In the early days of the podcast boom, before every celebrity had a show and before video podcasts took over, there was Mystery Show. Launched in 2015 by Starlee Kine, a former producer for This American Life, the podcast had a simple but brilliant premise: Kine would investigate small, unsolved mysteries that couldn’t be solved with a Google search.

The show was quirky, thoughtful, and deeply human. One episode followed a woman trying to figure out how her extremely obscure book became a bestseller overnight. Another centered on a belt buckle with a strange engraving. One of the most famous episodes featured Kine tracking down Britney Spears to confirm whether she had, in fact, read a certain novel—a mission that led to an unexpectedly touching moment with the pop star.

It was smart, weird, and nothing like the true crime or celebrity-driven podcasts that dominate today. Mystery Show quickly became a critical and commercial hit, winning an award for best new podcast and racking up millions of downloads. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.

Why did Mystery Show disappear?

After just six episodes, Mystery Show was abruptly canceled by Gimlet Media, the company that produced it. The reason? They said it wasn’t "financially viable."

This shocked listeners. The show was one of the biggest podcast debuts of the year, and Starlee Kine had become a breakout star. But behind the scenes, Kine said Gimlet cut her out of key decisions and refused to explain why they were shutting the show down. She later revealed that when she tried to regain control of her own creation, Gimlet locked her out of her work email and Slack.

In the years that followed, Mystery Show became podcasting’s great lost show—a story of how a hit series could disappear overnight, not because of lack of success, but because of business decisions completely outside the creator’s control.

What this means for creators

The disappearance of Mystery Show was one of the first signs that podcasting was changing. What began as a free and open platform for creators was turning into an industry where companies made decisions based on advertising, revenue models, and corporate strategy.

Today, podcasters have more options than ever. Independent production, premium subscriptions, and video formats give creators more control, but the lesson remains the same. Ownership matters. If you don’t control your show, someone else can decide its fate, no matter how successful it becomes.

Starlee Kine never got her podcast back. Mystery Show remains a cult favorite, a reminder that sometimes the best podcasts are not the ones that last the longest, but the ones that leave you wishing for just one more episode.