This week on Two Crones and a Book, the bingo wheel whisked the crones back in time — to stories born long before either of them arrived on this earth. And oh, did they dig up some strange treasures.

Chell plunged into The Beetle by Richard Marsh, a gloriously bizarre slice of Victorian horror packed with melodrama, shapeshifting menace, and enough gothic chaos to make even Dracula look like he needs to up his game. She unravels the wild plot twists, the theatrical dread, and the deliciously unhinged energy that only 1890s fiction can deliver.

Annette, meanwhile, explored The Birds by Frank Baker — the eerie, atmospheric novel that pre‑dated Hitchcock and brought a quieter, more creeping sense of dread to the idea of nature turning against us. She dives into its slow‑burn tension, its uncanny mood, and the unsettling feeling that something feathered is always watching.

Together, the crones compare two very different flavours of vintage terror — one campy and chaotic, one quiet and creeping — and celebrate the strange magic of reading stories from decades past. It’s another bingo adventure full of cackles, analysis, and peak crone energy.

SPOILERS, MATURE THEMES AND LANGUAGE SOME LISTENERS MAY FIND OFFENSIVE.

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