S2E1 The Thinking Man

Welcome to Mysteries to Die For. Before the StoryI am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you at the heart of mystery, murder, and mayhem. Some episodes will be my own stories, others will be classics that helped shape the mystery genre we know today. These are arrangements, which means instead of word-for-word readings, you get a performance meant to be heard. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes (unless it's really bad) This is Season 2. This season contains adaptations of stories published in the 1800s. These stories are some of the first considered to be mysteries. For that reason, this season is called The Originators. Today’s story is about separating the improbable from the impossible and not messing with nature. This is The Thinking Man, and adaptation of The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allan Poe. The story first appeared Graham’s Magazine in 1841.Episode MaterialsRead the original: There are several places where you can find The Murders in the Rue Morgue at no cost. Gutenberg is one of them. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2147Cast of Characters: August Dupin: The detective, our thinking manNarrator: The speaker doesn’t get a name. Let’s call him Poe.Mrs. Catalan: One of the victimsCamille Catalan: Adult daughter of Mrs. Catalan, also a victimAdolph LeBon: Clerk at Mrs. Catalan’s bank. Last to see the victim’s alive.Teddy DeMuse: Constable on patrol the night of the murdersHenri Duval: Silversmith and neighborDutch Marken: Restauranteur from AmsterdamWilliam Bird: Englishman living in ParisAlfonzio Gario: Undertaker from SpainAlberto Montani: Candymaker from ItalyHow windows worked in the 1800s. Sash window https://www.ventrolla.co.uk/knowledge/sash-window-anatomy/Sash pins https://sashwindowspecialist.com/blog/balance-systems-for-sash-windows/ My Two CentsReally? An orangutan??I’m not sure if I like the end or not. It feels like cheating to have a non-human murderer. Pros: original. Cons: really? An Orangutan??Ending aside, I enjoyed Dupin and his way of figuring. If I have any complaints, it is that he didn’t share his ideas and observations with his friend, our narrator. I do concede that even if Dupin shared his findings of the window, I would not have gotten to a sailor harboring a Bornese orangutang with a penchant for shaving.This is definitely the kind of classic, logical detection that brings to mind Sherlock Holmes and the list of book, movie, and television detective that followed. What is fascinating about Dupin is he pre-dated Holms by 46 years. With so many newer incarnations of this kind of detective, it’s easy to not be overly impress by Dupin when you first read the story. When you consider he was, truly, one of the first? Well, maybe I can get over the orangutan.After the StoryThat wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by telling a mystery lover about us and giving us a five-star review. Sponsor this season. Join our Body Bag Brigade with your donation. Give what you can. Everything is appreciated. DONATE HEREMysteries to Die For is written by TG Wolff with contribution from Jack Wolff and Shannon Leahy. The Thinking Man was written by TG Wolff, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Music and production and by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by Shannon Leahy. www.tgwolff.com/podcastJoin us in two weeks for Guilty Conscious, an adaptation of The Somnambulist and the Detective by Allen Pinkerton.