The detective's sidekick is a fundamental building block of the classic whodunnit. But they don't often get full credit for the vital role they play in solving mysteries. Until now, that is.

Find links to all the books and sources mentioned at shedunnitshow.com/sidekicks.

Buy tickets to the first-ever Shedunnit live shows at shedunnitshow.com/events — I'll be in Dublin on 15 November 2019 and Birmingham on 1 February 2020.

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: —A Caribbean Mystery  by Agatha Christie —The Complete Sherlock Holmes  by Arthur Conan Doyle —The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe —The Detective As Reader: Narrativity And Reading Concepts In Detective Fiction by Peter Hühn —Closure in Detective Fiction by Eyal Segal —The Red House Mystery  by A.A. Milne —The Murder of Roger Ackroyd  by Agatha Christie —The Mysterious Affair at Styles  by Agatha Christie —Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham —Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers —The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie —Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers —Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers —Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie —Mrs McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie —Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie —Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie —Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers —Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers

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/sidekickstranscript.

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