(Old feed) Shedunnit Book Club — Seasoned Detectives

This is your audiobook for July 2022 (apologies for the delay, there have been some technical difficulties with the audiobook files that I've just got sorted out but I've had to rerecord and reedit the next couple, but we'll be up to date again very soon!)

“The First Customer and the Florentine Dante” by Fergus Hume was first published in 1898. It is an early example of a biblio mystery and stars a sharp young woman sleuth named Hagar Stanley, who runs her Uncle Jacob’s pawn shop in the London slums. This story is the second in a collection titled Hagar of the Pawn Shop, with each of the twelve chapters seeing Hagar solve a different mystery relating to an object that comes to the shop. 

In 1922, Agatha Christie took a trip around the world.

Mentioned in this episode: — Agatha Christie: The Grand Tour introduced by Mathew Prichard — The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie — The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie — An Autobiography by Agatha Christie — Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks edited by John Curran — The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie — The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie — The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie — The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie — Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley

NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge.

This is a recording of a talk I gave at an academic conference recently. It’s partly based on a past Shedunnit episode — Competent Women — but I expanded on it for this event and there was also an interesting Q&A that I thought you might like to hear. Unfortunately the recording didn’t capture the attendees’ questions, so I’ve popped in to paraphrase so my answers still make sense.

This is the Shedunnit Book Club companion episode for July 2022, in which we are reading 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie. There is a non-spoilery plot summary included (ie no major clues or twists), but you've been warned! I’ll see you in the Shedunnit forum for our fully spoilered discussion thread on 31st July.

Relevant links: — Share your book cover for 4.50 from Paddington — Suggest something to watch for a future watching party

Sign up via email to be alerted when the watching party is about to start — it's happening on 28th August at 5pm BST. Existing sign ups carry over.

Here's what we're reading for the next few months:

August: The 12.30 from Croydon by Freeman Wills Crofts September: A Pin To See The Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse October: Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh

If there are any books you’d like the club to read in the future please do post about it in the forum or email me on [email protected].

NB: links to books at Blackwell’s are affiliate links, meaning that although the price remains the exactly same for you, the podcast receives a small commission on each purchase. Blackwell’s is an independent, family run bookseller in the UK that ships internationally at no extra charge.

Clerks, shop assistants, secretaries, salespeople — we have lots to learn from the lower middle class characters of classic detective fiction.

Thanks to my guest, Dr Nicola Bishop. Her book, Lower-Middle-Class Nation: The White-Collar Worker in British Popular Culture is published by Bloomsbury Academic.

Mentioned in this episode: — The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith — The Suburbans by Thomas William Hodgson Crosland — "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot — The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie — After the Funeral by Agatha Christie — The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie — The Big Four by Agatha Christie

NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge.

A judge looks back over her time on the bench at a very famous court.

Thanks to my guest, Wendy Joseph. Her book about her time as an Old Bailey judge, Unlawful Killings, is out now.

Mentioned in this episode: — The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie — Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer — The Crippen episode of Shedunnit — The Brides in the Bath episode of Shedunnit

NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK independent bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge.

What if thinking and talking about real life murders was not actually good for us?

Thanks to my guest, Emma Berquist. Find all the details about her books and articles at emmaberquist.com.

Mentioned in this episode: — The Brides in the Bath episode of Shedunnit — The Murder at Road Hill House episode of Shedunnit — The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie — “True Crime Is Rotting Our Brains” by Emma Berquist at Gawker — “There’s Really No Easy Way to Say ‘I Was Stabbed’” by Emma Berquist at Human Parts — Missing Presumed Dead by Emma Berquist — The case of “the Servant Girl Annihilator” — The rescue of Baby Jessica — The Edith Thompson episode of Shedunnit — The Gabby Petito case — Paul Foot on the James Hanratty case — Heavenly Creatures (1994) directed by Peter Jackson — In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK independent bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge.

In which I once again answer questions submitted by book club members in a "quickfire" fashion — I hope I got to them all!

If you'd like to submit a question for a future bonus episode, you can do that in the forum here.

This is the Shedunnit Book Club companion episode for June 2022, in which we are reading Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. There is a non-spoilery plot summary included (ie no major clues or twists), but you've been warned! I’ll see you in the Shedunnit forum for our fully spoilered discussion thread on 30th June.

Relevant links: — Vote for our book for September (ends 21st June) — Hear Caroline “solving” an Anthony Horowitz mystery on the Tuesday Night Mystery Club podcast

Sign up via email to be alerted when the watching party is about to start — it's happening on 26th at 5pm BST. Suggestions for what we watch very welcome in this forum thread.

In July we are reading 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie and in August we’re doing The 12.30 from Croydon by Freeman Wills Crofts.

If there are any books you’d like the club to read in the future please do post about it in the forum or email me on [email protected].

NB: links to books at Blackwell’s are affiliate links, meaning that although the price remains the exactly same for you, the podcast receives a small commission on each purchase. Blackwell’s is an independent, family run bookseller in the UK that ships internationally at no extra charge.

Expanding the horizons of golden age detective fiction.

Many thanks to my guest, Christopher Huang. You can find out more about his work at ricordius.com. His first mystery novel is A Gentleman's Murder. Read his article "How Do You Decolonise The Golden Age Mystery? Read More Historical Fiction!" at crimereads.com.

Books mentioned: — The Cadfael series by Ellis Peters — X Esquire by Leslie Charteris — The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie — Meet the Tiger by Leslie Charteris — Miss Moorthy Investigates by Ovidia Yu — Ronald Knox's "Decalogue" — "The Rules" episode of Shedunnit — The Charlie Chan series by Earl Derr Biggers — The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie — A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee — The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey — The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookseller that ships internationally at no extra charge.