The original golden age of detective fiction in the 1920s followed on from a devastating global pandemic. Is it any wonder, then, that we’ve read so much crime fiction in 2020? And why do we find murder mysteries a comforting choice for Christmas?

This festive season if you’d like to support the podcast and buy a gift for a murder mystery loving friend at the same time, you can purchase a discounted gift subscription for the Shedunnit Book Club at shedunnitshow.com/giftoffer or until 17th December shop the restocked merchandise collection at shedunnitshow.com/shop.

No major spoilers in this episode. However, there is some mention or discussion of the books listed below.

Books and sources:
—The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (UK version / US version)
—”The Golden Age” by Stephen Knight in The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction
—The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Trent’s Last Case by E.C. Bentley (UK version / US version)
—Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Forever England by Alison Light (UK version / US version)
—”The Decline and Fall of the Detection Story” by W Somerset Maugham in The Vagrant Mood

Thanks to today’s sponsor, Best Fiends. You can download Best Fiends free on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

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Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/achristieforchristmastranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

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I’ve read a lot of Agatha Christie, but I’ve never read all of her books in order. What insights are there to be had by doing so? Christie completists Catherine Brobeck and Kemper Donovan of the All About Agatha podcast join me to talk about the Queen of Crime’s clever way with characters, the “stuck in its time” elements of some of her plots, and how they rank her novels from best to worst.

This festive season if you’d like to support the podcast and buy a gift for a murder mystery loving friend at the same time, you can purchase a discounted gift subscription for the Shedunnit Book Club at shedunnitshow.com/giftoffer or (if you’re fast!) shop the restocked merchandise collection at shedunnitshow.com/shop.

No major spoilers in this episode. However, there is some mention or discussion of the books listed below.

Books and sources:
—Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Halloween Party by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—An Autobiography by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Peril at End House by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—The Hollow by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Endless Night by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—They Came To Baghdad by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)
—The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (UK version / US version)

Please note that some of the links here are affiliate links — if you buy from an independent bookshop via bookshop.org or secondhand through AbeBooks the sale price remains the same but the podcast receives a small commission.

Thanks to today’s sponsor, Dear Holmes, a mail-based Victorian mystery game in which you can pit your wits against Sherlock Holmes. Get $5 off your first order by visiting dearholmes.com and use code Shedunnit at checkout.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/christiecompletiststranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here.

Is it still worth reading a whodunnit if you know… who done it?

Thanks to my guests Jim Noy of The Invisible Event and Kate Jackson of Cross Examining Crime. Jim is on Twitter @invisible_event and Kate is @ArmchairSleuth.

Thank you to everyone who supported the Shedunnit Pledge Drive, we did it! You can still join the Shedunnit Book Club if you’d like of course — and I’ll keep the discounted gift offer valid through until the end of the year — but the threshold is already met and there will be more regular episodes coming in 2021.

NB: Despite the title, there are no major spoilers in this episode. However, there is some structural discussion of the books listed below.

Books and sources:
—Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts
—The Julius Caesar Murder Case by Wallace Irwin
—Post Mortem by Guy Cullingford
—Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

Please note that some of the links here are affiliate links — if you buy from an independent bookshop via bookshop.org the sale price remains the same but the podcast receives a small commission.

Thanks to today’s sponsor, Dear Holmes, a mail-based Victorian mystery game in which you can pit your wits against Sherlock Holmes. Get $5 off your first order by visiting dearholmes.com and use code Shedunnit at checkout.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/spoilerwarningtranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here

To get to the bottom of why the Nile is a murder mystery location that has bewitched readers for decades, I decided to talk to an author who has just published an Egypt based whodunnit: Robin Stevens. We talk about how she finalised the plot of Death Sets Sail  while on a Nile cruise, what it was about 1930s Egypt that held such a fascination for white British writers,  and why the boat in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile is a character in its own right.

NB: There is some discussion of the plot of both Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie and Death Sets Sail by Robin Stevens in this episode, but no major plot points are revealed.

You can follow Robin on Twitter and Instagram @redbreastedbird. Her latest novel is Death Sets Sail and there are eight others in the Murder Most Unladylike series, plus a book of short stories coming in 2021. To keep up to date with her forthcoming work, see her website robin-stevens.co.uk.

The Shedunnit Pledge Drive is still underway, and we’re now over ninety per cent of the way to hitting the target already. If I can add a total of 100 new members to the Shedunnit Book Club by the end of 2020, I can start releasing episodes (like this one!) more regularly and expanding what the podcast covers. If you’d like to be part of that and feel able to offer some support, please visit shedunnitbookclub/pledgedrive.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. You can contact me with ideas for future episodes on caroline @ shedunnitshow.com

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/niletranscript.

Music by Audioblocks. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

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The day the First World War ended, 11 November 1918, marked the beginning of a new era in which detective fiction would flourish. How did Britain go from “peace at last” to “whodunnit”?

Thanks to my guest (and husband) Guy Cuthbertson. His book about Armistice Day is Peace At Last and he’s on Twitter as @guywjc.

The Shedunnit Pledge Drive is still underway, and we’re over two thirds of the way to hitting the target already. If I can add 100 new members to the Shedunnit Book Club by the end of 2020, I can start releasing episodes more regularly and expanding what the podcast covers. If you’d like to be part of that and feel able to offer some support, please visit shedunnitshow.com/pledgedrive.

Books and sources:
—Peace At Last by Guy Cuthbertson
—Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism Between the Wars by Alison Light
—An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
—The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie
—“The Affair at the Victory Ball” by Agatha Christie, collected in Poirot’s Early Cases
—The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers

Thanks to today’s sponsor, Dear Holmes, a mail-based Victorian mystery game in which you can pit your wits against Sherlock Holmes. Get $5 off your first order by visiting dearholmes.com and use code Shedunnit at checkout.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/peaceatlasttranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here

Snobbery and murder, all served up perfectly for you on a silver tray.

This episode marks the start of the Shedunnit Pledge Drive! If I can add 100 new members to the Shedunnit Book Club by the end of 2020, I can start releasing episodes more regularly and expanding what the podcast covers. If you’d like to be part of that and feel able to offer some support, please visit shedunnitshow.com/pledgedrive.

NB: There are spoilers in this episode! Please check the list of books mentioned below and come back later if there are any titles there for which you don’t want to hear any major plot details. Consider yourself warned!

Books and sources:
—The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rineheart
—The Door by Mary Roberts Rineheart
—20 Rules for Writing Detective Stories by S.S. Van Dine
—“The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual” by Arthur Conan Doyle
—“The Strange Case of Mr Challoner” by Herbert Jenkins
—Something Fishy or The Butler Did It by P.G. Wodehouse
—“Why do we think the butler did it?” by Nate Pederson in the Guardian
—“Should we be concerned by the limitless popularity of period dramas?” by Caroline Crampton in the New Humanist
—“Historians, Social Scientists, Servants, and Domestic Workers: Fifty Years of Research on Domestic and Care Work”, International Review of Social History, Volume 59, Issue 2, August 2014 , pp. 279-314
—Snobbery with Violence by Colin Watson
—Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh
—The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie
—Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
—Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie
—Black Coffee by Agatha Christie
—The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
—Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer
—Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
—A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

Thanks to today’s sponsor, The Listener, the daily podcast newsletter that I write, which will help you discover better podcasts. Get 20% off your first year when you sign up for an annual subscription. Visit thelistener.co/shedunnit and use code Shedunnit20 at checkout.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/thebutlerdidittranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here

He was one of the most influential crime novelists of the 1920s and 1930s, but has languished somewhat in obscurity since. A troubled, dark, incredibly innovative writer: to really get to know Anthony Berkeley, you need to dive deeply into his fiction.

Thanks to my guest Martin Edwards. His latest novel is Mortmain Hall and he’s on Twitter as @medwardsbooks.

Become a member of the Shedunnit Book Club and get bonus audio, listen to ad free episodes and join a book-loving community at shedunnitshow.com/bookclub.

Books and sources:
—Elusion Aforethought: The Life and Writing of Anthony Berkeley Cox by Malcolm Turnbull
—As For The Woman by Francis Iles
—The Layton Court Mystery by Anthony Berkeley
—The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie
—Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
—Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
—The Wychford Poisoning Case by Anthony Berkeley
—The Florence Maybrick episodes of this podcast
—The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards
—The Edith Thompson episode of this podcast
—Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery by Anthony Berkeley
—Messalina of the Suburbs  by E.M. Delafield
—The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield
—The Silk Stocking Murders by Anthony Berkeley
—The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
—Murder in the Basement by Anthony Berkeley
—The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
—The Detection Club episode of this podcast, featuring Martin Edwards
—Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles
—Before the Fact by Francis Iles

Thanks to today’s sponsor, Best Fiends. You can download Best Fiends free on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/anthonyberkeleytranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here

Why has the murder of Julia Wallace on the night of 20 January 1931 haunted detective novelists for decades? Well, it all comes back to the telephone call.

Become a member of the Shedunnit Book Club and get bonus audio, listen to ad free episodes and join a book-loving community at shedunnitshow.com/bookclub.

Books and sources:
—The Nurse Daniels episode of this podcast
—The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace
—The Edith Thompson episode of this podcast
—The Scoop by Members of the Detection Club
—The Anatomy of Murder by Members of the Detection Club
—“The Compassionate Machine” by Margery Allingham, collected in Truly Criminal: A Crime Writers’ Association Anthology of True Crime edited by Martin Edwards
—Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
—Skin for Skin by Winnifred Duke
—Vegetable Duck by John Rhode
—The Telephone Call by John Rhode
—“Absolutely Elsewhere” by Dorothy L. Sayers, collected in In the Teeth of the Evidence
—Personal Call by Agatha Christie
—P.D. James on the Wallace case in 2013
—The Skull Beneath The Skin by P.D. James
—The Murder Room by P.D. James
—The Trial of William Herbert Wallace by W.F. Wyndham Brown
—Wallace: The Final Verdict by Roger Wilkes
—The Killing of Julia Wallace by Jonathan Goodman

Thanks to my sponsor for this episode, BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/shedunnit for 10% off your first month of professional online counselling.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/thetelephonecalltranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here

A body is found in a sealed chamber, definitely murdered, but there is no way the culprit can have got in or out. How was it done?

Special thanks to my guest Jim Noy. He writes about detective fiction at theinvisibleevent.com, makes a podcast called In GAD We Trust, and once compiled a useful list of his 15 favourite impossible crime novels.

Become a member of the Shedunnit Book Club and get bonus audio, listen to ad free episodes and join a book-loving community at shedunnitshow.com/bookclub.

Books and sources:
—The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe (actually published in 1841, not 1843 as I wrongly say in the episode)
—A Master of Mysteries by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace
—The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace
—“The Adventure of the Speckled Band” in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
—The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill
—The Great Thinking Machine: “The Problem of Cell 13” and Other Stories by Jacques Futrelle
—The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace
—“The Invisible Man” by G.K. Chesterton
—“The Round Room Horror” by A. Demain Grange, available in Ye Olde Book of Locked Room Conundrums edited by Jim Noy
—Hag’s Nook by John Dickson Carr
—The Plague Court Murders by Carter Dickson
—The Problem of the Green Capsule by John Dickson Carr
—The Problem of the Wire Cage by John Dickson Carr
—Green for Danger by Christianna Brand
—Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
—Death of Jezebel by Christianna Brand
—The French Powder Mystery by Ellery Queen
—The Crooked Wreath / Suddenly at His Residence by Christianna Brand
—Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
—Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
—The House That Kills by Noel Vindry
—La Treizieme balle by Marcel Lanteaume
—Six crimes sans assassin by Pierre Boileau
—The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux
—The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
—Invisible Green by John Sladek
—Black Aura by John Sladek
—The Case of the Little Green Men by Mack Reynolds
—Puzzles Of The Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov
—Asimov’s Mysteries by Isaac Asimov
—The Real Town Murders by Adam Roberts
—Goodnight Irene by James Scott Byrnside
—The Opening Night Murders by James Scott Byrnside

Thanks to my sponsor for this episode, BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/shedunnit for 10% off your first month of professional online counselling.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/lockedroomtranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here.

Renée read her first detective novel in the 1930s. She hasn’t stopped since.

Special thanks to my guest Renée. Her first crime novel is The Wild Card.

Become a member of the Shedunnit Book Club and get bonus audio, listen to ad free episodes and join a book-loving community at shedunnitshow.com/bookclub.

Books and sources:
—These Two Hands by Renée
—Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
—Wednesday to come by Renée
—Setting the table by Renée
—An interview with Renée from 2017 on RNZ

Thanks to today’s sponsor, Sun Basket. Visit sunbasket.com/shedunnit and enter promo code shedunnit at checkout for $35 off your order.

To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter.

The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/lifelongfantranscript.

Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details.

Download the mp3 of this episode here.