Miss Marple and Me in Torquay

Dear listeners,

There has been a lot going on chez moi, which is why I haven't been sending the Shedunnit newsletter as often as I would like. But earlier this month I got to do something very special because of the podcast and I wanted to tell you a bit about it.

I went to Torquay to take part in the 2026 Agatha Christie Festival! And I took almost no photographs of anything, which is how you know I had a really good time. Although I did wake up very early on the morning of my events and go for a walk by the sea, so we do have a couple of shots of that:

I started my busy festival day recording something with Mark Aldridge and Gray Robert Brown for one of their podcast projects, which you'll get to hear in a couple of months' time. I don't go to events like this very often, but whenever I do I'm struck by how nice it is to be in the physical presence of people I otherwise only experience as disembodied voices on the internet.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Sleeping Murder, the final Miss Marple novel (the one she wrote in the early 1940s and then kept on ice until after her death, which I covered in this podcast episode from way back in 2021). My first festival event was panel held in honour of this milestone, alongside Professor Michelle Kazmer from Florida State University and the historian Rachel Trethewey, with the journalist Sarah Ransome in the chair. The festival was kind enough to let me record it, so you can all listen on the brand new episode that just came out today.

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You can listen to this episode right now on all major audio platforms (just click the icon of your preferred app here to jump right in) as well as on the podcast's website, where there is also a full transcript to read if you prefer that. New episodes are also available on YouTube. If you're in the UK, you can listen ad free on BBC Sounds.

Everyone say "thank you Euan" to my podcast editor, Euan McAleece, who did a wonderful job of making a live recording from an echoey stone barn so lovely and listenable. Also, hello to the listeners who came along and spoke to me afterwards. Your desire to have your photographs taken with me made me feel, briefly, like I was Hudson Williams or something.

After the panel, I headed for the Grand Hotel with a group of Shedunnit Book Club members to have tea. Again, it was excellent to put faces and voices to the people I otherwise only talk to online. We ate sandwiches, drank a lot of tea and shared unbroadcastable opinions about recent TV and film adaptations... Then I pulled out the two entire bags of spare detective novels I had brought to pass on and enjoyed watching them find new homes.

Shedunnit Book Club members all together!

Then it was back to the barn for my evening event — the festival's fundraiser, "A Gameshow is Announced". The first half took its format from the BBC Mastermind quiz, with some very brave Christie experts taking their turn in the famous chair to answer questions. I felt like I learned some things about quiz tactics (if you ever have to do this, make sure your specialist subject is narrow rather than broad). Then it was time to take to the stage for my part of the evening.

This took the form of a fiendishly difficult quiz devised by Kemper of All About Agatha. Two teams of four faced off University Challenge style, with buzzers and everything. I feel like I got a few good answers in, but I spent most of the event feeling extremely unprepared and confused. Especially on the questions about niche Christie adaptation trivia. Jamie Bernthal-Hooker (star of early Shedunnit episode Queer Clues) really thrived there and ended up leading his team to victory. John Curran, myself, and the rest of our teammates retreated to the hotel bar to recover our dignity. I will do more revision before the next time...

The gameshow officially wrapped up the festival for another year and the next morning I got on the road for the long drive back north. To keep things going a bit longer, though, I did put the audiobook of Sleeping Murder on in the car and managed to get through the whole thing before I arrived. As it happens, the version I was listening to was read by Stephanie Cole, the beloved actor in many things including Cabin Pressure who recently died. I would recommend it, she really nailed both Miss Marple and the New Zealand accents, it's a delightful performance.

I hope you enjoy the live episode from the festival, and that I get to see you at one of these in the future.

Until next time,

Caroline

You can listen to every episode of Shedunnit at shedunnitshow.com or on all major podcast apps. Selected episodes are available on BBC Sounds. There are also transcripts of all episodes on the website. The podcast is now newsletter-only — we're not updating social media — so if you'd like to spread the word about the show consider forwarding this email to a mystery-loving friend with the addition of a personal recommendation.