Spontaneous Shamus: Recent Episodes
Robert Escobar
Spontaneous Shamus is a unique noir storytelling experiment. Original tales of detective fiction are improvised by the host and each story features a new private eye. So grab a stiff drink, slip a sap into your pocket in case things get rough, and enjoy.
I wanted to give a little more information about myself and the podcast as well as touch on future plans.
We go further back in time for more cruel cutting with an item only invented for sharpening quills.
A once common and mostly harmless instrument that has fallen far out of favor in the modern world, the pen knife was used offensively many times. As we'll learn in the episode, the term weepin' (as in weeping) knife may have been a part of this item's history, hence our episode's title.
Canes, walking sticks, etc. have some surprises we need to get to, uncovered in Part I.
The cane was once a very common item for gentleman and one that is actually well-suited for self-defense, and offense. As such there is no shortage of crimes committed with them over the years.
This time we tackle an item that was created for the innocent purpose of containing liquid but ends up getting used regularly as an improvised weapon. Bottles are actually a multi-faceted tool in impromptu battles with more than a few surprises for those not in the know.
In this episode we cover a small and all but forgotten weapon that was once all but mandatory equipment with both the law and the lawless, the blackjack.
In this episode we look at an exotic item that conjures up dark jungles and hidden dangers, the blow-gun.
In our third episode we deal with a once common domestic item that became a go-to weapon for decades. That item is the ice pick. It was particularly associated with old-school mobsters and their infamous 'hits' but also saw plenty of use by others.
In our second episode we get medieval, with an instrument that is both a rare, but effective, modern crime tool but also a historical puzzle. How puzzling is that puzzle? Well enough that our instrument has never had a proper name but most would think of it as a medieval flail.
In this episode we kick off this new podcast with a bang. Or maybe it's a smash, given that we survey crimes committed with sledgehammers.
Our improvised adventure in Chinatown continues.
This episode is sponsored by ยท Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app