Has it been a month already?
When we launched our crime and mystery podcast in January, we toyed with the idea of doing bi-weekly episodes. Back then, booking enough guests to fill 2 episodes a month seemed like the biggest obstacle. We now realize that finding interesting guests is easy compared to the work that goes into scheduling and editing.
Then we got the bright idea to do a live event, sort of like a crime and mystery version of “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me or “Jeopardy.” We dubbed it “Crime Quiz LIVE!” and set a date for early May at one of our favorite East Los Angeles haunts, Book Show LA. We were very lucky that three talented authors—Christa Faust, Danny Gardner and Glen Erik Hamilton—took the leap of faith. And boy did they deliver.Our biggest challenge was creating the ground rules for the quiz and researching trivia questions (categories included “Die Hard,” “Die Harder,” “Die Hard With A Vengeance” and “Mission Impossible”). We also needed a high-quality recording that compensated for two hosts and three guests talking over each other, laughing uncontrollably, and hurling insults (Pro tip: Everybody should have a sound wizard friend like Justin Fisher).
Things came together at the last minute and we had a blast, even if a few of our choices were ridiculous. Example: One of the contestant “cheats” for the quiz was called “Rhyme Time” and amounted to your fearless hosts giving the answer to the question, only with “Schm-” inserted before each word (“Writer Types” would become “Schmriter Schmypes,” etc.—you’re welcome).
You can hear the results of the inaugural “Crime Quiz LIVE!” in a special episode the first week of June. We hope you like it because we’re planning to do it again, maybe in a city near you.
But in the meantime, we are thrilled to share Writer Types Episode 5 with you!
This time around, we connect with David Zeltsermen about the new Netflix movie, “Small Crimes,” based on his fantastic 2008 novel of the same name. We also catch up with the host of TCM’s Noir Alley, Eddie Muller. You could almost call this the “Writer Types Goes To Hollywood” episode, until we take a hard turn for Scotland (by way of Northern California) to chat with Catriona McPherson, fresh off her 2017 Agatha Award win for Best Historical Novel.
But wait, there’s more!
Tom Pitts talks about his new novel, “AMERICAN STATIC,” Shaun Harris signs Eric’s copy of “THE HEMINGWAY THIEF,” and Sarah M. Chen reads some flash fiction from the vaults at Shotgun Honey. We also spent a night at BookPeople in Austin with Scott Montgomery, Mike McCrary and Gabino Iglesias. And did we mention our fabulous reviewers, Kate Malmon and Dan Malmon, of Crimespree Magazine?
Click “play” below to sample the crime-y goodness. If you like what you hear, please rate us and subscribe on iTunes, add us to your favorites on Stitcher, and leave a review on SoundCloud.
https://soundcloud.com/user-910265603/ep-5-catriona-mcpherson-dave-zeltserman-tom-pitts-eddie-muller
Who are some guests you’d like to hear on future episodes of Writer Types?
