Afoot

Episodes

1. 16

   2.3: The Chef's Kiss

   There’s something fishy about the murder in this episode. Novelist W. M. Akers joins us to talk about Murder Under Glass, an episode from the final season of the original NBC run of Columbo featuring Louis Jourdan as a food critic and, of course, a murderer. It is maybe not the most perfect...

   Feb 25, 2022

   52m
2. 15

   2.2: 70 is the New 40

   As podcasters and fans of podcasts—as well as good murder mysteries—we’ve convened a panel to talk about Only Murders in the Building, the new Hulu series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. Yes, there are spoilers, so go watch the…

   more
   Nov 11, 2021

   1h 17m
3. 14

   2.1: What Happened to the Other Guy?

   Yes, it’s April 1, but this isn’t a joke, Afoot is back from the grave as it were. And that question doesn’t refer to Glenn—or does it?—but to Lt. Columbo, one of the rare television characters to become as iconic as Holmes, Poirot, Miss Marple, et al, and almost instantly from his first...

   Apr 2, 2021

   40m
4. 13

   13: Mysteries We Dropped

   We’ve all started reading down mystery series or authors, and then hit a point where we said, “nah, I’m good.” In this episode, we talk about what we gave up on and why, and some we loved all throughout. This comes from a place of love: we enjoyed early installments enough that we kept reading…

   more
   Jan 28, 2018

   1h 04m
5. 12

   12: Forget It, Fake, It's Chinatown

   Forty years ago, Neil Simon wrote a pair of parodies in the mystery vein: the 1976 film Murder By Death, which sent up the great movie detectives, and The Cheap Detective in 1978, which took on hard-boiled Bogart characters, like Sam Spade. The two films have a lot in common, including Robert…

   more
   Mar 30, 2017

   1h 14m
6. 11

   11: When You Come to a Falk in the Road, Take It

   The original rumpled detective, Columbo, broke the mold of the urbane cogitator or hardboiled world-weary dick who merely needed to assemble all the clues — and keep from being killed. Nearly every episode of the long-running TV character (across two series and 69 episodes) showed viewers the...

   Mar 11, 2017

   1h 24m
7. 10

   10: Phryne with a Fringe on Top

   She’s smoothly sensual, a sharp dresser, and has a wicked uppercut. We travel to the Antipodes to visit with Phryne Fisher, the protagonist of a series of 20 murder mystery books and three seasons of an adaptation to television. We like the cut of her jib and the stab of her knife. If you’d like…

   more
   Feb 10, 2017

   1h 12m
8. 9

   9: Bugs Meany Was Framed

   We talk about mysteries written for kids, which are often good reads for adults! Among panelists, we count six children at home and all of us remain kids at heart. The episode also features special guest Rex Fleishman for a brief discussion of a series he loves. We have dozens and…

   more
   Dec 13, 2016

   1h 15m
9. 8

   8: And We Would Have Recorded Away with It, Too

   What’s more appropriate for Halloween than Scooby-Doo? Join Afoot as we recount the nearly 50-year history of the show, talk about our favorite and least-favorite eras, praise voice actors, and dissect the problem with the show switching from old men in rubber masks to real ghosts, zombies, and...

   Oct 30, 2016

   47m
10. 7

    7: When a Man's Partner Is Killed (Several Times)

    The Maltese Falcon is one of the noir books that defined the genre. But the first try at making this spare, grim book about a fancy bird into a novel didn’t take. Nor did the second. The third is the one we all recall, with Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor. And even it’s a bit weird. In this…

    more
    Sep 26, 2016

    1h 36m
11. 6

    6: Veronica Mars: Season 1

    Veronica Mars is the greatest detective series that many people watched, but clearly not enough! A determined, hard-nosed teenager, Veronica had absolutely no concern about invading the privacy of others in her pursuit of solving a case her father is working on, troubles her classmates brought to...

    May 14, 2016

    1h 18m
12. 5

    5: Heaping Helping of Holmes, Part 2

    Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed, parodied, adapted, and extended detective in the history of the genre. In this episode (part 2 of 2), Afoot panelists discuss more of their favorite Holmes' depictions and extensions. This time: Failed TV pilots that use Holmes or Holmes-like characters, the...

    Feb 23, 2016

    40m
13. 4

    4: Heaping Helping of Holmes, Part 1

    Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed, parodied, adapted, and extended detective in the history of the genre. In this episode (part 1 of 2), Afoot panelists discuss their favorite Holmes’ depictions and extensions. This time: Jeremy Brett, Sherlock (BBC), an episode of Magnum, P.I., the movie…

    more
    Jan 31, 2016

    41m
14. 3

    3: Radio Mystery Shows

    From nearly the dawn of broadcast radio came scripted shows, and the biggest genre outside of soap operas were radio mysteries. Remarkably, these not only thrived across dozens and dozens of shows during radio’s heyday, but for decades beyond, into the 1980s. And podcasting has offered some new...

    Dec 30, 2015

    59m
15. 2

    2: Make Mine Marple!

    Miss Marple may have been a pioneer crime-tape crosser, but there are oodles of women writing detective fiction and starring in it. In this episode, we talk about our faves, what a woman detective brings to the picture (Miss Fisher!), and introduce folks to perhaps some lesser-known treasures.…

    more
    Dec 2, 2015

    1h 00m
16. 1

    1: Good Eve-a-Ning

    Welcome to the latest member of The Incomparable family of podcasts: Afoot, the mystery podcast! What makes a mystery a mystery? It’s a genre with a puzzle at the middle, but which takes many forms across all media. Many mystery elements have also percolated out into mainstream fiction and media....

    Oct 31, 2015

    48m