Close Reads Podcast HQ

Close Reads Podcast HQ

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The Current Schedule (A Working Document)
Your up-to-date solution for staying up-to-date with Close Reads
 • David Kern
1:03:43
The Grapes of Wrath: To the End
So about that ending .
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
1:02:24
The Grapes of Wrath: Chapter 26
This week’s episode is dedicated entirely to the lengthy chapter 26 so we have a chance to discuss poor Casy’s complicated arc and the Christ-like…
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
1:02:39
Cocktail Time (P. G. Wodehouse)
Welcome back to the final installment of our P.
 • David Kern and Sean Johnson
1:02:15
The Grapes of Wrath: Chapters 22-25
Is ma emerging as Steinbeck’s new protagonist?
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
1:05:42
Short Story Hour: "Leaf by Niggle" by J. R. R. Tolkien (FREE PREVIEW)
Welcome to another episode of our new series on classic short stories!
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
1:12:54
The Grapes of Wrath: Chapters 19-21
Does Casy redeem himself with his heroic action?
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
Vote Now in the Final Matchup of the 2026 Close Reads Literary Bracket!
24 hours to determine a winner!
 • David Kern
1:09:29
The Grapes of Wrath: Chapters 15-18
Is Steinbeck an American Dickens?
 • David Kern and Sean Johnson
Vote Now in the Final Four of Our 2026 Literary Bracket!
You have 24 hours . . .
 • David Kern
Vote Now in the Elite Eight of Our 2026 Literary Bracket!
We’re on to round 4!
 • David Kern
1:08:16
Monthly Mystery: Agatha Christie's "Ordeal by Innocence"
Hello and welcome to March’s monthly mystery here at Close Reads HQ!
 • David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White

Monthly Mysteries

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1:08:16
Monthly Mystery: Agatha Christie's "Ordeal by Innocence"
Hello and welcome to March’s monthly mystery here at Close Reads HQ!
 • David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White
1:09:18
Monthly Mystery: John Dickson Carr's "He Who Whispers"
Hello and welcome to our February monthly mystery here at Close Reads HQ!
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
1:00:32
Monthly Mystery: Josephine Tey's "Brat Farrar"
Hello and welcome to our first monthly mystery of 2026 here at Close Reads HQ!
 • David Kern
1:03:20
Monthly Mystery: Murder in the Mill-race
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: E.C.R Loran’s story about a provincial small town with more secrets than it wants to reveal.
 • David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White
59:01
Monthly Mystery: Epitaph for a Spy
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: Eric Ambler’s story about a regular man who is caught up in the world of international intrigue on the…
 • David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White
1:05:51
Monthly Mystery: A Morbid Taste for Bones
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: Ellis Peter’s first book in the Brother Cadfael series, a medieval-set murder mystery in which a monk…
 • David Kern
50:37
Monthly Mystery: "Five Little Pigs"
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: Agatha Christie’s Five Little Pigs, one of her most psychologically complicated (and nearly hard…
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
56:24
Monthly Mystery: The Zebra-Striped Hearse
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: Ross Macdonald’s The Zebra-Striped Hearse, a classic midcentury title from one of the kings of the…
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
1:11:02
Monthly Mystery: Some Buried Caesar
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: Rex Stout’s Some Buried Caesar, a 1930’s classic from one of the most popular of all American mystery…
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
57:29
Monthly Mystery: John Dickson Carr's "The Seat of the Scornful"
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: John Dickson Carr’s The Seat of the Scornful, a cult classic from the master of the locked room…
 • David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White
1:00:31
Monthly Mystery: Mystery Mile
Join in as we discuss this month’s mystery novel: Margery Allingham’s Mystery Mile, a book for which we had varying degrees of affection.
 • David Kern, Heidi White, and Sean Johnson
1:10:23
Monthly Mystery: The Great Mistake
Join in as we dig in to this month’s mystery novel: Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Great Mistake, a very American but very interesting mystery from a…
 • David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White

Close Reads Podcast HQ

Close Reads is a book club podcast for the incurable reader.
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