Written by contributor Verushka Byrow
Something I am forever finding intriguing is the use of podcasts and social media within books and most recently, as a complement to a book (Sadie) or a new way to listen to a mystery – as is the case with Lethal Lit, a Tig Torres mystery.
Lethal Lit is a fictional true crime podcast that follows Tig Torres, a teenager who has returned to her home town after living away in the city for years. She and her family left because her beloved aunt who was murdered was thought to have been the Lit killer, a serial killer that terrorised Hollow Falls by killing victims through methods from classic literature.
So what is a fictional true crime podcast? Well, that’s how Tig is going to clear her aunt’s name and unmask the real killer – she arrives in town and immediately starts her investigation, interviewing people and annoying most of them (especially the cops) for her podcast as she goes about trying to resurrect something everyone would prefer she left dead. But Tig believes in her aunt, and armed with her aunt’s tapes of her own investigation, she sets about trying to find the truth.
Along the way she finds herself making friends with the students at the high school newspaper who help her on her investigation, and there’s a hint of romance, but no real idea yet of where Tig stands on whether she prefers girls or boys, or both.
Tig herself is headstrong, and still filled with grief at her aunt’s death. The podcast format lends an intimacy to those moments when talks about her, and her abuela, and why she is convinced of her aunt’s innocence. There are moments where you get the sense that Tig is careful about protecting herself with this flippant coolness that masks who she is deep down. It makes for a compelling enough character to follow along in this somewhat short-than-expected podcast.
The characters around her are all distinct, and engaging in their own way. The podcast chooses the characters to focus on wisely, and ties them in closely to Tig.
What I liked about this medium as well, is when Tig is in danger, you can feel it just as profoundly as if you were running with her in the dark.
