Mystery Maniacs

🎙️ Episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/dab54873
📓 Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/255

Mystery Maniacs Episode! In Podcast 255, an accident, a magnet and whammo! That killer is nuts. That’s a nice bike! 

Show Notes

The Sheep Detectives | Official Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZI5oM6hWk

 The Hollybrook Herald

Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR4qwpN3TMw

Weird Picture In Pub

Weird Thing On Front Of Rev’s House  

Fleur’s Tablet




Thanks again for listening!
 
Mark & Sarah

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Bluesky Release

Mystery Maniacs Episode! In Podcast 255, an accident, a magnet and whammo! That killer is nuts. That’s a nice bike! 

Episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/dab54873

#Brokenwood #BrokenwoodFans #MysteryManiacs #ComedyRecap #PodcastRecap #MurderMystery

Creators and Guests

Host
Mark Bell
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs
Host
Sarah Smith-Robbins
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs

What is Mystery Maniacs?

Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.

Sarah:

Jumping off the dock. Wee. Wee.

Mark:

Hey, maniacs. Hey, Midsummer Maniacs.

Sarah:

Yeah, baby.

Mark:

Midsummer Maniacs is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to Midsummer Murders. Each week, we dig into an episode of the show including the murders, the mayhem, the loonies, and everything else we love this week.

Sarah:

Season twenty five episode one.

Mark:

The treasures of darkness.

Sarah:

New episodes.

Mark:

Episode 141. Who has a 141 episodes?

Sarah:

We do.

Mark:

We do. This is episode 255.

Sarah:

But it's a 141 Midsommars. This is a spoiler podcast. We are going to talk about who the killer is.

Mark:

So this is a new episode that

Sarah:

we're have not watched it, stop right now.

Mark:

Yep. Go We are going to ruin it. We will ruin it.

Sarah:

And you will be upset with us. You shouldn't be upset because we're telling you right now. Yes. We're gonna talk about who did it.

Mark:

Yes. I'm Mark.

Sarah:

I'm Sarah.

Mark:

Well, we're back.

Sarah:

If you're what if you're new years. Welcome.

Mark:

Yes. So if you only listen to the Midsummer episodes, welcome back.

Sarah:

Welcome back.

Mark:

You should listen to the other episodes, but I won't guilt you about that.

Sarah:

I'm doing welcome back, Cotter.

Mark:

Oh, we got lots of songs to reference in this episode.

Sarah:

Gotta be really old to get that reference. I'm too young to understand the joke I just made.

Mark:

Yes. So this is our first episode of 2026. In 2025, we had how many episodes do

Sarah:

you think we had? One gazillion.

Mark:

One gazillion. That's not a real number, Sarah. I don't know. 33 episodes and 10 minis. December and May were our big months because we had minis in both of those months.

Mark:

And I just want to reiterate especially to new people or returning people that we have a mailing list that is in the show notes. We have all the social medias including a Reddit for both Midsommar and Mystery Maniacs and Instagram and Blue Sky and all that good stuff.

Sarah:

Yeah. So come join the community if you haven't already. You have a lot of fun. Lots of cool people like this stuff. Yes.

Sarah:

You will be among other cool people.

Mark:

So the original air date of this episode was Last week. Last 12/08/2025. Less than a month ago. Directed by Paul Gibson and written by Julia Gilbert. We begin on the river's edge.

Sarah:

It's not a river. Yes.

Mark:

It's a brook. Certainly not a canal.

Sarah:

Before we dive in, rate this on zero to 10 as a Midsummer episode.

Mark:

As a Midsummer episode. Give me a rating. Okay. I think it has a solid plot. It has danger.

Mark:

It has like a characterization of difficulties in the past and trauma and all sorts of interesting things. But the first murder is really tough for me to buy into. So I'm gonna say a solid seven.

Sarah:

I'm just gonna say seven between seven and eight somewhere. Yeah.

Mark:

There are better episodes in the season that we will get to, but this is this is a solid seven.

Sarah:

It is. And and that's as a midsummer. Yep. Like, as mystery TV, obviously, it's like a 10. Because it's midsummer.

Mark:

It's midsummer. Duh. Duh.

Sarah:

So we've got mud larkers and magnet fishermen.

Mark:

But they're both referred to as mud larkers.

Sarah:

Mhmm. Which they shouldn't be. No. Mud larking is interesting. 99.9% of mud larking happens on the Thames.

Sarah:

Yes. Because it's a tidal waterway, which means the water the tide goes out and reveals part of the bank that isn't normally revealed, and you can find stuff there. And since the Thames runs through London, and London is one of the oldest cities in the world, there's all kinds of things there.

Mark:

Now you learned about mudlarking that happens in the Great Lakes this week.

Sarah:

I did. Because one of my issues was I don't know why they're mudlarking on a non tidal waterway. Yes. It doesn't like, the water doesn't if anything, they mention that the water level is up Yes. Which means it would be harder to find things,

Mark:

I would think. Very hard to find things.

Sarah:

So I thought, how can you mudlark somewhere that's nontidal because the the water doesn't go out to reveal part of the bank that you wouldn't normally get to and where you could find things.

Mark:

It almost would be better if you took a giant magnet and dragged it along the bottom.

Sarah:

So what you're talking about though is a weird phenomenon that just happened last week. Yes. And it's called a seiche Yes. Which is a term I had never heard.

Mark:

I had never heard of it either.

Sarah:

Though the news made it sound like an everyday word. It's s e I c h e, seiche.

Mark:

I need to ask my brother about this now.

Sarah:

And what it is, in very rough, probably incorrect terms, is when it's really cold and the wind is really strong on a large body of water, like Lake Superior, where it happened last week, the wind actually pushes the water in one direction, and in this case, it pushed it east, and that made the basically, the tide go out on the Western Banks Of Lake Superior by almost half a mile.

Mark:

So you could find all sorts of interesting

Sarah:

People were finding cars and skidoos and snowmobiles and old docks that they didn't know were there. Yep. No bodies or anything like Nothing interesting.

Mark:

No.

Sarah:

But metal detectorists were out there finding all

Mark:

kinds I can of only imagine. But it was cold. Oh, yeah. So my brother lives on Lake Superior. And I will ask

Sarah:

He will know what a seiche is, I'm Hopefully. So the there's two groups. Right? There's the Mudlarkers, which is Johnny, Richard, Reverend William, and his wife, Alice. Yes.

Sarah:

And then there are the Magna Tears. Yes. Rufus, Gemma and Freddie, and Cole.

Mark:

And I just wanted to say off the top, I'm really pleased about the pub owners in this episode appearing like real people.

Sarah:

You mean like their physical appearance is like real people? Like they're not pretty people?

Mark:

They're not pretty people. Her outfit is

Sarah:

the highlight of the episode. Her clothing is Gemma's clothing is just off the charts. Now Whoever does the wardrobe for this season Yep. Knocked it out of the park.

Mark:

Now you're gonna be completely surprised. The actress who plays Gemma is named Jade Adam.

Sarah:

Okay.

Mark:

And she is a comedian and has done lots of comedy stuff. And we will see her on Taskmaster, I'm betting.

Sarah:

The fact that she wears triple leopard Yep. Not just double leopard, but triple leopard Triple in some scenes. I'm like, you go, girl. There's like a class difference though, I think. Yes.

Sarah:

The mud larkers are are like Tweedy and then waiters. Yes. And the Magneteers have a YouTube channel.

Mark:

Yes. And Wow. They really looked out on the YouTubers.

Sarah:

Where Triple Leopard?

Mark:

By the way, you can visit our YouTube channel. It's in the show now.

Sarah:

Gemma and Freddie run the pub

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And just leave the pub to

Mark:

And then then there's who else is in the mudluckers? There's the hoarder and the ne'er do well who lives in a caravan.

Sarah:

Oh, no. That's the magnetiers.

Mark:

Oh, sorry. Yes.

Sarah:

Yeah. The hoarder who used to be Rufus, who used to be a mud larker, and then there's Cole. Yes. He of the caravan. Cole's classy caravan.

Mark:

He is, by definition, a likely lad. Trouble.

Sarah:

Trouble with a capital t. Yep. He steals lead from the church in the middle of the day. He's so dumb.

Mark:

I I love when the reverend looks at him like, oh, come on.

Sarah:

Really? Are you that stupid? No wonder every church in England is constantly having a fundraiser for their roof. Cole's there taking all the lead off of it, so the can lights just fall off. How

Mark:

you get for lead from a church roof?

Sarah:

Cole doesn't have a job.

Mark:

Ain't got no job. All he does is lurk around being crazy. Tell you what, he's not making tea either. No.

Sarah:

I wouldn't eat anything he made in that caravan.

Mark:

No. That's kind of a skeezy place. We have a couple of things to get to talk about the magnetiers versus the mud larkers. The mud larkers problem with the magnetiers is they say their powerful magnets are affecting the environment. The ecology.

Sarah:

Yeah. Which If somebody knows why that's harmful, let us know. I mean Yeah. It certainly disturbs the the bottom of the waterway, I guess. But by and large, they're fetching trash out of it.

Sarah:

They're like because ferrous metal is not does not belong you know, it's like bicycles and shopping carts

Mark:

and stuff. Pull the shopping cart out of the the the brook, that is a right thing to do.

Sarah:

A good thing. Yeah. When they just leave it on the side of the bank and walk away. They

Mark:

should probably pick that up.

Sarah:

That they do with the bike. Yeah. Like, rusty old thing, whatever. In the mud markers, we have Johnny. I don't know what Johnny does for a living.

Sarah:

Do you know?

Mark:

He has a very nice house, but I don't know what he

Sarah:

does for mention No. Like his day job. Richard, who is the well-to-do man about town.

Mark:

He's like the local town historian kind of thing.

Sarah:

I guess.

Mark:

I guess.

Sarah:

He doesn't seem to have a day job either No. Except for being kind of rude to his family Yep. And maintaining the reputation of his multigenerational wealth, I I

Mark:

guess. Though we don't know how he got it.

Sarah:

No. Because his grandfather was a reverend. Yeah. Like ministers don't make that much money. No.

Sarah:

But he was a bad guy.

Mark:

He was a bad guy. So

Sarah:

maybe he was doing something nefarious on the side. Bad guy. And then we've got Reverend William and his wife Alice. Yeah. She of the padded jacket.

Sarah:

Now She wears that vest the whole episode.

Mark:

She does indeed. We've seen Reverend William before. He's played by Adrian Rollins who's been in two He 100 murdered the

Sarah:

brides in the bathtub.

Mark:

He murdered the brides in the bathtub and in addition to that, he was in Tainted Fruit.

Sarah:

They are ripened by their own corruption.

Mark:

Yes. He plays one of the ne'er do wells in Ripened Fruit. Tainted Fruit.

Sarah:

Joyce makes the jam. Yes. So, yeah. So a familiar face there. The Mudlarkers are going on about finding pilgrim badges.

Mark:

Yes. I've become more aware of English geography than I used to be. So, in midsummer understanding, they are expected to be in the central part of the country.

Sarah:

Near Oxford.

Mark:

Yes. That is what it's expected. Not in Oxford No. But near Oxford.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

In the county of Oxfordshire. Mhmm. Now, these are from

Sarah:

Well, they're in Midsummer County, which is near Oxfordshire.

Mark:

These baubles, these badges are incredibly rare.

Sarah:

You gotta collect them all.

Mark:

You gotta collect it's it's the Pokemon of

Sarah:

Of the Middle Ages.

Mark:

Catholic church.

Sarah:

More like pogs.

Mark:

Yeah. It's a bit more like pogs.

Sarah:

Because you can't really do anything with them.

Mark:

No. But there are two of the Baseball cards. Two parts of this. Right? There's the badge that you get, and there is the ampulla.

Sarah:

An ampulla is a badge that holds holy water.

Mark:

Yes. Now both of these and they completely gloss over this.

Sarah:

Oh, yeah.

Mark:

Both of these are only attained by giving money to the church

Sarah:

Lots of money.

Mark:

In which you then get the the poke badge

Sarah:

Yes.

Mark:

And you get a little bit of time off in the these In purgatory. Indulgences.

Sarah:

So in the in the Canterbury tales, the pilgrims are going to Canterbury, and they frequently mention getting badges. Yep. Like the wife of Bath, that's one of her goals. Yes. Because she's led a naughty life.

Sarah:

Yes. And she's going to donate some money at Canterbury to get some time off in purgatory. Like that's kind of the goal. Right?

Mark:

So I think the idea that they're saying here is that because they're coming from the middle of the company country and they would probably have to pass through London which is in the South Eastern part of the country and then go to Kent where Canterbury is, I know far too much Kent geography now, that you would travel via waterway to do this. I think that's what they're applying.

Sarah:

Yeah. Or that waterways were common routes like you would follow a river

Mark:

Yeah. To where

Sarah:

because it would be an easy way to get where you're going even if you didn't have a boat. It's like a highway. Yeah. You know? It's like a trail, basically.

Sarah:

Talking about, you know, that ampulla alone belongs in the museum. They're that rare.

Mark:

They're they're both listed as in British Museum, just the existence of these things are mean they go to the British Museum.

Sarah:

A Thomas Becket badge would immediately go to the museum.

Mark:

They would be national news if they found it.

Sarah:

Yes. What should be national news is that wicking jar.

Mark:

Okay. So what they find on the side of

Sarah:

Wait a minute. Johnny finds it basically sitting in the mud. Yes. I guess we're supposed to think that because the water has been high, it's like kind of washed away.

Mark:

Up. Whatever.

Sarah:

They tell a story about how they're commonly found near waterways.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

But let's just be clear. These things don't exist. And all these people should be freaking out

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

That Johnny, stupid Johnny first uncorks it. Touches He

Mark:

touches it.

Sarah:

Dumb, dumb, dumb. I understand touching it because it could be anything. Yeah. I get that. But uncorking it Yeah.

Sarah:

Is stupid. No. Then he drops it like a Butterfinger.

Mark:

No. It has a shrunken head in it.

Sarah:

Yeah. And nobody goes, ah. I I would probably throw up. Can you imagine the smell?

Mark:

Oh.

Sarah:

The smell alone.

Mark:

Absolutely. It's juicy. If only we had in there. If only we had an expert. Oh, wait.

Mark:

We do.

Sarah:

We asked as a bonus watch like a maniac question in the mini, how would you go about making one of these wicking jars? Because it seems physically impossible.

Mark:

And longtime show listener, Nocturnal Druid

Sarah:

Thank you.

Mark:

Who is a fantastic human being returned to us, first of all, saying, their calling in a Wicca jar bothered me because it's not Wicca, which was created by Gerald Gardner in the fifties. So it would be a little later than the seventeenth century. Oh, little. And a witch's jar is a protection spell that's been around for ages, but usually can just consist of jars packed with sharp things like nails, various herbs and often urine, the maker's own. They are frequently buried in the corners of property to act as wards.

Mark:

He has no idea what this is, why it's there, or what it's supposed to be.

Sarah:

I looked into shrunken heads and where they were produced because they're real, unfortunately. They're real. They're bad things.

Mark:

Yeah. They're people's heads.

Sarah:

A person's head that has been decapitated and then the skull and brain removed, basically making a head sack

Mark:

A head sack.

Sarah:

That's filled with hot sand to shrink it and dry it out. Yes.

Mark:

And This is not dinner talk.

Sarah:

They were trophies, basically. They

Mark:

were. They were headhunter trophies.

Sarah:

Yeah. And but Okay. Let's just pretend for a second that anybody in England ever made one Yes. Which they didn't. Yes.

Sarah:

Okay? It's not a thing. No. Was never culturally a thing there. But let's just say for a second that they did in the seventeenth century.

Sarah:

So this is the 1600s. So you've got I don't know. It's post Elizabeth. Yep. People just wandering around shrinking heads and putting them into clay jars.

Sarah:

Now, this jar is like it's withstood water for all this time, so it's clearly a fired jar.

Mark:

Yep. It has to be fired.

Sarah:

Which do you think is hotter? A pottery kiln or a cremation oven?

Mark:

I would think a pottery kiln was probably hotter.

Sarah:

It is. Yeah. So if you put that thing in a kiln of any kind enough to turn that clay into pottery, that head would be dust.

Mark:

And the opening is not nearly enough for you to get like, okay, you get your shrunken head and then you gotta get it inside. So you get like a pokey bit like your finger and your poke Like

Sarah:

a chopstick?

Mark:

Our chopstick and you're poking it down inside. You couldn't get it in that It's not like a ship in a bottle.

Sarah:

It's like when you're trying to put the drawstring back in your shorts.

Mark:

It's a head a head in a bottle.

Sarah:

Well, I don't know. If it's a head sack, you empty it out. Maybe it is kind of squishy if you squeeze it.

Mark:

I think

Sarah:

But I don't think so.

Mark:

I think production got maybe an an incomplete brief here.

Sarah:

My problem is just that nobody is is shocked. They should be

Mark:

freaking They should all be freaking out.

Sarah:

And then Richard puts it on a shelf in his beautiful front room. It's it's it's got to stink. It has how scared it is.

Mark:

It has

Sarah:

to tanned leather, it would stink after being closed up and in water for that long.

Mark:

Well and I love how he's like, well, I'm going to report this, but until I do that, I'm going to

Sarah:

Display it

Mark:

on my beautiful shelf.

Sarah:

Those shelves are amazing. Yes. Did you look at the shelves?

Mark:

Yes. They have

Sarah:

They're really beautiful wood shelves.

Mark:

I have in my notes, welcome to my father's gorgeous home and my museum.

Sarah:

Yes. You contrast his gallery to Rufus' basement gallery. It's a bit different.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Then Johnny finds a memento mori Xerox on his front door.

Mark:

Yeah. I I was wondering who sent those and that Rufus sent them.

Sarah:

Yes. Rufus does. And he's just trying to put them off. Yes. Then Johnny gets a call from a phone box.

Sarah:

Yes. It's Alice Saying that she knows there's a Beckett badge Yeah. In the river and where it is and he should go and look at it. At night. It's 06:23 according to his phone when he gets the call.

Sarah:

But it's dark.

Mark:

It's it's very close to being dark and what you need to find things on the river's edge is light.

Sarah:

There is no reason to go mudlarking in the dark. No. Unless you're doing it illegally.

Mark:

And she didn't know exactly where the sinkhole was and death by sinkhole is it's a stretch.

Sarah:

Considering the bank is kind of an arm's reach.

Mark:

Yeah. And he had to get in the water at the exact right spot while she sneaky sneaked behind him. She didn't push him

Sarah:

in. She doesn't push him. She doesn't hold him under. Nothing. And the way they know that there's a sinkhole there is that the farmer who owns the land says he's lost a sheep or two to it.

Sarah:

Yeah. What are these sheep doing? Jumping off the dock? Wee. Wee.

Sarah:

Speaking of sheep, if you haven't seen the trailer for the new Hugh Jackman movie with the

Mark:

sheep Oh, doggy.

Sarah:

Go find it

Mark:

and watch Go find it and watch it.

Sarah:

I don't care how good the movie is. That trailer is awesome.

Mark:

It's it is It's crime solving sheep. It's crime solving sheep. And not as far fetched as that sounds.

Sarah:

No. It's sweet. Yeah. But going back at night is just pointless.

Mark:

Yeah. It's and like I would have liked to seen her like creep up and put a hand on his head. Mhmm. That alone would make it better.

Sarah:

I don't think this is a murder.

Mark:

No. I don't. It's it is a terrible accident that she arranged.

Sarah:

That she Luckily. That she encouraged him to put himself in danger, but he did it. Willingly, he did it.

Mark:

And he would have, like, went, oh, okay. Well, I'll go look tomorrow. Mhmm.

Sarah:

He was gonna be there in the morning anyway.

Mark:

Yes. For the blessing of the river.

Sarah:

Well, then she finds him.

Mark:

Yes. I'm not sure how sinkholes work, but I don't think they work like this, where they keep you sunk.

Sarah:

They're very unstable. An air pocket that when you when you step in it, you push through the mud that's on the top and into the air park. It's like quicksand.

Mark:

Yeah. And it wouldn't keep you overnight.

Sarah:

Oh, would keep you overnight. You're my guest now overnight.

Mark:

I want to hug you and kiss you.

Sarah:

I think if you've got rubber waders on, they might create a good seal for the mud once you sunk, I guess.

Mark:

I don't the other thing is

Sarah:

But how many how big is the sinkhole? It's already eaten sheep. It would be full.

Mark:

Yes. It would be a full sinkhole. Also I

Sarah:

don't need you, Jenny.

Mark:

Looking at this brook, I do not feel he's a tall dude. Yeah. It has to be over seven feet. Yeah. Down.

Mark:

It's very don't deep. Think that water is that deep.

Sarah:

And it goes from you can stand in it to suck you under kill you

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

In a step.

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

So I just don't think it's a murder.

Mark:

We are we find the body during the blessing of the river as they sing shall we gather at the river which is a long time known Anglican hymn.

Sarah:

Okay.

Mark:

And then in the crowd at the blessing, we see Mick from time team. Not actually Mick from time team.

Sarah:

Because he's passed away. But if you ever if you've ever watched time team, he's an older guy glasses with very crazy white hair, curly, crazy white hair bald on top. And he is known for wearing these iconic wild colored stripey sweaters, and there's a guy in the crowd who looks just like him. I was like, it's Mick. How can he be there?

Sarah:

Alice is conveniently the one standing on the dock throwing the pedals into the water so she can find the body. It's a it's a good shot though of him under the water.

Mark:

Yeah. It

Sarah:

is. How do you think they did that?

Mark:

I would assume well, if it's him, the actor.

Sarah:

And do think there's a chance it's the actor? I don't.

Mark:

I don't think it is. I think it's a it's a body double, an inanimate object. A dummy.

Sarah:

Yes. I think it's a dummy and it's only the waist up of a dummy.

Mark:

Yeah. They Because that water is

Sarah:

It's like five feet deep. I think they've stuck it in the mud. Yes. If anything, if it's not just CGI, I guess it could just be fake.

Mark:

It could be, but aren't

Sarah:

It's good if it is.

Mark:

It is.

Sarah:

So now Barnaby's on the case. Yes. Though the dog keeps digging things up. You know, there's an easy solution to that problem. Shut the door.

Mark:

Yes. Just a very easy solution.

Sarah:

Leave Patty outside in the mud or don't let him go outside. Yes. That's easy. It's done.

Mark:

Easy peasy. Two things about the Barnabas. One, Betty makes an appearance here. Betty is now, I would say, a young teenager.

Sarah:

12. 13.

Mark:

12. 13.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Mark:

Has personality moving on into the acting world.

Sarah:

Knows her dad's full of crap.

Mark:

Yep. The other thing that's full of crap is does Sarah have a job now? Like I

Sarah:

don't know. It's June. Yeah. So I don't know why Betty's doing homework, but that explains why Sarah's not at work.

Mark:

Sarah's not in school because she should be like running the joint by now. But instead, she has an interaction with the red herring subplot. Hello. This is Mark in red herring subplot land. There's a famous actress who's going on one of those ancestry shows.

Sarah:

Oh, it smells fishy over here in Red Henning, Red Herring Corner.

Mark:

She wants to find out about her lost and missing mom. No. Aunt. Aunt. Sorry.

Mark:

Yeah. And so Sarah Barnaby is gonna help with that in a church.

Sarah:

She has been the president of the local historical society in the past. So she would be a good person to contact, I suppose. Though, all she appears to do is look up newspaper clippings.

Mark:

Yes. Like, the research like, he says, I definitely clocked this. He says, I'll get my team to look into that.

Sarah:

And by he, you mean Dan Pissey, the researcher from past times

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

With the orange and black business card.

Mark:

If he has a team, they don't need Sarah.

Sarah:

No. No. They don't need her. She's not even local.

Mark:

Like, I understand if he is the head of the research team and the famous actress lady is going investigating, like, would go with her. I get that. Mhmm. No one recognizes this lady. No.

Mark:

There's no investigation or exploration of her fame at all.

Sarah:

There's no people on the street going, oh my gosh. Isn't is that Lucy?

Mark:

Oh, I remember seeing you on blah blah blah.

Sarah:

No. No. And he's just made out to be a very pushy, skeezy guy.

Mark:

But they're total red herring.

Sarah:

Yeah. Absolutely. The only reason she's engaged in this whole project is that her mother ran away from her family, got away from her family.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And so she doesn't know much about her extended family except to know that her mother's sister, Jessica, went missing after her mother already left.

Mark:

And she goes to talk to her uncle about it.

Sarah:

Yeah. And he says there's happens to be Richard, he of the expensive house. Yeah. He keeps Jessica's leaving letter in a drawer by the door. Yeah.

Sarah:

Like, wouldn't you keep it in a trunk somewhere?

Mark:

He has a museum.

Sarah:

Yeah. Like, I don't know, a scrapbook

Mark:

I don't safe? I don't know.

Sarah:

What I do know is that the newspaper thirty years ago when Jessica left is perhaps the most insensitive newspaper I've ever staged.

Mark:

The worst headline of all time.

Sarah:

It's the Holly Brook Herald

Mark:

Yep.

Sarah:

With a picture of Jessica and her bike with the headline, the second going.

Mark:

Yes. Because her mother has left, and now her aunt has left.

Sarah:

I guess it's a play on the second coming.

Mark:

I guess.

Sarah:

Which is the second coming of Christ? I guess. So they're like, she's the opposite? Like, is she a devil? I don't know.

Sarah:

Like, what? It's Come on. I know it's a small time newspaper, but come on.

Mark:

We will put a picture of the newspaper in the show notes because it is also a bit rinky dink.

Sarah:

It also has headlined the government to set up 10 city colleges in UK. Yes. Which they do on a

Mark:

They regular basis. Do on a regular basis.

Sarah:

Let's talk about the pub.

Mark:

Oh, before sorry. Before we get to the pub, let's talk about his museum and what he says he's going to do. So he's going Richard? Yes. Because Barnaby shows up to get rid of the the actress.

Mark:

Like, so he says he's gonna go to the portable antiquities scheme. Mhmm. And report this find Yep. Which is exactly what he should do. Yep.

Mark:

Not put it in his museum.

Sarah:

Nope. He should keep it safe until they come to look at it. Yes. Or he can take it to them.

Mark:

And that is finds.org.uk.

Sarah:

Yep. It's a real thing. You're really supposed to do that.

Mark:

On this website, there

Sarah:

If you find a hoard, it has to have 3 coins or more. Right? Yes. To make it a hoard? If you find two coins, two gold coins, no big deal.

Sarah:

Yep. If you find three, you gotta report it. It's a hoard.

Mark:

Yep. It tells you all that. Tells you what research is in progress. It's it's from the British Museum.

Sarah:

Yes.

Mark:

On this page is a tiny video. I don't know why it's so tiny, but it is full of familiar faces. So this video is called code of practice. Okay? I'm going to link to the the YouTube where the video is.

Sarah:

So it's a a video created by the historical UK

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

To tell people about what they're supposed to do if they find something?

Mark:

Yes. And they did absolutely the right thing.

Sarah:

Okay.

Mark:

So what they did was they said, who should we have in this video and to make it legitimate and authentic? So it starts with the woman who is the head of the detectorist society of England.

Sarah:

Okay.

Mark:

Like, that is a good beginning.

Sarah:

Yep.

Mark:

Then right into that, after that, Dan Snow, right away.

Sarah:

History hit guy.

Mark:

History hit guy. Then Helen Geeky Who's

Sarah:

on time team.

Mark:

Who's on time team. Mary Anne Ochota, who was on time team the last couple of series. And then Corenza shows up at the end. Oh. From time team.

Sarah:

The lady I called Credenza.

Mark:

Yes. Yes. Corenza Lewis. It's all time team. Like

Sarah:

I always call her Credenza, so I didn't even recognize her real name.

Mark:

Like, it's all the legitimate people from time team.

Sarah:

Yeah. And Dan Snow and the detectorists. Yep. Society lady. That's smart.

Mark:

Yeah. It's it is. It it takes a video if you know who it is. It you're like, oh.

Sarah:

Oh. But we're a special kind of nerd.

Mark:

We are a special kind of nerd.

Sarah:

Like, you just went through something that maybe five listeners will understand. I'm just saying, the rest of them are going, what? There's a lady named Cradenza and another lady named Geeky? Yes.

Mark:

So I saved this video to not I did not show you this video purposely so I could reveal who was in it, but Yeah. We will watch it on the couch tonight. It's ten minutes. It's it's brilliant. Okay.

Mark:

But it tells you all the things that you need to know. It's a it's a very good instructional video. Good. So Yeah.

Sarah:

I'm sorry that it's so small on their website. Now can we talk about the pub? Yes. The spotted trout.

Mark:

The spotted trout, which is the answer to one of our watch like a maniacs question.

Sarah:

We said why is there a fish in the pub? There's actually several fish in the pub and it's because the pub is called the spotted trout. Yes. Right by Gemma and Freddie.

Mark:

We also see in the pub the Midsummer Magneteers merchandise. Mhmm. Which the entire merchandise store includes mugs, jackets, hoodies, soft shell coats, and they also have what are called badges in England, which are button.

Sarah:

A button, not a patch?

Mark:

No. They have they have badges.

Sarah:

They have 5,000 followers on PicSnap. PicSnap. Which is the YouTube and 1,200 views in their most recent video.

Mark:

Yes. By the way, like, watch, subscribe. Comment. Like, comment, and subscribe on our YouTube channel.

Sarah:

I think it's funny that they have it up on a screen in the pub.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

But the fluorescent orange color, it's it's not good.

Mark:

No. There is a weird picture in the pub. I wanna get to the weird picture in the pub and then the Magneteers logo.

Sarah:

Okay.

Mark:

So the weird picture in the pub is of somebody's dirty hands on above mud. Right? So it's like they found something in the mud.

Sarah:

Okay.

Mark:

But what it is is the wheels and an axle off of like a toy car. Okay. It's very strange.

Sarah:

I Look. Don't Look. Take a picture. Look what I found. A Hot Wheels axle.

Mark:

Yeah. Okay. It's weird. I'll put it in the show notes.

Sarah:

Their logo has a badger on it.

Mark:

And a big magnet. That is is chef's kiss.

Sarah:

It's great. I would gladly wear a Midsummer Magneteers t shirt

Mark:

with that logo on it. Absolutely. That was another

Sarah:

that was another one of our watch like a maniac questions.

Mark:

Softgel jacket costs how much?

Sarah:

£18. £18. The pub is nice. It's well run. It's got pretty flowers out front.

Sarah:

It's got tables outside.

Mark:

Pub and an inn. It's clean.

Sarah:

Yep. Lucy's staying at the inn. Yep. So is Dan Pisci.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

That's his name. Gemma and Freddie are definitely characters.

Mark:

Yes. They're up to no good. So they're selling things that they found without declaring them. Right. Both to either the taxman or the scheme.

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

They haven't reported them either place, but they happen to be selling them to undercover detectives from the portable antiquity scheme. Yes. The heritage crime unit.

Mark:

Which is the unit that the art detective is from, which is also an acorn. I know there were a number of people who said, oh, this is a crossover now. No. No. It's not a crossover.

Sarah:

Midsummer shouldn't be tainted by that bad show.

Mark:

Sarah doesn't like art detectives. I found it not great.

Sarah:

It's just dumb. The premise is dumb. Yeah. This crime has a painting involved, so this guy gets to solve it even though it's a murder? No.

Sarah:

Yeah. That that's not how it works. Yep. Never mind. He wears that rag around his neck all the time.

Sarah:

It looks like it's choking him. It bothers

Mark:

him. There don't like him.

Sarah:

Barnaby and Winter still have windmills on their desks.

Mark:

They do?

Sarah:

They are the only ones who have windmills on a

Mark:

number of recycled bins in this They're everywhere. Everywhere. And now they have switched the murder board to a blackboard with chalk on it.

Sarah:

Yeah. Instead of the clear glass one that was always hard to read. Yes. Though one of them still has good handwriting.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

How about the Reb's house?

Mark:

So the the Reb's house has something two things that are interesting. One, boy, she is a huge kind of, like, art shop in the back. Mhmm. Okay. We have

Sarah:

She those two are the only people who have jobs. Yes. He's a reverend, and she's an artist. Yep. Though I don't know what kind of art she makes.

Mark:

She makes art out of the found things they find on the river.

Sarah:

That she boils in ammonia.

Mark:

That she boils in

Sarah:

Wouldn't you do that outside?

Mark:

I would do that outside. If you

Sarah:

did it at all?

Mark:

Very reason that they talk about.

Sarah:

I mean, Freddie just hoses things off with a hose.

Mark:

Yes. She boils them in ammonia. So one of the questions we asked of how to watch her like a maniac was what do the Gideons serve their guests?

Sarah:

Which is a reference to the fact that on the coffee table between the two sofas in their front room

Mark:

Which is their conversation nook.

Sarah:

Is a tray of rocks.

Mark:

A tray of rocks.

Sarah:

Where you would normally have, like, a tea tray Yes. Or a tray that you would put your drinks on.

Mark:

There was no room to even put a tea tray or a drink down. It's just rocks.

Sarah:

Yeah. I don't know why they would have a tray of rocks.

Mark:

Rocks don't make good coasters either.

Sarah:

No. You can't put a drink on a rock. But they're not even pretty rocks. I don't know what they're supposed to be.

Mark:

I did notice the books in that room because that's the only room we see. We see the art workshop and we see that room. All the books are real books.

Sarah:

Her art workshop is just full of weirdness. Yeah. She's got a big pink floor lamp and rags like wind chime outside and I'm not guessing she's a successful artist.

Mark:

No. I don't think so either.

Sarah:

Like she keeps herself busy making things, artist, is what I'm guessing.

Mark:

The other thing I don't like her about her cell house is

Sarah:

She's the killer?

Mark:

No. Oh. Is the housekeeper visit. So getting back to the historian with his home museum. Richard.

Mark:

Yes. There is help for that house because it's a huge house.

Sarah:

Mary.

Mark:

It we've seen the house before, though. Where have we seen the house before?

Sarah:

We've seen the house before in several episodes. It's a beautiful house. Has a it's a it's a brick house. It has a courtyard out front. And the entrance is kind of on a corner

Mark:

Yep.

Sarah:

Which is interesting. It was also in season nine episode two, Dead Letters. Yes. And it was in season ten episode five, Death and Dust.

Mark:

It was Simon Callow's house in Dead Letters.

Sarah:

Yeah. He's the smoking doctor. Yep. He's so skeezy. He's so good at that.

Mark:

He's so

Sarah:

good. I think it was in another episode as I

Mark:

think so.

Sarah:

So if the listeners have identified a third past episode, let us know. I couldn't find it but I feel like it was in another one.

Mark:

So her mother worked for the family and now she works for the family? Yes. And she is the last to have seen Jesse. Who's Jesse? Jesse is the missing aunt.

Sarah:

Yes.

Mark:

Okay. And she told the cops that she saw Jesse getting on the train with her bike.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

And so then she shows up at the reverend's house talking to him intensely. And then just leaves. No one makes reference to it. No one says, hey, why did you go talk to the reverend? Nothing.

Sarah:

She's just lucky that she's a housekeeper who doesn't find a body. Yes. Because that's what happens in midsummer.

Mark:

Most people. Most housekeepers find.

Sarah:

There's another weird thing about the Reves house that we forgot to mention. What? And I'm, we'll post a picture of this. I'll put this out to the listeners because I could not solve it. When Winter and Barnaby are walking out and we see their beautiful front porch, there's like a shield shaped thing hanging from their front porch that says silver 25 system.

Sarah:

Yeah. And I don't know what it means. It could be like a fire alarm or security or whatever, but I couldn't find

Mark:

any reference to five is usually anniversary. I don't know.

Sarah:

Yeah. I don't know what it is. So if anybody finds it, let us know.

Mark:

In contrast to their house is the hoarder's house.

Sarah:

Rufus.

Mark:

Which is an excellent like, the outside of that house looks like a hoarder's house.

Sarah:

Well, Midsommar has done it before. Remember the old couple who even died from a pile of newspaper landing on her.

Mark:

Inside of the house looks good and we he dies, the hoarder dies. And what I actually liked about this episode and why it gets one of the reasons it gets a seven is Winter does deduction. He says, this person said that he was down in his gallery Mhmm. When he found something. Mhmm.

Mark:

And they look around and they can't find a basement and Winters is like, there has to be some way down and figures out that the door is hidden and they get down into the basement. Yes. Like, that's actual deduction.

Sarah:

Rufus lives in his kitchen.

Mark:

Yes, he does.

Sarah:

Which is not unusual for a hoarder to have the one room that they actually function in. Yes. Though his kitchen is not functional. No. Though it does have a surplus of appliances.

Mark:

Yes. How many fridges does it have, Sarah? At least two. I counted three actually.

Sarah:

And a blue aga. Yes. And pheasants.

Mark:

Yeah. So there is the pheasants hanging above the sink and when they first look in the window, you get the foley of flies.

Sarah:

Yes. Well, there's a bike in front of the sink too.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Hunters hang pheasants like this. The explanation doesn't convince me of anything.

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Okay. So the explanation for hanging them, unplucked and un gutted by the way, three to ten days

Mark:

Woah.

Sarah:

Is to enrich the flavor of the meat. No. Which I'm guessing it makes it gamier.

Mark:

I would think so. Have you ever had pheasant? No. I've never had pheasant.

Sarah:

Especially pheasant that's been hanging in Rufus' No.

Mark:

Aged kitchen.

Sarah:

It's supposed to be hung for three to ten days in a space that is around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So rather cold. Not frozen, but cool. Slightly warmer than a refrigerator. Not your kitchen No.

Sarah:

Where you have an aga putting heat out. No. He should have died in a fire a long time ago.

Mark:

He should have died in a fire a long time ago.

Sarah:

It's it's sad that he lives that way. Nobody should live that way.

Mark:

So the reason why he dies is because they've pulled a bike from the brook. Mhmm. And my immediate feeling, because they all say it's Jessica's bike. And I said, I wish that I had Jesse's bike.

Sarah:

I wish that I had Jesse's bike. How can I find a bicycle like that?

Mark:

And in Jesse's bike

Sarah:

I want plaid paneer, panniers, like that. Yep. You sprung it on me. I didn't have time. Yeah.

Sarah:

That's the best I could do.

Mark:

So in Jesse's bike he finds

Sarah:

The necklace.

Mark:

The necklace. And the necklace is the thing that starts to unravel everything. Well, it's

Sarah:

proof that the bike was Jessica's bike. Yeah. And it's because she took the necklace off of Alice. Yes. It's proof that she didn't take the bike on the train the way Mary claims she did.

Sarah:

Yes. It's basically proof that she never left the village.

Mark:

Yes. And that she's probably in the wood in the river somewhere. But That's not how water death works, but I don't wanna go into water death because it's Let's not.

Sarah:

We've already talked about shrunken heads and juicy jars. Fleur is fantastic.

Mark:

She shows up with with the helmet on.

Sarah:

She's fantastic.

Mark:

With no reference to why she has helmet. But

Sarah:

she's got a a tablet. Yeah. So she's in the kitchen figuring out Rufus's death. And we Because he has a heart condition. He has a pacemaker.

Sarah:

It could have been natural causes. Yep. But she doesn't think that it was. The box has clearly collapsed on him. But she's done the math

Mark:

Yep.

Sarah:

To prove that somebody pushed the boxes onto him.

Mark:

And Winter makes reference to the equations. Now, we will put in the show notes what is shown on this tablet. There are no equations shown on this tablet. No. It is a diagram of what happened.

Sarah:

No. It's not. No. It's not even that.

Mark:

It's not even that.

Sarah:

It says structural inconsistencies? Yeah. Question mark?

Mark:

I guess.

Sarah:

Stack of boxes. Yeah. But then it says placement defect analysis.

Mark:

Oh.

Sarah:

Do you know what a placement defect analysis is?

Mark:

No. I do not.

Sarah:

It has nothing to do with boxes falling over. I'll tell

Mark:

you that. Oh, Okay.

Sarah:

A placement defect analysis is an analysis that you do when there are manufacturing errors in a It usually is like if you have a factory with robot arms that are building things, and they're doing like or like pick and place. Yep. Right? So the arm grabs something from a bin and puts it into position. Let's say the bin is poorly loaded, and half of the parts are turned around in the direction they're not supposed to be.

Sarah:

So when the arm grabs it, it puts it on backwards, and it has a quality assurance issue because That of is a placement defect analysis. Okay. It has absolutely nothing to do with boxes or falling or structural integrity. I love the It's often used in the examination of medical devices that go wrong.

Mark:

I I love the picture also has an arrow that goes to the number 200.

Sarah:

Yes. That's the answer, Mark. 200.

Mark:

200.

Sarah:

That's code for Alice. Okay. When they do look at Rufus's gallery, one of the things in the gallery is a big bottle of glycer b p. Okay. What is that?

Sarah:

That is a topical antiseptic and medical moisturizer. Oh. It's borax and glycerin.

Mark:

Okay.

Sarah:

It's like medicated Vaseline.

Mark:

I guess. Why does he have it?

Sarah:

Because he found the bottle, and it's got a cool label on it.

Mark:

That's all. Okay.

Sarah:

But it's not like poison or anything. It's a moisturizer that also clears wounds. But the man who found that bottle left all of his worldly goods to Freddie and Gemma. Why is buy more leopard. Why does he do that?

Sarah:

Because they understand him.

Mark:

I guess. I can sorta guess that.

Sarah:

I think if you're that kind of person who hoards but also values small objects, that you wanna hope that the person you leave everything to has a similar appreciation of those things, will understand why you kept those things.

Mark:

I can see that.

Sarah:

And he doesn't have anybody else. Who's he gonna leave it to?

Mark:

So now we have two bodies, which means we can return

Sarah:

Best corpse.

Mark:

To best corpse.

Sarah:

But we'll do that at the end.

Mark:

Yes. And now that we have two bodies, we now we got a midsummer case.

Sarah:

Yeah. Until two people have died. Though one of them is not a murder. I'm sorry. It's not.

Mark:

We then have the trope.

Sarah:

The trope False confession. The trope is I did it. I'm confessing to protect someone.

Mark:

Purely by accident, he finds the necklace. He lost his key. Uh-huh. Okay? Okay.

Mark:

So he's lost his key, and he's looking for her key, which would be in her little art drawers, guess.

Sarah:

She keeps her keys with her paint.

Mark:

And then he figures it out. Mhmm.

Sarah:

Right? Because this is the necklace that he gave Alice as an engagement present Yes. When she was 17.

Mark:

And it's been missing.

Sarah:

And because it was in Jessica's plaid pannier.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Is it pannier? Panier? Panier? Saddlebag. I

Mark:

wish that I had Jesse's saddlebag.

Sarah:

It was in the saddlebag. The plaid saddlebag.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And so it's evidence that Alice and Jessica encountered one another and that Jessica did not leave the village, and that's where it went. He says, oh, well, necklace. I found it mudlarking, and I didn't report it. And I had it turned into a necklace for Alice, and Rufus was gonna tell. Yeah.

Sarah:

And that's a reason to kill somebody that thirty years ago you found a coin and didn't report it. I mean, they're pretty strict about that stuff, but it's like three months in prison and a fine.

Mark:

Well, he

Sarah:

knows. The worst. Like, it's not.

Mark:

No. He knows. Yeah. And we find out that Alice has kind of a track record in this.

Sarah:

That she hit her foster mother over the head with a golf club.

Mark:

Do you know where we last saw a golf club assault? No. In Brokenwood.

Sarah:

Remember? Oh, that's right.

Mark:

Yeah. Alice's parents didn't want her. They put her in foster care. The foster family didn't like her, so she hit one of them over the head with a golf club. And then she got back sent back to the thinly veiled lesbian prison.

Sarah:

It's a convent school for bad girls.

Mark:

Boy, they go all around not calling it lesbian prison, but

Sarah:

It's not gay prison. But That's why Jessica was there though. Girls. That's why Jessica was there. Right?

Sarah:

Because her family didn't approve of her?

Mark:

I think her family didn't approve her because she was the gay. And because she was the gay, she went to the lesbian prison. And there she met Alice. Mhmm. And they were together.

Mark:

Mhmm.

Sarah:

I don't know. But they couldn't be together, Mark. I don't Because they had to leave that little village behind, but Alice wasn't brave enough.

Mark:

I understand all of that if it was happening in the sixties.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

But this would have been happening

Sarah:

In the nineties.

Mark:

In the nineties.

Sarah:

They do get their clothes in the flashback. Like Perfect.

Mark:

Like, Bronsky beat would have been driving down the the brook. Know?

Sarah:

Saying, are you gay? Get in the van.

Mark:

Get in the van.

Sarah:

Let's go

Mark:

to the city. Let's go to the city.

Sarah:

Let's go hang out with the clash. Come on.

Mark:

I do realize it's not as easy as that, but but it kinda had a sixties Jessica. Fifties feel

Sarah:

to me. Jessica was independent and ready to go and, like Yeah. I love you for who you are. I know about your history, and I don't care. Let's do this.

Sarah:

And Alice was too big of a wiener. She chose to marry the rev instead and stay in the small village Yep. And kill, kill, kill. It's And hit her girlfriend on the back of the head with a padlock on a chain.

Mark:

Yeah. Like Wow. She is a crazy person.

Sarah:

She has anger

Mark:

She admits it. She goes, no one would like the Alice who I truly am.

Sarah:

I guess she could

Mark:

have picked up bike. Serial killer.

Sarah:

She could have hit her with the bike, I guess.

Mark:

I wish that had Jesse's bike.

Sarah:

She's lucky those saddlebags didn't fill with air and float that bike.

Mark:

Boom. Boom. Boom. That's Then she hides her dead girlfriend in the river for years.

Sarah:

Yeah. And just goes on with her life and puts on her little padded vest and acts like the reverend's wife. Yep. Arranging the flowers.

Mark:

So the clue that shows up that says you need to leave town, actress Lainey.

Sarah:

This is the one good thing about Alice. She has excellent handwriting.

Mark:

She does, but she should have said it before her husband got arrested for the crime. Yeah. The timing doesn't puts a hole in his situation.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and she leaves the threatening letter just on a table outside the pub

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Hoping somebody will find it.

Mark:

Who who left this? Somebody that

Sarah:

I don't know.

Mark:

That bridge is kinda interesting. The bridge where the big dramatic ending happens. The bridge that we never see in the rest of the episode. It's beautiful. All of them are.

Sarah:

Yes. It's it's it's an iron bridge.

Mark:

It's 18 o two. It was designed by Thomas Wilson and is actually on the estate of Stratfield Say House, which is the resident of the Duke of Wellington. It's beautiful. Yeah. It's absolutely gorgeous, but it's in London.

Mark:

It's not

Sarah:

It's nowhere near it? No. They're like, find us a good bridge Yep. For the big the big kerfuffle. Before that though, Alice attacks Lucy and her art studio.

Sarah:

Yes. Because Lucy sees evidence of Alice's crime Yes.

Mark:

Which has been sitting in the studio for years.

Sarah:

Jessica stole jewelry from her family to fund her running away Yes. Because her grandfather was a hypocritical reverend who I think was abusive. I think her father was abusive. Yeah. Richard admits that he defended the wrong person in the family.

Sarah:

He should have stood up for her and Hannah, and he didn't. And so Alice has the ring that Jessica stole

Mark:

That has the English and French, well translated.

Sarah:

And so she puts it in a piece of art that is a lion evoking Leo, which is what Jessica called herself.

Mark:

That she can stare at every day. Psycho. Like, how many other people has this woman killed?

Sarah:

What other evidence is in that arch? I would be looking at every piece she ever made, the piece in the church, all the pieces in her studio.

Mark:

This is my murder arch.

Sarah:

Yes. Like, the moral of the story is don't integrate evidence of your crimes into your art. It would be like if I went out and killed people and then use their real skeletons as Halloween decorations. Yeah. That And hope nobody noticed.

Sarah:

Yeah. It's in plain sight. See?

Mark:

Yeah. Barbie has a jeweler's

Sarah:

What is he doing with a jeweler's loop in his pocket?

Mark:

Like, out of nowhere, he pulls out. Like, winter should be like, where did you get that?

Sarah:

A gold one or it's either gold or brass. It's pretty. Yeah. It's not like, oh, I've got a Swiss army knife that just happens to have a magnifying glass on it.

Mark:

So she puts the ammonia on when the actress is in there knocked out because she gets the whamo. Yeah. And then and I checked. They come back after they rescue the actress and it's off and everything, but none of the windows are open.

Sarah:

No. They didn't air it out.

Mark:

Like winter must be like, feeling

Sarah:

little Everybody in there should be kind of

Mark:

Oh, have a jeweler's lube now.

Sarah:

Look, I found a a ring. So there's

Mark:

a big confrontation at the bridge. Allison, what I liked what I liked was the rev didn't come along and say, I forgive you. No. The rev said, I don't know who you are.

Sarah:

That's what I would say. Yeah. How many people have you killed in the time that we've been together?

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

You're horrible. You need help.

Mark:

Then we find out that Patty finds some jewelry and is a natural detective.

Sarah:

Okay. No. He's not. No. He's a thief.

Sarah:

No. Everything he's bringing in is stuff that he's buried.

Mark:

He buried all those things.

Sarah:

So he took the bracelet and buried it.

Mark:

I don't think Betty took the bracelet and buried it.

Sarah:

Betty. Betty. When she was a newborn?

Mark:

Because It would be years ago.

Sarah:

Yeah. Sarah got the bracelet as a gift after Betty was born from Barnaby. Yeah. No. It's Patty.

Sarah:

Patty steals stuff and then brings it back and goes, fuck.

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Look what I found.

Mark:

It's sorta like a fake confession. Okay.

Sarah:

Best corpse?

Mark:

Best corpse. So we have two and a half corpses. Right? We have the corpse in the river.

Sarah:

Wait a minute. Who's a half corpse? Jessica or Lucy?

Mark:

To get to that.

Sarah:

Because Lucy's not dead.

Mark:

Yes. But Lucy's not dead, but she's knocked out. And and Winters has to say her first.

Sarah:

But she's not a corpse.

Mark:

But she's not a corpse.

Sarah:

So she doesn't count.

Mark:

And then we have Jesse, who we never see her corpse, but we see that she gets the whamo Yeah. On the bridge.

Sarah:

Okay. But this is not about best attack.

Mark:

Okay. We really have two corpses.

Sarah:

We

Mark:

have the hoarder and We have Johnny and Rufus. Johnny and Rufus.

Sarah:

I'm going with Johnny, Even though I don't actually think that the actor is in the water for that shot, the way they set it up is so good. It looks like he's down there. I'm giving it to Johnny.

Mark:

I totally agree. I love how we also completely did not look into either of us whether or not you could use a magnet to turn a pacemaker off.

Sarah:

It doesn't turn it off, but it does does upset it.

Mark:

It does upset.

Sarah:

Yeah. Well, same way

Mark:

in my career. Is he doing? Being a magneteer.

Sarah:

Well, he just doesn't put it on his chest. It's not hard.

Mark:

Those things are like crazy powerful.

Sarah:

You just don't stick it to your it's not like a pacemaker is magnetic. It's not like it's gonna swing and suck onto his chest. It's like if you have a metal plate in your head, a magnet's not gonna stick to it.

Mark:

Don't talk about my

Sarah:

metal plate. I think he's safe, but that may be why he doesn't have a microwave. Maybe. He has so many refrigerators. He has no microwave.

Sarah:

He

Mark:

should put the pheasants in the refrigerator. You

Sarah:

said that kind of creepy. It puts the pheasants in the refrigerator. After the credits?

Mark:

So, okay. The pub owners are going up the river.

Sarah:

I don't think they are. I think they're gonna get a slap on the

Mark:

You get a fine or something?

Sarah:

Yeah.

Mark:

Okay. She's going to loony jail. Alice? Yep. Mhmm.

Mark:

The rev has, he's got a tough row to hoe.

Sarah:

He's gonna need some therapy probably.

Mark:

Along with the historian and his housekeeper, they need to talk.

Sarah:

I think that Richard and Lucy need to talk.

Mark:

Yeah. I think so too.

Sarah:

Because all the reasons why he didn't wanna talk to her, he has now let go. Yep. He doesn't have a bad family to protect anymore. He needs to be honest with her. The show does not get made.

Mark:

I don't know. I think the show's gonna be the best show ever. While investigating this, we've discovered a murder. They're gonna be all over that.

Sarah:

Yeah. But I think that Lucy and Richard are gonna be like, no. We're not participating in that. Yeah. That was a tragedy.

Sarah:

I think so. And that's not what we're here for. So I think the show doesn't get made. Now, may want to, and they may make a different show, but not Lucy's family history. Yeah.

Sarah:

So Sarah doesn't get to be on TV, even though she does look fantastic in that white jacket.

Mark:

She does.

Sarah:

Not many people could pull that look off and she does.

Mark:

She does. Did we cover all of our questions?

Sarah:

We did. And the moral of the story, which is don't integrate evidence of your crime into your art. Man.

Mark:

I got some rewriting to do.

Sarah:

I just gotta say, people are gonna be reading your your novels a little bit more closely. I guess. We've been ending with a recommendation. Yes. So Something to get you through the the doldrums of winter now that the Christmas classics revisited is done.

Sarah:

Thank goodness. Yes. We'll go back to the recommendations.

Mark:

People like Christmas classics revisited. We're

Sarah:

I'm glad they did. I'm glad it's over.

Mark:

We're gonna revisit that next year.

Sarah:

If you say so.

Mark:

I think so. Okay. So what are your recommendations? I have two, a a practical one and an impractical one.

Sarah:

Okay. Give me one of yours.

Mark:

Okay. One of mine is always going to be this is the time of year in which you plan your year. So take take a little bit of time and plan out your year.

Sarah:

Plans are written in pencil.

Mark:

Yep. Plans are written in pencil. It's not

Sarah:

set in stone.

Mark:

But if you list the work, then you can work the list. It's work. What if you just wanna plan Vacations, all sorts of things.

Sarah:

Set some goals to have some fun. Yes. He's always so serious with his to do list. No. He's people, you don't know how organized this man is.

Sarah:

It's kinda crazy. He doesn't inflict it on me. Our house is a mess. My recommendation, and I only have one, is to teach yourself something new just for fun.

Mark:

Oh, I think that's great.

Sarah:

Just choose something you don't know how to do Yep. And figure out how to do it. Make mistakes. Screw it up. It's okay.

Sarah:

I have spent the last two weeks that we've been because we've been off work now for two weeks for vacation for the holiday. Yep. Teaching myself to make kaga yubanuki, which is a kind of Japanese thimble ring that has cord on the outside of it that is kind of woven around it. I didn't know anything about it. I thought they were beautiful.

Sarah:

I think thimbles are useful because I do some hand quilting every once in a while. And I already had all the materials to do it. It just takes some cardboard fabric and some kind of thread.

Mark:

We have lots of those things.

Sarah:

And boy, did I make a dozen or so that were completely wrong and screwed up. But I figured it out, and I have now successfully made a couple. And I feel quite accomplished.

Mark:

We had at least a good half hour discussion where I kept saying to Sarah, but seven is eight.

Sarah:

They have to be very mathematically precisely divided Yeah. To make the pattern repeat correctly around the circumference of the ring.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And I continually screwed it up.

Mark:

It's hard to do.

Sarah:

I eventually figured it out.

Mark:

Yes. The other recommendation I have is the hottest piece of media right now that everyone on my Instagram is talking about. So I thought I should probably mention it because people have asked me about it, which is heated rivalry. We watched the first episode of this.

Sarah:

You did. I was in and out of the room.

Mark:

Yes. I think

Sarah:

I was cooking or something.

Mark:

I gotta prepare you folks. It does have the gay sex.

Sarah:

A lot. It's the first episode is any It

Mark:

is a romance show about two men who play hockey. So different people have mentioned this as me.

Sarah:

It has some humor in

Mark:

it I think I think it's it's fun. One of the latest things that I've enjoyed watching on Instagram is these younger people say, I'm gonna show this to grandma. Grandma loves the show and makes the kids uncomfortable.

Sarah:

I've seen a lot of clips of hockey fans in bars watching it together and cheering Yep. When the hockey players kiss on the ice and Yep.

Mark:

And it's stop hiding their It's a great publishing story as well. So Yeah. If you're looking

Sarah:

So it's heated rivalry. Heated. Probably heard all about it.

Mark:

It's on HBO.

Sarah:

Alright. Is that it?

Mark:

So the newsletter comes out later this week on the January 7. So pick that up and make sure you're on the newsletter list.

Sarah:

Next week, season twenty five episode two, Lawn of the Dead.

Mark:

Which will be released the January 12. Lawn of the Dead.

Sarah:

It's a fun one.

Mark:

Yep. Oh, that murder.

Sarah:

Woah. In the nose.

Mark:

Woah. Woah. Hang on.

Sarah:

Go watch it. Alright. Bye, maniacs.

Mark:

Bye, maniacs. Thanks for joining us on the mystery maniacs podcast. If you enjoyed our crazy podcast today, don't miss out on future episodes. Follow us on social media for updates, beyond the scenes content, and exclusive sneak peeks. Subscribe, like, and share to spread the word.

Mark:

Bye, maniacs. Midsummer Maniacs is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to Midsummer movies. Oh, dedicated dedicated.

Sarah:

Why don't you start over?