Episode 295 is another “Review the Reviews” adventure—where AJ and Tara dive into reader reactions to Leverage in Death and discover (again) that some people leave one-star reviews like it’s an extreme sport.

We kick off with a real-world reminder that criminals can be spectacularly dumb (yes, someone basically left a calling card), then jump straight into the Pretentious Reviewer Olympics: the folks who start on Book 48, complain about the existence of coffee and profanity, and seem personally offended that a long-running series… is still itself. We also tackle the discourse around that tasteless joke (you know the one), plus the eternal debate: is the Eve/Roarke fight contrived drama or believable couple nonsense?

Along the way, we celebrate the things that actually make this book fun—character moments, Bella + Eve scenes, Whitney’s best “go home, I’ll handle it” energy, and the Oscar chatter that sends certain reviewers into orbit. Tara also confesses her weakness for terrible short-form drama clips, and yes… Tara says “hot whoopie” out loud, which is now part of the canon.

Listener mail includes an Elevator Encounters callback (the frying-pan-arrest woman is from Framed in Death) and a fantastic suggestion for a future episode: Eve’s legendary rants. Plus, AJ talks transcripts—making the show searchable on the website—because we’re building an In Death internet empire one document at a time.

We’re five episodes away from 300… and plotting accordingly.