“Hi, it’s Phoebe,” the new podcast begins.
Why would these three words send a shiver of delight down my spine? If you’re asking that question, chances are you’re not on a first-name basis with Phoebe Judge. Let me explain.
Judge is the co-creator and host of Criminal, a podcast devoted to stories of people who’ve brushed up against the law: wrongdoers, the wronged and those caught between. In the ever-growing world of media delivering salacious true-crime stories (I see you, Tiger King), Criminal is quiet, respectful and incredibly human. And it’s Judge who provides the soothing, equanimous voice that imbues it with those rare qualities.
As we all find ways to fill our homebound time and take comfort where we can, Judge has created a new podcast to help you through these anxiety-filled weeks (months?) of sheltering in place. “One thing that’s been making me feel a little more at ease has been reading fiction,” she explains in the first episode of Phoebe Reads a Mystery. “I started reading Agatha Christie’s first published novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and I thought, maybe I could read it to you. A chapter a day until we get to the end. No ads, just a good mystery.”
Christie wrote The Mysterious Affair at Styles during World War I (another moment of global trauma) and it was published in 1920. It introduces my favorite detective, Hercule Poirot, the short-statured and mustachioed Belgian inspector indelibly captured by David Suchet in the long-running television show Agatha Christie’s Poirot.
