic engagement, and women’s leadership for years to come.

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Tea, Tonic, and Toxin is a book club and podcast for people who love mysteries, thrillers, introspection, and good conversation. Each month, your hosts, Sarah Harrison and Carolyn Daughters, will discuss a game-changing mystery or thriller from the 19th and 20th centuries. Together, we’ll see firsthand how the genre evolved.

Along the way, we’ll entertain ideas, prospects, theories, doubts, and grudges, along with the occasional guest. And we hope to entertain you, dear friend. We want you to experience the joys of reading some of the best mysteries and thrillers ever written.

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Mystery writer Kathy Reichs joins Sarah and Carolyn to discuss her latest book, Fire and Bones.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, unputdownable thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself at the center of a DC arson investigation that spawns deepening levels of mystery and, ultimately, violence.

Mystery writer Kathy Reichs joins Sarah and Carolyn to discuss her latest book, Fire and Bones.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, unputdownable thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself at the center of a DC arson investigation that spawns deepening levels of mystery and, ultimately, violence.

Tea, Tonic & Toxin is a history of mystery book club and podcast. We’re reading the best mysteries ever written, as well as interviewing some of the world’s best contemporary mystery and thriller writers.

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Always apprehensive about working fire scenes, Tempe is called to Washington, DC, to analyze the victims of a deadly blaze and sees her misgivings justified. The devastated building is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and Tempe becomes suspicious about the property’s ownership when she delves into its history.

The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the thirties and forties the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his home in an affluent part of the district. Coincidence? Targeted attacks? So many questions.

As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim. Slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin pointing to the obvious: somehow, her moves since coming to Washington have been anticipated, and every path forward seems to bring with it a lethal threat.

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

Reichs was a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, she divides her time between Charlotte, NC, and Charleston, SC.

Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on X and Instagram @KathyReichs or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks.

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Tea, Tonic & Toxin is a history of mystery book club and podcast. We’re reading the best mysteries ever written, as well as interviewing some of the world’s best contemporary mystery and thriller writers.

In The Wheel Spins (1938), a young woman’s train journey takes a sinister turn when a fellow passenger mysteriously disappears. Ethel Lina White’s suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat read served as the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic film The Lady Vanishes. It’s a classic of the genre.

Alex Csurko joins us to discuss The Wheel Spins (The Lady Vanishes) by Welsh-born interwar writer Ethel Lina White.

He is writing his PhD thesis on White, whom he first discovered during his undergraduate studies on Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock made the film The Lady Vanishes based on The Wheel Spins.

Alex is recognized as an up-and-coming authority on White after his interview with BBC Wales Online, published in December 2021, discussing the author’s life and work.

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Alex Csurko is one of the world’s foremost experts on the works of Ethel Lina White, including The Wheel Spins (The Lady Vanishes). In 2023, he contributed an extensive biography on Ethel Lina White for the Gwent Local History Journal.

Most recently, he collaborated with Tony Medawar on the short-story collection Blackout and Other Stories, to be published by Crippen and Landru in 2025.

As a Member of the Magic Circle, Alex also regularly contributes theoretical essays on the craft of Magic for the Society’s prestigious international magazine.

Which Brings Up the Topic of Insanity/Hysteria/Delirium/Neurosis

In The Wheel Turns by Ethel Lina White, there is much talk of Iris’ supposed hysteria and weakened mental state.

Baroness: “There has been no English lady, here, in this carriage, never, at any time, except you. You are the only English lady here” (92). Iris questions her own sanity and reliability. Hare tells her a story of getting kicked in the head whilst playing football. His captain visited him in hospital, but he thought it was the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII).

Iris resolves to talk to the English visitors who saw her with Miss Froy. No one except Miss Barnes admits to seeing her. Then a stranger, Frau Kummer, appears, pretending to be Miss Froy.

The doctor offers to “take care” of Iris by placing her in a nursing home for the night. Yikes!

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In THE WHEEL SPINS (1936), a young woman’s train journey takes a sinister turn when a fellow passenger mysteriously disappears. This suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat novel by Ethel Lina White served as the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic film The Lady Vanishes. The book is a stunner.

Special guest Alex Csurko joins us to discuss this classic novel. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

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Hitchcock

Even reading the book by Ethel Lina White, it felt like it could be a Hitchcock film with the psychological tension and the way the scenes are painted. The New York Times ranked it the best picture of the year (1938).

Premonition/Foreboding (Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign)

The first paragraph introduces us to Iris. Every chapter, starting with chapter one, ends with a sense of foreboding.

• Safety vs. danger – Iris’ square on her palm
• Miss Froy is homesick, which she sees as a warning.
• The dangerous hike (being lost) was a warning.
• Rose’s dream of a railway smash.
• Iris passes out from sunstroke and barely makes the train.
• Miss Froy’s story about an Englishwoman locked in an asylum (friendless foreigner who didn’t speak the language) 
• Mr. and Mrs. Froy feel apprehensive about their daughter’s safety.

Premonition plays a role throughout the book by Ethel Lina White. Is it just a psychological variable here? Is premonition real? Is it inescapable?

Stranger in a Strange Land

In The Wheel Turns by Ethel Lina White, Iris and her friends are staying in a village of “picturesque squalor in a remote corner of Europe,” filled with barbarous scenery, magnificent ruggedness, and desolate hollows. She doesn’t speak the language or understand the culture. She’s also an outsider amongst the British “decent, well-bred” guests. And when she passes out at the station from sunstroke, she awakes to foreign people and foreign voices.

Keep  your eye on Crippen & Landru  to see  when  the new Ethel Lina White collection drops!

A Legal Criticism

• As Iris waits at the train station, she overhears a disagreement between Hare and the professor. Hare says trial by jury is poor justice, people have inherent biases, people can’t control themselves from erroneous snap judgements, and even evidence isn’t reliable. He says everyone’s a “bag of his special prejudices” (50) and an unreliable witness.
• Iris rather takes Hare’s side, but then agrees with the professor’s side when she thinks about trusting the solid, dependable British woman over a foreign seductress type.
• Then Iris finds herself in this exact situation. She’s the beautiful, hysterical, rude attention seeker. She’s the least reliable person on the train — and the only one who’s right.
• Not even Hare believes her at all, though she directly calls into reality his own arguments.

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Fleur Bradley is the author of many mysteries for kids, including Midnight at the Barclay Hotel and Daybreak on Raven Island.

Originally from the Netherlands, she now lives in Colorado with her family.

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Full-time writer KEMPER DONOVAN is currently publishing an ongoing mystery series via Kensington Books. He joins us to discuss The Busy Body, the first in the Ghostwriter series, and The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

Previously, he published the standalone novel The Decent Proposal (HarperCollins). He is also the host of the podcast All About Agatha, dedicated to all things Agatha Christie, in which guise he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio New Zealand and written for the official Agatha Christie website, agathachristie.com.

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Learn more about our hosts The Ucross Foundation.

Former Senator Dorothy Gibson, aka “that woman,” is the most talked-about person in the country. Dorothy had been the independent candidate for President, and after her very public defeat she has retreated to her home in rural Maine. She invites a ghostwriter to join her so they can work on her memoir.

A ghostwriter tells other people’s stories for a living, and this is a dream assignment. The ghostwriter is impressed by Dorothy’s work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the lovely surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer, and she and the ghostwriter team up to launch their own murder investigation.

The best ghostwriters are adept at asking questions and spinning stories … two talents, it turns out, that also come in handy for sleuths. Dorothy’s political career, meanwhile, has made her an expert at recognizing lies and double-dealing. Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects, to the exasperation of local police. But this investigation—much like the election—may not unfold the way anyone expects …

Influence

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan has been described as a mystery in the “timeless tradition of Agatha Christie.” In what ways has Christie’s writing influenced you?

Do you agree that the novel is Agatha Christie-esque? In what ways? Was that by intention?

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THE ABC MURDERS (1936) is one of the earliest examples of the “serial killer” novel. Striking in alphabetical order, a killer challenges renowned detective Hercule Poirot to a battle of wits. With ingenious twists and red herrings, the book will keep you guessing until the end.

Special guest Kemper Donovan joins us to discuss Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

Full-time writer KEMPER DONOVAN is currently publishing an ongoing mystery series via Kensington Books. In the next episode he joins us to discuss The Busy Body, the first in the Ghostwriter series, and The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

Previously, he published the standalone novel The Decent Proposal (HarperCollins). He is also the host of the podcast All About Agatha, dedicated to all things Agatha Christie, in which guise he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio New Zealand and written for the official Agatha Christie website, agathachristie.com.

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Serial Killer

The ABC Murdes is commonly considered the first serial killer book. In a sense, it wasn’t because the serial killing was a screen.

In another sense, were serial killers becoming more common? Jack the Ripper was referenced. several times. HP & the police seem to be drawing on a body of knowledge.

The Psychological Aspect

Similar to Gaudy Night, Agatha Christie in The ABC Murders spends time trying to analyze the psychological makeup of the killer as a key to solving the crimes. 

Freud and Jung started to become more well known starting in 1910. Is this related? The rise in psychoanalytic thinking? This does turn out to be the key to solving the mystery. Poirot guesses the dual aspect presented of the killer. Hercule Poirot even dabbles in dream interpretation.

In contrast to Sayers, Christie books have less psychological elements to discuss. They are terrific and satisfying stories though.

The Vanishing and the Problem of Memory

In The ABC Murders, Cust is an epileptic World War I veteran who suffers from bouts of short-term blackouts due to a wartime head injury. He has been hired as a traveling stocking salesman and happens to be in the towns where the murders occur. Cust can’t recall his whereabouts during the last murder, and he was found with blood on his sleeve and a knife. He has no memory of writing letters to Poirot or of committing any of the murders, but he thinks he might have committed them because of his blackouts.

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