Mystery Show

Mystery Show is a new podcast hosted by Starlee Kine, a contributor to This American Life and other public radio shows. In Mystery Show, she channels her inner Nancy Drew by exploring various mysteries she comes across. In the first episode, a friend remembers renting a video from a fully-stocked, busy store, and returning the next day only to find it was gone without a trace. Kine finds the former location, talks to locals who knew about it, and tries to figure out what happened.
 
Kine is a talented storyteller with a great voice, personality, and sense of timing and pacing. She is obviously looking for the interesting characters and the deeper mysteries of life as she follows the trail of clues for the week’s particular puzzle. In the video store mystery, she talks to one man who tells her about the store, but he also ends up telling her some very personal feelings about his life.
 
I have hopes that Kine’s show will explore more of what makes us tick along with whatever question stumps her for the week. It remains to be seen if she can pull off a fuller, deeper story than the passable but slight mystery of the first episode. (Gimlet Media)