Messages are accumulating in the dead-letter queue with reason 'MaxDeliveryCountExceeded'. What is the correct investigative step?

1. A Increase MaxDeliveryCount and move on
2. ✓ B Inspect the dead-lettered payloads and handler exceptions to find the deterministic failure (correct answer)
3. C Delete the dead-letter queue
4. D Enable duplicate detection

Shortcut: Repeated exhaustion of delivery attempts indicates a poison message or a systematic handler bug. Raising the count only delays the failure; the payload and exception must be examined.