Mystery on the Rocks

Something a little different this week as we begin a new occasional series called Sooz Kempner's One Hit Wonders where Sooz takes us through the story of some of the very best (and worst) one hit wonders.Where are they now? Why did their one hit hit so hard and then other songs fail to replicate the success?For the first episode, Sooz tells us the story of John Parr and his almighty anthem 'St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)'...Hosted by Masud Milas, Chris Stokes, and Sooz Kempner Mystery on the Rocks is a high concept comedy and true crime/unexplained phenomena podcast set in a fictional mystery-solving bar with real cocktails!. The focus of the show is to attempt to crack a real, unsolved mystery from history – true crime and bizarre occurrences, all with a whodunnit or WTF happened question hanging over them.You can follow us on Bluesky, X and Instagram too!

This week, we take a look at the brutal murder of Japanese businessman and high stakes gambler Akio Kashiwagi, stabbed (potentially up to 150 times) in his home in January 1992. One of the world's greatest gamblers, he rinsed several casinos enough to give them cause for concern that, for once, the house might not win...As well as delving into which enemies he may have made enough to kill him, we also ask the burning question... Why was Peter Lorre a prominent cartoon character years after he passed away?Hosted by Masud Milas, Chris Stokes, and Sooz Kempner Mystery on the Rocks is a high concept comedy and true crime/unexplained phenomena podcast set in a fictional mystery-solving bar with real cocktails!. The focus of the show is to attempt to crack a real, unsolved mystery from history – true crime and bizarre occurrences, all with a whodunnit or WTF happened question hanging over them.You can follow us on X and Instagram too!Produced by Chris Stokes, Masud Milas and Sooz Kempner.

We know we spent last week's catch-up episode wanking on about the US election so you may wonder why we don't mention the outcome here. Recorded before the projections trickled in, this is our first case in well over a year.And with a twist! While recording the episode The Murder of Kyllikkii Saari Chris noticed it was the second most notorious homicide case in Finland. So what was the first? Rather than research ahead of time, Chris decides to find out about this one alongside Sooz and Masud...Hilkka Saarinen vanishes in 1960 and only through dogged determination from her son does the truth of what happened to her come to light. Except as the facts unravel, it seems pretty damn obvious what happened and who did it to her. Which begs the question...Just why was this case unsolved?Hosted by Masud Milas, Chris Stokes, and Sooz Kempner Mystery on the Rocks is a high concept comedy and true crime/unexplained phenomena podcast set in a fictional mystery-solving bar with real cocktails!. The focus of the show is to attempt to crack a real, unsolved mystery from history – true crime and bizarre occurrences, all with a whodunnit or WTF happened question hanging over them.You can follow us on X and Instagram too!Produced by Chris Stokes, Masud Milas and Sooz Kempner.

Unable to record an episode this week due to sudden diarrhea, we dig into the archives and dust off one of our earliest episodes.Bookended by some new chat from Chris and Sooz, we take a relisten to when fantastic comedian Nish Kumar joined us for the crazy tale of Clairvius Narcisse, who somehow LEGIT RETURNED FROM THE DEAD._________We're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!

It's 1992 and former (and unpopular) Polish Prime Minister lives in an almost paranoid level of security - his house is fortified by an 11 foot barbed-wire-topped wall and patrolled by a vicious Rottweiler, a dog which Jaroszewicz would walk while armed with a handgun.Nevertheless, he and his second wife Alicja are found tortured and murdered in their home, the motivation for the crime unclear. The perpetrators equally unclear.Until almost 30 years later...Also in this episode Sooz makes the decision to pivot into directing porn. Hear her plans!______We're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!

The final (fingers crossed) in our trilogy (still keep em crossed) of duo episodes as Chris and Sooz tackle a mass poisoning of a French village in 1951, which led to 250 cases and 7 deaths, including a man who thought he was a plane and jumped from a second storey window.And want to hear about the government's policies on the distribution of flour in post-war France? Sooz didn't, so decided to counter each bread fact with a fact about dressage.Will that be enough to convert Chris to the sport?________We're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!

Needs must means the second in a trilogy of only 2 of us at the recording. This week, it's Chris and Masud who go over one of Finland's most notorious murder cases, the 17 year old Kyllikkii Saari in 1953...On her way back from a prayer meeting, Kyllikkii vanishes. Six months later, her remains are found in a bog. Three suspects quickly fall into the frame but which one did it? And what really happened?KGB spies, another well-known murder case and quite possibly the best name this podcast has ever heard all seem to be connected..._____We're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!

Here is a fairly substantial shake-up to the formula as Sooz and Masud make up their own mystery based on what Chris told them it was called as he was away on holiday and unable to join the recording as planned.How close do they get? And in an episode which involves time travel, premature burial and gluten intolerant interdimensional beings, which come from the actual mystery and which come from the minds of Sooz and Masud???_____We're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!