Tea, Tonic & Toxin
Tea, Tonic, and Toxin is a book club and podcast for people who love mysteries, thrillers, introspection, and good conversation. Each month, your hosts, Carolyn Daughters and Sarah Harrison, will discuss a game-changing mystery or thriller, starting in 1841 onward. Together, we’ll see firsthand how the genre evolvedAlong 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.
Tea, Tonic & Toxin
Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh with guest ZJ Czupor
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DIED IN THE WOOL (1945) by Ngaio Marsh is a set in the remote New Zealand countryside on a sheep farm during World War II. The story follows Inspector Roderick Alleyn as he investigates the suspicious death of a politician while conducting counter-espionage work.
The book is known for its blend of murder mystery and wartime espionage. Marsh’s vivid characterization and clever narrative structure make it a compelling and timeless entry in the genre. She was one of the Queens of Crime, and this novel is among her best.
History of Mystery book selections available in our Amazon Storefront or support your favorite local bookstore in our Bookshop Storefront as well! Guests have their own list here!
Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.
Watch clips from our conversations with guests!
For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.
Z.J. Czupor has joined us TWICE to discuss Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers and Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh.
His new murder mystery, Dead Men Don’t Drink, is published at zoltanjames.substack.com. He’s also the author of THE BIG WEIRD: Haikus in Times of Pandemic and Chaos. He is immediate past president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. He’s represented by Terrie Wolf (AKA Literary Management).
Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh
1. The Hook & the Vibe in Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh
Opening image: a missing public figure turns up inside a wool bale. Did that seem instantly macabre, instantly weird, instantly kind of funny? What was your initial response?
Ngaio Marsh is doing “Golden Age puzzle” in a distinctly New Zealand landscape during wartime. Did that feel like a refreshing shift from the usual manor-house geometry, or did it still read as country-house logic in different clothes and during bleak times?
The cozy reader’s refuge that Roanoke has always needed.
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Stay mysterious...
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