How To Solve a Mystery

Brett has spent her career in foreign policy — shaping strategy, advising governments, moving pieces on a board whose outcomes she may never live to fully see. It's meaningful work. It just never feels finished . So she's started thinking about a different kind of problem: the kind with a beginning, a middle, and an answer. Oh, also, and these mysteries keep presenting themselves in her workplace, and Brett loves mysteries! On this episode of How To!, Mike brings on Christian, a private investigator to talk through the realities of being a PI. He walks Brett through the subtle art of "elicitation," the unglamorous realities of tailing cars and tracing skips, and why cracking a case in the real world is less about lurking in shadows and more about being the kind of person people want to talk to. Executive Producer Corey Wara Edited by Geoff Craig Booking by Ben Astaire Do you have a burning question or a problem you need help with? Email us at howto@mikepesca.com and we will consider your topic for the show. For full Pesca content and updates, check out our website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To receive ad-free content, become a Pesca Plus subscriber at ⁠⁠⁠⁠ For Mike's daily takes on Substack,

You can listen to How To Solve a Mystery online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How To Solve a Mystery is an episode from How To! by Peach Fish Projects.

This episode is 39:45 long.

This episode was published on Apr 14, 2026.

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