(Old feed) Shedunnit Book Club — Seasoned Detectives

Here’s my full interview with Susannah Stapleton, who I spoke to last year for episode 20 of the podcast, The Lady Detective. Susannah has a fascinating job — she’s a freelance historical researcher who basically seeks to answer questions that can’t easily be solved with a quick internet search, and that’s how she came to get interested in Maud West, a real life lady detective. Having come across a brief mention of her, it was really hard for Susannah to find out any reliable information online, which triggered her curiosity and lead to months of research and, ultimately, a really interesting book on the subject. I hope you enjoy hearing about her research process and about the life of her subject.

Just a note, we tried to be careful in the interview not to spoil the ending of her book, which although it is non fiction has twists worthy of any detective novel. SO if you haven’t had a chance to read of listen to it yet, you can still listen to this and not spoil the experience. I would recommend the audiobook, by the way, Susannah recorded it herself and it’s really good.

This is the Shedunnit Book Club companion episode for March 2020, in which we are reading Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers. There is a brief non-spoilery plot summary included, but you can definitely listen to this even if you haven’t finished the book yet and it won’t ruin the ending. I’ll see you in the Shedunnit forum shortly for our full discussion thread on 31 March.

What would Peter Wimsey be without Harriet Vane?

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

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

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: —"Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories" by SS Van Dine —Ronald Knox’s Decalogue —Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr —The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle —The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie —N or M? by Agatha Christie —By The Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie —Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie —The Big Four by Agatha Christie —"The Capture of Cerberus" from The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie —Artists in Crime by Ngaio Marsh —Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh —Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh —Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh —Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham —Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham —The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham —Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers —"Romance and the Literary Detective: The Legacy of Dorothy Sayers" by Cushing Street —Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers —Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers —The Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton —Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers —The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Ruth Galloway #1) —Thrones, Dominations by Jill Paton Walsh —The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh

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/happilyeveraftertranscript.

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

What could be a better place for a murder than a boat, out at sea?

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

Get a copy of my book, The Way to the Sea, from Blackwell's here or request it at your local bookshop or library.

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

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: —Several of the short stories I mentioned are collected in Deep Waters: Mysteries on the Waves from the British Library —And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie —Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh —Nine – And Death Makes Ten by Carter Dickson —The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie —"Four Friends and Death" by Christopher St John Sprigg —"Man Overboard" by Edmund Crispin —"The Blood Stained Pavement" by Agatha Christie —Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie —The Plague Court Murders by Carter Dickson —"Bullion!" by William Hope Hodgson —"The Thimble River Mystery" by Josephine Bell —The Floating Admiral by the Detection Club —Fatal Venture by Freeman Wills Crofts

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/allatseatranscript.

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

This is the Shedunnit Book Club companion episode for February 2020, in which we are reading Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles. There is a brief non-spoilery plot summary included, but you can definitely listen to this even if you haven’t finished the book yet and it won’t ruin the ending. I’ll see you in the Shedunnit forum shortly for our full discussion thread on 29 Feb. (I apologise for being very late with this!)

Here’s my full interview with Sarah Phelps, who I interviewed for the recent episode of the podcast about The Pale Horse. Sarah is probably someone who needs no introduction to Shedunnit listeners: she’s a screenwriter and has adapted five Agatha Christie novels for BBC television, the most recent being two part version of The Pale Horse starring Rufus Sewell that just aired in the UK and is shortly going to be streaming on Amazon elsewhere in the world. We talked about her approach to Christie’s novel, and some of the links between all of her adaptations.

How Agatha Christie's spooky story inspired real life murderers and detectives.

A friendly warning: there are major spoilers for The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie in this episode.

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

Special thanks today to my guests Kathryn Harkup and Sarah Phelps. Kathryn's book is A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie and she's on Twitter @RotwangsRobot. Sarah's adaptation of The Pale Horse is available in the UK on BBC iPlayer and in the US on Amazon Prime from 13 March. She's on Twitter @PhelpsieSarah. Also, I'm indebted to Nick Hilton of Podot Pods for his recording assistance.

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

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 Pale Horse by Agatha Christie —Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh —"How Agatha Christie mystery The Pale Horse may have inspired a murderer" by Kathryn Harkup for the Guardian —A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup

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/thepalehorsetranscript.

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

On Philip Larkin, a reptilian sleuth with a mellifluous voice, and a small amount of witchcraft.

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

Special thanks today to my guest Lee Randall. You can follow her on Twitter @randallwrites and read her writing about Gladys Mitchell here.

Thanks also to today's sponsor, Blinkist. Get a free 7 day trial and 25% off a Blinkist Premium membership at blinkist.com/shedunnit.

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: —"Rediscovering Gladys Mitchell" by Lee Randall on Bookslut —"Open that window, Miss Menzies" by Patricia Craig in the London Review of Books —Philip Larkin on Gladys Mitchell in the Observer —On the Philip Larkin Collection in the British Library —Interview with Gladys Mitchell by B.A. Pike in the Armchair Detective, October 1976 —Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell —Brought to Book: Philip Larkin and His Bibliographer by B.C. Bloomfield —Here Lies Gloria Mundy by Gladys Mitchell —Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers —The Devil at Saxon Wall by Gladys Mitchell —When Last I Died by Gladys Mitchell —Printer's Error by Gladys Mitchell —Brazen Tongue by Gladys Mitchell —Sleuth's Alchemy by Gladys Mitchell —Nest of Vipers by Gladys Mitchell —Here Comes a Chopper by Gladys Mitchell —Hangman's Curfew by Gladys Mitchell —Spotted Hemlock by Gladys Mitchell —Watson's Choice by Gladys Mitchell —The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop by Gladys Mitchell

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/thegreatgladystranscript.

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

Here’s my full interview with Olivia Rutigliano, part of which originally appeared in the Victorian Pioneers episode of the podcast. Olivia is a PhD student in New York who works on nineteenth century British literature, and she’s incredibly knowledgeble about lady detectives, as you’ll here. We were slightly plagued by connection issues during this conversation, so I apologise in advance for the occasional inaudible moment, I’ve done my best to edit around it and I think it’s interesting enough to persevere with.

Detective fiction has always been regarded as a lesser kind of literature. So how do you teach it in a university?

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

Special thanks today to my guest Dr Victoria Stewart. You can follow her on Twitter @verbivorial and order her book Crime Writing in Interwar Britain: Fact and Fiction in the Golden Age here.

Buy tickets to the Shedunnit live show in Birmingham on 1 February at shedunnitshow.com/events.

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: —"Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?" by Edmund Wilson —"The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allen Poe —The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins —The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle —Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W.Hornung —Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles —The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie —The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie —The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers —Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers —"The Case of Agatha Christie" by John Lanchester in the London Review of Books

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/teachingsleuthingstranscript.

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