Click here to listen to more Tranquillusionists.

The beautiful music in this episode was specially composed by Martin Austwick. Martin has made several albums, which you can hear at palebirdmusic.com and if you search for Pale Bird on Spotify.

The Allusionist proper will be back from break in May. If you’re looking for podcasts to take your mind off things, I have two more: Veronica Mars Investigations and Answer Me This, both unrelated to any current events, if you want a temporary escape. And of course all the Radiotopia shows are excellent forms of distraction.

This week I have been distracting myself by a) making crumpets out of the daily discards of my husband’s sourdough starter, which has yet to produce any loaves of bread but has begotten many delicious crumpets (I used this King Arthur recipe); b) knitting a cardigan so thick, it will be too hot to wear for another seven months; c) watching all the David Suchet Poirot TV episodes from the beginning, because as we learned in this Allusionist episode, Agatha Christie stories can be a balm; d) growing spring onions from the stumps of old spring onions.

I am relieved to tell you that today I finished the owl jigsaw puzzle that has been vexing me since the previous Tranquillusionist.

Let me know how you’re doing; I’m @allusionistshow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

- HZ

The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.