Authors’ names loom large when we think about detective stories. Yet many of them are pseudonyms, created just to appear on book covers. But why go to all this trouble? And what makes a good pen name, anyway?

Find more information about my guest Helen Fields / H.S. Chandler at her website helenfields.co.uk and get links to the books discussed at shedunnitshow.com/pseudonyms.

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/membership.

Read about why I’ve started the book club here.

Subscribe to The Allusionist podcast by Helen Zaltzman to catch Caroline on her pseudonyms episode next week. Find it at theallusionist.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Books mentioned in order of appearance: —The Man in the Queue  by Gordon Daviot / Josephine Tey —A Room of One’s Own  by Virginia Woolf —Josephine Tey: A Life  by Jennifer Morag Henderson —Kif: An Unvarnished History by Elizabeth Mackintosh —Richard of Bordeaux, a play in two acts by Gordon Daviot —A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey —Degrees of Guilt  by H.S. Chandler

Sponsor: —The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah, published by HarperCollins. Enter the competition to win a copy by sending an email to [email protected].

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

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

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