Mu%der by Cheesecake | Episode 16

 WARNING: THIS PODCAST HAS SPOILERS

Join us for our version of book club as we dive into different books and tasty libations every Thursday!

This week we dive into Murder by Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery by Rachel Ekstrom Courage.

Murder by Cheesecake is the first book in a new Golden Girls cozy mystery series by Rachel Ekstrom Courage, featuring the four women solving a murder in 1980s Miami while Rose hosts her cousin's St. Olaf-themed wedding.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Why are you looking at my shirt?

SPEAKER_04 0:04

She's looking at you.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Why are you looking at me?

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Because you look so different.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

I don't look different. I look the same. I'm a real boy.

unknown 0:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Hi, Boo. Hey, Boo. Um, I know you're not feeling the best. You've had a hard week, so we'll keep this one simple. I'll try to direct us.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

We'll see how well I do.

SPEAKER_04 0:29

Um otherwise you might get some brain fog moments from me, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

We're all used to that and we all look for it, so it's okay.

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Um, so let's jump into what we're drinking real quick. We're drinking just a typical, I say typical, a traditional maybe Cuban drink. It's Cuban because today our book is based in Miami. And Miami, I think, I think, I think, has a lot of Cuban people. Got this in the Dominican, so uh it's authentic. Not Cuban, but you know, it's all together. So um that was a good trip. We are jumping back into the same rum that we had last week, but this time we're mixing it with pineapple coconut nectar. I think that we can drink this. It was really, really milky, but it said that it had cream of coconut in it. So uh I got it at the gas station. So we did that with a little bit of lime in it, so we'll see how they are. Cheers.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Trying to go with like a Miami-based drink. Yeah, cocktail.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

I would drink that a lot. Probably with less lime, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah. I used uh half an ounce of lime. Decent.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

That would get me in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Okay, I like that. Well, um my stash.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

You got some liquid in the stash.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Emma let me have a stash for the day.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

I didn't let you do anything. It's your body.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

This is America. I can do what I want.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Someone was getting a little too hot in the Georgia heat.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Started getting warm, started sweating for no reason, so I decided to shave the uh scarf off my face. Um, gonna rock the stash for a bit. Not this stash. I'll shave it down. Just gonna record one up with it. But I thought it was fitting for today, so whatever. So since you're you're not feeling the best, you did not come up with a word of the week. No. So I pulled up just a bunch of easy words and things that I know, but things I'm just gonna read off real quick. Plot. So I know what a plot is. Um setting. I know what a setting is. That's like what like where it's at. This says the time place. So yeah, I knew that. Protagonist is the one that is the good person, right? Yep. Protagonist is the main character that we're on their side. The antagonist is the one that's provoking them to do something, or not provoking, but just making them do something, moving the story forward through you said it one time, through um words. Through words, you're right. Yeah, through the book.

SPEAKER_04 3:27

Through uh um like well, now I'm looking at it, so I'm just gonna read it.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

So protagonist is the main character driving the story, and I guess the antagonist is the force or character opposing the protagonist. There you go. So I thought the antagonist was the one that was driving the story by pushing it, the protagonist, but I guess I got that wrong because the protagonist is driving the story.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Okay. Well, in some ways, the antagonist can drive it, can drive the protagonist.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Which I think, well, I I think that's probably the way that it usually is. Isn't they are they're the driving factor that keeps the main story going through the protagonist because the it gives them a story or gives them something to do. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Cool. Um, the theme, underlying message, got that. That's that one's an easy one. POV, that's the point of view. That's whoever we're hearing the story through. And then conflict, the central struggle between opposing forces. So those were core narrative elements. And I think that I knew the majority of them. Like I learned those in school. So uh those were my basic words of the week. Uh, since Boo didn't come up with anything, so I failed. Um, I'm gonna pull my notes up real quick. What did you think of this book? So this week we read Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Xtorm Courage. X Xourage. Courage. Extorm, Xtrouge.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

So, spoilers. Um if you ever watched The Golden Girls and you like easy mysteries, but you also like like an episode or season of the Golden Girls, this is definitely the book for you. I got this book as a blind date with the book, so I didn't even know what it was. It just said it was a cozy mystery for my birthday, and it I thought it was cute. I thought it was kind of adorable. Um would I have picked it for myself personally? No, which I think it's a great idea that it's a blind date with a book because it's not something I would personally pick.

SPEAKER_05 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

But the description written on the blind date um made me pick it up. And I thought it was adorable. So what about you?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I thought it was good, I thought it was decent. Um, I did not grow up watching The Golden Girls.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

I only saw a few episodes here and there. I didn't watch it religiously.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah. I knew that Betty White was on it, Betty White, um, and that was about all I knew. So the characters were all new to me, the settings, I'm using the words. Um, you know, those things were all new to me. And obviously in the book, they were probably new to all the people that were familiar with Golden Girls because it's based off of it, but I just didn't know anything, so it was kind of cool just going in like blank slate. Uh, I did not know who the old lady was. I know that it was like the mom.

SPEAKER_04 6:43

Sophia.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Sophia was the mom. Okay, so that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

Um she was Dorothy's mom.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Dorothy. So the person that was reading it kept saying Dorothy.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

Uh, it's how they pronounce Dorothy.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, and every time she said it, I would say it. She'd be like, Dorothy said this. And I was like, Dorothy. It was pretty fun. So I enjoyed it. I mean Dorothy. I did not know that in the very beginning when she goes on the date, I thought it was gonna progress more than it did. The date, I thought he was actually gonna come with her to the wedding. I didn't realize that the story was gonna take a turn and go the way it did.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

So uh I was entertained.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

Well, it's funny because uh when I was started reading this, I was like, oh, this this reads like the show. It's entertaining, but not fully entertaining. I'm kind of bored actually because I'm not watching it, but then it got to the murder, and I'm like, oh, okay, this is interesting now.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

Um, and after that, it actually went by pretty quickly for me. So if you want a cozy mystery, hold on until the murder if you read this one.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Keep going until then don't don't put it down, don't take a DNF before that. Yeah. Well, um, I don't really unfortunately have that many notes on it. Um I have a few. I do have a few. Do you have anything before chapter nine?

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

What do you have?

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Before you said chapter nine. Okay, so I have a couple of things. So chapter five, page 51. So this was before the before the murder, but I I said it was funny. That's what my note said. It says funny. And basically, Jorgen is picking the ladies up to take them to the hotel. Jorgen is the best man. And he says, when he picks them up, you all look as beautiful as freshly milked cows in a pasture, he said, beaming at them, all but letting his admiring eyes linger on Blanche. Blanche's coquettish smile disappeared as her jaw dropped. Why I oughta, Sophia said, dropping her purse and drawing her white gloved hands and fists, ready to spar. Dorothy laid a calming ham on hand on her arm, hoping that none of the neighbors had seen. She'd already gotten a few phone calls from the time Sophia ran through the neighbor's sprinkler and her play play text during the heat wave. I think that's a compliment from where he comes from, Dorothy whispered. He didn't mean to be rude. Remember, he's a farm boy. Think him think of him as a junior male version of Rose. Sophia slowly lowered her dukes, the slump of her shoulders hitting as her dishing at her disappointment that she wasn't going to get a hand get a chance to use them. So basically, Sophia's a Spitfire. And then there's like those one-liners, like they're from Saint Olaf, the whole family that came down, and their ways are very backwards, but that's a compliment to Jorgen, who's from St. Olaf, is um you look all look as beautiful as freshly milked cows in a pasture.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Well, the St. Olaf people had some very weird traditions and sayings and things like that, um, which made me question like, where is St. Olaf? Where where do we know exactly where it is? I think they said some of them were from like Canada or something. Is St. Olaf a real place?

SPEAKER_04 10:26

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

So every time they said St. Olaf, you know what I thought of?

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

You do know what I thought of? Mm-mm. Oh. I thought of Olaf. Um Let It Go.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Yeah, the frozen things. Me too. Every time they said that, I was like, oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Olaf. I'm like, St. Olaf. Saint Olaf uh college is in Minnesota.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Minnesota.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Um, but they did definitely had some weird traditions. So, and also one of the notes that I put down, which is I think further in past chapter nine, um they whenever they go to the shower, which is uh the bridal shower slash they actually shower. Yeah, yeah. That was like around chapter 10, but I'll I'll go back before that. But um chapter around that time when they were she was saying that, like, oh, we have these things that are like they're good omens for weddings. When it rains on your wedding day, it's great. And it's like usually that's a bad thing, right?

SPEAKER_04 11:31

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yeah, so it seemed like everything that she was saying was it was like the opposite of what normal people think.

SPEAKER_04 11:38

Well, also that's like they bring donkeys to the wedding if a bird perches on the bride's head or flies over, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Yeah, just very strange things. Yeah, um, okay. Do you have anything else after before chapter nine?

SPEAKER_04 11:50

Yeah. Nine Sophia. Uh, any episode I saw, so she's the mom. Any episode I saw back in the day I was a kid, I didn't really understand the humor. But holy cow, now that I am older, her one-liners crack me up like in this, and I could see it looking back. That's how they were in the show.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Looking back at me. I see that I know.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

So page got it right, page 55. Dorothy said they're at the hotel, and Dorothy says, I'm surprised they allowed.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Sorry, that's what I heard every time.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

Dorothy. She said, I'm surprised they allowed dogs in here. And then Sophia said, Don't worry, Dirth, Dorothy. I called ahead to get permission for you.

SPEAKER_05 12:42

Ooh.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

She said, Shut it, Ma. Just like the one-liners. It was, it was just every now and then it made me chuckle.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Was she the one that had the miss not mishaps, but the misunderstandings of things as well?

SPEAKER_04 12:58

Sophia?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

That's the mom. Yeah. So, like in the very beginning, when they were talking about like, oh, I can't give you, I I didn't write anything down. But like they talk about using a dating video service, and then like she was like, How would you date a video?

SPEAKER_04 13:16

Yeah, I think that was her, I think. But then Rose was like, You shouldn't meet strangers, and then Blanche was like, Oh, let her do it. Yeah.

unknown 13:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

The whole and then later on in the book, I like how uh they brought it up. Like, uh, I think maybe it was Rose. I told her not to do it, and like, you know, bad things would happen, and the this is what happened. Um, and they were like, Well, this could have happened to anybody, it's just happened to her, and they didn't even like she didn't bring him home, nothing happened like that. It happened differently, but she's connected because she took her out or she took him out.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

Going off of that, Rose kind of got on my nerves in this book.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Really? Yeah, why?

SPEAKER_04 13:55

And it's funny because that's Betty White's character, and she was my favorite on the TV show. Luckily, Rose in the book redeems herself, but she so Jason and Nettie just want to get married without people telling them what to do, i.e., the trust, the Olaf tradition, Jason's parents, and then this was chapter nine, page 100. Rose still wants to push for a traditional St. Olaf wedding to prove to herself and her family that um that she could do it, even after hearing that from Jason and Nettie. Then like she kept blaming um Dorothy or Dorothy all the issues happening because it was her date that was murdered at the hotel. Yeah, or that's what they thought. Um, and it's like like you were saying, Belange was saying this could happen to anyone. But luckily Rose came around at the end, she's like, okay, I was out of line, but now oh, excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

You're good.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Thanks. No, I'm really good. Now the you know, it could happen to anybody. Do you think that any of the blame should have been on her? Or not blame, but maybe people's opinions of Dorothy um for meeting that person. It didn't happen, it happened days after their date that he left very quickly from, you know. So um, would you, if like you were going to someone's wedding and someone that you knew went on a blind date with a guy and you were like, Don't do it, don't do it. Went on a blind date, and then a few days later at the wedding venue, he were shown up, like showed up dead, showed up dead.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

I wouldn't blame her. I would just be like, That's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

Like, I don't know, people get butthurt over the stupidest things, even in books.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Stupidest things. I mean a murder is a pretty big thing, babe.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

Yeah, but this book, yes, it was serious, but kind of made light of everything.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

It is a uh cozy mystery. So it was very cozy. I did think it was cozy. I was just trying to break it down to like, you know, 2026. We'll see what we can get out of it. Uh not just being on the surface.

SPEAKER_04 16:29

Yeah, I think it didn't help because even Dorothy or Dorothy.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Dorothy.

SPEAKER_04 16:35

She on page 19 says, don't be aloof and intimidating because that's what everyone says she is. And so the fact that people describe her as that, I'm sure that didn't help the situation with how the cops perceived her and then how other guests of the wedding perceived her, like she was a suspect. But also it's like you can be aloof and intimidating, but you don't have to there's some people who are just like that. Yeah. I don't know, it kind of sucks.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

So was uh Dorothy just a friend or was Dorothy part of the family?

SPEAKER_04 17:14

Thank you for being a friend. That's the theme song. Oh yeah for that one. The friends are Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy. Sophia's also a friend, but Sophia is the mother of Dorothy. Okay. They all live together because they have fixed income.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

But they live in Miami. Who who's the one that's from St. Olaf? Rose. Rose. Okay, so Rose is who's getting married? Rose's niece?

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Technically, it's her cousin, but she they she calls her her niece because the age difference is so vast.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Okay. Uh getting married to Jason? Yes. Okay, cool. Um, so Rose left St. Olaf, and that was a big theme throughout the book.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

That's why she went to prove she knew all these St. Olaf traditions.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yep. Okay. So she lives with friends, three friends, one of the friends being the mom of one of the friends that also lives there. Okay. And then when what was the girl that was getting Mary's name?

SPEAKER_04 18:25

Nettie.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Nettie. Did Nettie live down in Miami with Jason? Because they had mentioned getting rid of an excuse me, apartment if they can get that fund or trust from no, she lived back home. She lived back home. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Everyone did except for the four ladies.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

So Jason moved away because Jason's family had the resort down in Miami.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

Because his family was overbearing and trying to cur tried to control his life.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Okay, right. So he moved up to St. Olaf.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Or I think near it. Because he wanted to move to St. Olaf after the wedding.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Right. Oh, right. That's true. They he did say that.

SPEAKER_04 19:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I'm caught up now. I know that I I listened to it, but I'm just like, still didn't, because I wasn't caught up with the Golden Girl, so I was too sure.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

Well, I don't remember any of this being in the Golden Girls, but I still didn't watch everything.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

I don't think this was. This is a mystery. This is just using their likeness. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_04 19:23

I think the author did a good job of using it. There were some things that I found online where people were like, uh, so the online commentary was like, Sophia calling Dorothy pumpkin was out of character.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

It's funny because I was moving a keg today when I listened to the word pumpkin, and it brought me back to memoirs of a geisha. It's funny now that I can actually have I can recall other books where I'm like, oh, pumpkin. Because pumpkin was in memoirs. Yep. So uh I learned that this year. That made me feel I was like kind of cool. I was like, hey.

SPEAKER_04 19:59

It's just it brings up the memory of that.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah, the memory of a geisha.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Memoirs of a geisha.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

I know. You said okay, never mind. Moving on, onward.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

So do you have any other talking points before I get into the murder stuff?

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah. So my biggest thing was coming up on chapter nine. I put all caps. The herring food sounds gross.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

They had so many seafood options for the wedding. The only thing that sounded great was the cheesecake.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

The cheesecake sounded good. I mean, I would have eaten or ate what is the what is the best word? What how do I say that? I would have ate some of those things, or I would have eaten some of those things. I would have ate chat comment below. Um so I would have I would have consumed some of those. But when they just kept naming them, I was like, oh gross. And then later they say they say no, no fish or whatever. And then like it's like, oh, and then this person put their their I can't name it, but yeah, it was this way, and then Uncle whoever put his open jar, put a can't lid back on his jar and put it back into his jacket pocket. He's like, ugh.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

At least two people put fish snacks back into their uh their bags or jackets.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Yeah, sitting on a bus with other people just eating that.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Well, luckily it was all St. Olaf members. So they're used to it.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Yeah, they're used to it. But uh that was my chapter nine. And then I guess now you can jump into chapter five is actually when they go into the freezer when they chapter six is when they find the dead guy.

SPEAKER_04 21:51

Yeah, but at the end of chapter five, it's ah, that's why they screamed there's a body in the cheesecake.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah.

unknown 21:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

So if you want to jump into the murder, then my next big, big point is until fifteen. So what is fifteen? It's way after the murder.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

Well, what I want to talk about about the murder is who it was and stuff. So if you think you should go first.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Okay, mine's just a silly point that uh I like the way that. Let me see if I can remember this. It was Blanche liked the young Jorgen. Jorgen, who was the best man.

SPEAKER_04 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

So Blanche walked out in lingerie, not lingerie, but she walked out in her at the shower, she walked out at one point wearing her whatever she was wearing. That they even said in the book that made her bosom, you know. It propped him up. Yes, more bosomful. Um more bosomful.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

More perky.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

So she kind of goes off on a tangent in chapter 15, and I just like the way that she said that this other lady could be seducing him with eggs benedict. Like she could have they could have had like a romantic night, and she could be seducing him now with eggs benedict, like room service. And I thought it'd be funny to pull that up and read it, but I'm not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

But I mean, we can. We got the book right there.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Oh, that's true, but I'd have to look through your chapter 15. So um, you start talking about the murder, and I'll see if I can find some funny parts.

unknown 23:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

Well, I find it interesting that as Dorothy is continuously interviewed because she's a person of suspect, um, she saw the photos of the man after he was turned out of the cheesecake. And it was her date, Henry, but he looked different. He didn't have glasses, he had a mole on his face. Um, he was wearing something she wouldn't expect him to be wearing, but he had the same watch, so it had to have been him, but it's also like, how do you hide a mole on a date? Yeah, you can take off glasses and stuff, but so wait, was it not him in the end? Henry?

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Her date?

SPEAKER_04 24:16

Her date didn't die. We all thought he did the whole book.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

But it wasn't him.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

It was his twin brother. Did you miss that? Oh there's a whole chapter after Sophia, I think, uh Dorothy and maybe Blanche, maybe, I don't know. Or it was Rose, it was one of them, but it was Sophia and Dorothy and someone else. They were breaking into Henry's house because she's like, There's a dog in there, it's probably starving. Look, there's a dog door, and they're pushing Sophia through it to see if there's a dog in there. And this is while they're searching for clues to try to clear Dorothy's name. Do you remember that part? You were probably deep into work mode.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yeah. But I got the part where they were like falling overboard and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

Yeah, that's at the very end.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

But basically, the cops pull up because they're been undercover watching his house. They're like, What are you guys doing here? And then all of a sudden, Dorothy's being handcuffed, and she's like, No, it's not what it looks like. He has a dog, and I'm sure it's gonna be in there. And they're like, We searched the house. There is no dog. Um, and then it wasn't him, yeah. And then a boat pulls up and it's Henry with his dog. And then he's like, What's going on at my house? Dorothy, why are you in handcuffs? And then they're like, Who are you? The cops were like, Who are you?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

What chapter was this? Because I do not have that in my face.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

Yeah, you completely missed a big part of this. Chapter 23. Go to Henry's house, cops find them there. Henry shows up on boat with dog. Chapter 24, identical twin dead. Morty worked for big sugar. Morty was uh But literally everyone thought Henry was dead, but it was his brother, his twin brother, and they had matching watches that Morty got him. Morty was always the troubled twin.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

So Morty was business partners with Chip?

SPEAKER_04 26:20

Yes. Okay. So I thought Morty was Well, not business partners, he worked for him.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

He worked for. I thought that Morty, when I heard the name Morty, because I'm stupid, I thought that uh Morty was just the like hit the guy's real name because the detectives thought that he was going around doing that to other people using different aliases. Well, he was Morty was Morty was, so I thought that Morty was his real name, and what's what's the other guy's name?

SPEAKER_04 26:50

Henry.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Henry was one of his aliases. But I think it's the good twins. Okay, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

At first I thought Henry was an alias too, because of how it was written. Gotcha. But it's funny, like, if you actually when you read this book and you look back, you're like, why didn't I notice that there were clues here and there? Just like how when Sophie or Rose is on the bus with her St. Olaf family, she talked to her aunt, I think, Christina. Christina. And they're like, Did you see anything the night that the murder happened? But without saying the murder happened, and she's like, I saw I went to I had to get warm milk to sleep, because you know that makes everyone fall asleep. Warm milk. And or cheese. It was something cheese, maybe, I don't know. It was something weird that's like everyone knows that makes you fall asleep. It's like, mm, not cheese. Um but she had seen an average billed man with a limp carrying a burlap sack going heading towards the kitchens. And she was kind of freaked out and went back up to her room. And that was the first real clue that it was Chip that committed the murder. Because we didn't realize he had a limp until the rehearsal dinner, in quotes, on um the boat. Because when he walked up the dock, he had the limp.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Well, was the limp from the what was it in the beginning? Excuse me, why him and Patricia couldn't come to the one of the shower things in the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 28:27

A croquet accident or something.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Is that what the limp was from?

SPEAKER_04 28:31

I wonder. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Oh, okay. Oh, I'd be curious. I did I didn't catch on to that, obviously, but I'd be curious if that was like foreshadowing in the beginning. Like, oh, he has an injury. Could be. And then, oh, the killer has a limp. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Could be.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

I didn't catch on to it at the time.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

But also when you're reading it, it's like, how reliable is the St. Olaf family? Like, do you really believe that she saw someone with a limp? Because I mean, she's talking about cheese and hot milk and that's true. And the way she went about it. I don't know. This whole family was crazy. But when it's confirmed that Chupp killed Morty because I don't know, just he didn't want to be bossed around by his wife and the Bryants, which is her family. He wanted to be second in command to the general. And it's funny because you find out Miss Sugar is not big sugar. She was just a performer at the club. Um and then the clown stripper. Oh my gosh, don't uh clowns. Like you have have to be like one of the St. Olaf traditions was not a clown stripper, but you have to have a clown perform at your bachelorette. And I'm like, no, I hate clowns for those that need to know that information.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

There's only a select few that I think actually like clowns. I don't mind them like if I'm at a circus, but like I don't want them just walking around street. Like what?

SPEAKER_04 30:02

No, even at a circus, no, they freak me out. No. No. Okay, your turn. Oh. Did you find that page that you wanted to talk about?

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 30:16

About Blanche.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yes. It's just it's just silly reading. So I want to hear it. Page 181.

SPEAKER_04 30:24

Uh basically it's Gloria flirting with Jorgen, and Blanche has been flirting with Jorgen.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

And I find this funny because they're old. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

So they're just cougars biting away over a little young cub.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

I don't like the way you said that. That was weird.

SPEAKER_04 30:44

I mean, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Very cozy, Sophia added. Like two cannoli under a blanket of mozzarella. Blanche's eyes narrowed, and Rose noticed spots of pink appearing on Blanche's cheeks. That woman, Blanche practically spat, she's been trying to get her claws into him when I clearly found him first. Maybe that's why he didn't answer the phone this morning. She could have been seducing him over room service eggs Benedict. Blanche pressed a hand to her chest as if the idea were too terrible to bear. Rose thought that sounded rather unsan unsanitary. I don't know why it's unsanitary, but she she didn't have the time to ask questions. So I just like that part about the Aix Benedict because I like Aix Benedict and then just the the that woman. She's been trying to get her claws in him when I found him first.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

It's just that little commentary every like you go a page and then there it is again. Or there's a one-liner from Sophia, or there's Dorothy with her sarcasm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Dorothy.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

Or Blanche with her, ooh, look that man. You know?

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Dorothy. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 32:01

It was just yeah, it was cute. Did you have anything else you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Um, I'm gonna see if I can pull up real quick. You're audible. I want to see if they can pull up how they say it. Yeah, let me see. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Uh old folks homes, can you believe that? The general said it was genius. It was, Dorothy said, trying to keep him talking about it.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

Dorothy. Dorothy. See, that's actually that voice of that narrator is I feel like actually really good for this book.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

It was.

SPEAKER_04 32:32

Um because she sounds a bit older, but she sounds like she has a lot of character in her voice.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

She switched it up for every character. Oh, that's good. Like some of the past books have had two narrators, but this one was one, and she just did different accents. And even for like um uh who is the cousin that's the elder in St. Olaf. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04 32:56

Gustav or Gus. I don't even know how she pronounced it because I Gustav. Gustav. Gustav, or uh yeah, it's different from the other Gustavs of her family.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

And that was the funny part, is when she said it, it was like Gustav. No, this is Gus Gustav, not Gustav, this is Gustav. And then in the book it says with not a change of inflection in her voice or whatever. It's like she said it the exact same way. Um, but when she when when he was speaking, she actually did like kind of like a uh she put a like a German twist on it. Uh so it kind of made me feel like everything was um or or sorry, not German.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

I say German, Norwegian, yes, because they all talked about their Norwegian roots a lot.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Norwegian, okay. Um, so she put kind of like a Norwegian accent on like a male deeper voice, and then for each of the ladies gave a different voice. So it was really entertaining. Yeah, that's why I also found it entertaining, is because the way that the good narrator. Yes, good narrator.

SPEAKER_04 33:57

So good to know.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Um, but other than that, I don't really have much more on it, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

Well, speaking of narrators, I really, really hope you like the narrator of the next books we're gonna read because I've heard her voice. So hopefully you like it.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

The narrator's voice? Is it the author's voice? No. Who is the what is the book? What are we seeing? Wait, oh okay.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

So what did you rate this one?

SPEAKER_01 34:21

We're done. Yeah. Okay, I'm closing.

unknown 34:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

What do you rate this one?

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Um, I give this a two, five.

SPEAKER_04 34:30

I gave it a two only because like it was really good, but it's not something I would pick.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Okay. My ratings have been way better than yours recently.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

Yeah, they have.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

And I understand that last week it was one of my books, so obviously I would like it better.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

What was our last book?

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Fear and loathing.

SPEAKER_04 34:48

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

unknown 34:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

But I mean, I gave it an easy two five. Maybe I was going in last week. I went, I told you that my ratings have changed. And now I'm like two five. And you're like, two. Maybe this was like a one-eight. No, I found it entertaining. I thought it was cute. It was cute for not knowing the golden girls, only knowing that Betty White was in it. I think that murder by cheesecake. Can I see it? I'm gonna give my little endorsement. Okay. Oh, you miss her? Did you know her?

SPEAKER_04 35:17

No, but I loved everything she was in. Like the last one that I saw with her was the proposal, and she was just dancing around the fire with Sandra Bullock. Oh, that hurt.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Murder by Cheesecake is not only a cozy mystery. Wait, is that what it says?

SPEAKER_05 35:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

A golden girl's cozy mystery. Not only not only is you can't snort, babe, because then it's gonna pick up on my my ad read that I'm doing. Go for it. Not only is not only is murder by cheesecake a golden girls cozy mystery, it's a 2.5 on the JD scale, which is pretty entertaining. For not knowing anything about the Golden Girls, I would recommend that you pick this book up and give it a little gander. Maybe sniff it if you want. But uh Okay, that was it.

SPEAKER_04 36:18

The JD rating scale. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Let's go and catch on. JD rating scale. That's 2.5.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

So we're gonna put that down because we're done with it. All right, we're gonna go. It's adorable. Y'all should read it if you want something cozy. Give me a second.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

One.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

Did you bring that whole stack in? I thought that was just an ear from earlier. I didn't realize the ear. Are you about to bring that whole stack? Oh my goodness. What is it? Okay, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

So I've been dying for you to read this. I thought it was. He knows.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 37:05

I have been dying for him to read this. It is my favorite series. It is a fantasy. Yes, it is labeled young adult, but I feel like a lot of its readers are our age.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Bet type stuff.

SPEAKER_04 37:24

Oh, sorry, that was a little heavy.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Okay. Throne of Glass.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

We are gonna read the Throne of Glass series. We may do parts because some of these books are like a thousand pages long. But to start, we are not reading the novellas first.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

What's that mean?

SPEAKER_04 37:47

First off, don't question yet. We will explain that later.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

It's gonna take two months.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Yeah, about definitely if we break it in parts.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Well, if we break it in parts, it's gonna take longer because there's eight books and that's two months.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

Well, these ones we're not gonna break apart. These ones we're not gonna break apart. We may do this one, but we may not.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

So we gotta do all those in one week?

SPEAKER_04 38:10

These three will have to be done in one week. The top three.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

One week. Each. Right. And if you want that's almost a month.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

Yeah, and if you want, well, no, we can take a break and go to a different book just to get your mind okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

We're doing a book a week for three weeks.

SPEAKER_04 38:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Three books, so that's almost a month.

SPEAKER_04 38:32

And then with these, definitely with these last ones, we're gonna split. But with this one, we may split or we may not. This one is my favorite of the series.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

So it won't take about two months. It will take over two months.

SPEAKER_04 38:45

About. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

It's gonna take about two months. About. It's gonna take over two months.

SPEAKER_04 38:56

About.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

So that's gonna take nine months.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

Nope. I have it all planned out. Okay. So there is a debate.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

Is this the one with the dragons?

SPEAKER_04 39:08

There are dragons in the fourth book and onward.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

And this is the one where she's in the fourth wing. No. But you said the fourth book has dragons, and they have dragons in the fourth book wing.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

There are dragons in the book that's called fourth wing. Fourth wing. This is not fourth wing. No, this is the wing. Same author. No, different author. This is Sarah J. Mass.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Bodies, Jenova Rose has the other one.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

No.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Fourth Wing is uh this one.

SPEAKER_04 39:39

Yeah, Rebecca Yarros. Yeah, we just finished that one. No, we didn't. We left it unfinished.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

We didn't finish that one. Yeah. We covered that one. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

We are gonna read a Rebecca Yarros book that we will finish called The Last Letter, that I absolutely loved, and I cried my eyes out.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Alright. I'm catching on to what you're throwing down.

SPEAKER_04 40:00

So there is a debate on whether you read the novellas first, which is basically the main character's backstory. There are, I think, five in here. Or if you read the first book of this series, which is Throne of Glass.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

And my thing, it's a very heated topic on Bookstagram and all that fun stuff. Um book talk, whatever. Um my thing is you read it when the main character you read the prequels when the main character wants you to read it, and when Sarah J. Mas recommended you read it.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

And when did that happen? I think she said after you had it all planned out.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

I'm having a bad day, okay? Um, I think she said after the second or third book, but I personally am gonna have you read this after the second one because that's when the main character gives a piece of herself to someone else, and you will see what I mean when you get there. Because that's when she's like, you get to know me now.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

I'm gonna really try to go into this with a very open mind.

SPEAKER_04 41:17

Please do, because also there's another debate. I'm not gonna make you do this because I didn't get the option to do that, because these came out when I was reading the series. So I did not get an option, so you're gonna read this how I read it. Tower of Dawn, right here and Empire of Storms, so these two. A lot of people think you should tandem read it. When my future sister-in-law borrowed these books, Beth, I told her what the internet said that you should tandem read it. I told her what I did, which I read them as they came out, so I did not get the chance to tandem read. Because these two books happen at the same time, but they have different characters in them. She said that I wish I would not have tandem re read them because I wanted that cliffhanger at the end of cli at the end of Empire of Storms. So you're gonna read them individually.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Would tandem reading be like one chapter, one chapter, one chapter, one chapter.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

It's more like five chapters seven than three, then yeah. So we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Why would you five seven three?

SPEAKER_04 42:32

It's whatever the you have to look up the guide online. We're not doing that. So, do you want to hear what Can you take a breath? Yeah, I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

I can tell.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

Like, I'm so excited for you to read this.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 42:49

Or listen to it. Okay. So the first book starts off very I guess you could say elementary because it's super simple. Just so simple. She has one objective and that's it, okay? We're not I'm not reading the back yet. Okay. She has one objective, and then she can hopefully be free, basically.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

And her name's Sarah.

SPEAKER_04 43:12

No. That's the author. Hold on. But the plot of this one is it seems super simple and elementary, but it is so worth it to get into this to connect the dots coming from here down. It is a crazy story. Now, do you want to hear what the first book's about? Absolutely, boo. You are not excited.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

I am I am very excited to read eight of these books about dragons.

SPEAKER_04 43:47

Well, the dragons don't come until I think this book. And he his name's Abraxos, and he's my favorite. Him in Manon. I call her a man in because I didn't listen. Apparently it's called her name's Manon.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

I like Naan bread.

SPEAKER_04 44:05

I do too. Okay. You ready? Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Mass. In a world without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but to win her freedom. If she defeats 23 killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she will be released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Selena Sardothian. The crown prince will provoke her, the captain of the guard will protect her, and a princess from a faraway land will befriend her. But something evil dwells in the castle, and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Selena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Type stuff. Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 45:07

I'm kind of worried.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

Yeah, I'm not into Game of Thrones and stuff. Is this Game of Thrones?

SPEAKER_04 45:19

No.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Oh. Throne of Glass is not Game of Thrones. Is it related at all?

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Nope.

unknown 45:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

This is not Lord of the Rings either, right?

SPEAKER_04 45:31

Nope.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

This is not Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_04 45:34

Nope. I should make you read Harry Potter, though. That one's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

Harry Potter, I think I could, I think I could get down with that. My uh 11-year-old nephew just read it and he really likes it. I think that I'm on that reading level. So maybe I'd maybe I'd be enjoyed by it. Maybe I'd be enjoyed by it.

SPEAKER_04 45:51

Well, maybe since this is our biggest series of the year, I will give you a break and we'll do it. It's gonna take a quarter of the year. No, it'll be fine. Just enjoy it. That's what Jesus said. Please just enjoy it. I really hope you do. Because this is my favorite. Even your mom said she was gonna read this. I'm like, heck yeah. It made me excited that she said she should read it.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Um, okay, cool. Well, I don't know what to expect. I didn't really get much off the back of that. So no.

SPEAKER_04 46:34

Again, super simple. She goes into a competition and tries to survive.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

Neat. And what's the person's name?

SPEAKER_04 46:41

Selena Sardothi. Selena Sardothian.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Selena Sardothian. Alright. Well, boo, we have covered Murder by Cheesecake. We have given it our ratings of two and a two-five. We are now moving on to Throne of Glass. Throne of Games. Throne of Glass. Glass of Thrones.

SPEAKER_04 47:08

Throne of Glass.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

And I have We are now moving on to Throne of Glass.

SPEAKER_04 47:13

And I have all the originals. This is the original artwork.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Why are those small and those are big?

SPEAKER_04 47:19

Because these were already published. I prefer paperback. These were already published before I got to this one. And by the time I got to this one, it came out only in hardbacks. So I had to get it because the story was that good. So I had to read it right away. And the same with these. So I only have the hardbacks of those.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

You speak fast when you're excited.

SPEAKER_04 47:35

I do.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

I heard that you got a book and you went. Alright. Well, um, do you have anything else to add? I know that you're really excited. Anything else?

SPEAKER_04 47:46

I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

All right, boo. Look into that camera right there and use one word or one phrase to end us. Yay. I'm surprised you didn't say I'm really excited. I've really cut it.