Democracy in Your Ears
October 25, 2020 -Just in time for Halloween, The Fina Mendoza Mysteries podcast premieres on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The multi-part dramatic series is based on the award-winning novel Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza (Chesapeake Press, October 2020) by veteran public radio journalist Kitty Felde.
Come with us to Capitol Hill where the 10-year old daughter of a congressman walks congressional dogs and solves mysteries. Legend says anyone who sees the Demon Cat of Capitol Hill will be cursed with bad luck. 10-year-old Fina Mendoza just saw it. And the last thing her family needs right now is more bad luck. Can Fina save her family from future “cat”astrophe?
The Fina Mendoza Mysteries stars Amy Solano as the 10-year-old detective. Veteran actress Christine Avila plays Abuelita and improv comedian Steve DeVorkin plays the loveable pooch Senator Something. The cast also features a number of broadcast legends: Brian Bland and Rosalie Fox from the Associated Press, Mat Kaplan from Planetary Radio, and public radio’s Susan Valot.
The podcast was taped “in the wild” rather than inside a sterile studio. Sound effects are live, not canned. “We wanted the audience to feel as though they are prowling around the Crypt of the U.S. Capitol with Fina,” says Kitty, “to experience the story firsthand.” It’s no surprise that it sounds more like a sound-rich public radio rather than an old-fashioned radio drama.
Fina was inspired by a young woman Kitty mentored for many years. But are the politicos based on real people? “No comment,” Kitty says. “I was always more interested in the human side of politics, something that didn’t always fit into a news story. Telling the story of Fina allowed me to describe the real Capitol Hill.”
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Radio Public, and all the usual places.