Whodunnit Dinners Podcast Half Term/Halloween Special: Agatha Christie, Stephen King and Blackberry Pie!
Welcome to the blog post that accompanies Whodunnit Dinners podcast Halloween/Half Term Special. We generally recommend you listen to the podcast first - so this blog is more of a dessert following the main course - but you may find yourself doing things the other way round and heading off to listen to the podcast after this blog post has whet your appetite, which is all fine by us! We’re just glad you’ve turned up to share our love of murder mysteries, food and spending time with friends.
Which book did Helen read?
Helen decided to try out a spine-tingling Stephen King - not your traditional 'whodunnit murder mystery'. She chose 'The Outsider'.
In ‘The Outsider' an upstanding member of the community is accused of the vicious murder of a young boy. Worse, he is the coach of the baseball team and many members of the town have identified him as the culprit, with DNA and fingerprints backing this up. Detective Ralph Anderson whose son used to be coached by him, believes this to be open and shut...until the coach provides a cast-iron alibi.
It's not the type of book that we usually read, though it is a murder mystery which is what we like, after all we write murder mystery dinner party kits! But did Helen enjoy it? Or not? You'll have to listen to the podcast to find out.
Disappointingly, there was not a recipe from Helen this week. She would argue she has a cast-iron reason for this, a bit like the coach and his cast-iron alibi. You'll have to listen to the podcast to see if you buy it!
Which book did Katie read?
Katie went the traditional route and chose Agatha Christie: a collection of Agatha Christie short stories called 'Autumn Chills'. (Get the book here) They included all the favourites, such as Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, but add some others that you may not have heard of, like Tuppence and Tommy, and Mr Satterthwaite and Mr Harley Quinn. While most of the stories were traditional murder mysteries, there is also a sprinkling of supernatural stories to give you 'whodunnits' with extra chills.
How to make Blackberry Pie
1 Ready made sweet pastry case
400g Blackberries
100g sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp vanilla
50g butter cut into small knobs
Directions
- Pour the blackberries into a bowl and cover with the sugar and add the tbsp water
- Leave overnight or at least for 2 hours
- Add to pastry case and then place knobs of butter on top of the blackberries, evenly distributed around the dish
- Follow baking instructions for the case or bake in the oven for 35 minutes at 180C/350F
Listen to the Whodunnit Dinners podcast
If you want to hear more about Agatha Christie, Stephen King, or just curl up and listen to us natter, check out Whodunnit Dinners podcast Halloween/Half term special!