Let’s take a trip to Japan.

Listen using the player on the page at shedunnitbookclub.com/thehonkakumysteriesadfree, your private podcast feed (instructions here) or download the mp3 directly here.

Club member Heather asked this:

“Perhaps like some other members, I’ve read endless Christie’s (which I adore), but would love to get suggestions of maybe a Top 5 hit list of other classic detective books which I ‘ought’ to have read in order to get a good overview of the period.”

And this is my answer!

I’m taking a little break this week while I work on some upcoming episodes, so in the meantime please enjoy this classic Shedunnit from November 2018, all about the coded gay characters and references in books from the golden age of detective fiction like Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced and Josephine Tey’s Miss Pym Disposes. Find more information about my guests and the books mentioned at shedunnitshow.com/queerclues.

This is the Shedunnit Book Club companion episode for February 2021, in which we are reading It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr. There is a non-spoilery plot summary included (ie no major clues or twists), you’ve been warned! I’ll see you in the Shedunnit forum for our fully spoilered discussion thread on 28 February.

Further listening/reading for this month: — The Locked Room episode of the main podcast — Jim Noy’s writing about John Dickson Carr

In March we are reading Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh (getting it in this omnibus edition is very good value and you get two other Marshes as a bonus!). Make your suggestions now for what we read in April by emailing me on [email protected].

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What was the first murder mystery?

No major spoilers in this episode.

Listen using the player on the page at shedunnitbookclub.com/thefirstwhodunnitadfree, your private podcast feed (instructions here) or download the mp3 directly here.

I talk about the ethics of different online book retailers, some advice for researching hard-to-find titles, and some golden rules for not letting your book buying habit get out of control.

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Before there was CSI, there was Bernard Spilsbury.

No major spoilers in this episode.

Listen using the player on the page at shedunnitbookclub.com/thepeoplespathologistadfree, your private podcast feed (instructions here) or download the mp3 directly here.

This is the Shedunnit Book Club companion episode for January 2021, in which we are reading The Port of London Murders by Josephine Bell. There is a non-spoilery plot summary included (ie no major clues or twists), you’ve been warned! I’ll see you in the Shedunnit forum for our fully spoilered discussion thread on 31 January.

Further listening/reading for this month: — On the Thames episode of the main podcast — My book about the Thames, The Way to the Sea

There is advice on how to buy this book from the US in this episode, but if you are still having difficulty getting hold of it, please contact me on [email protected].

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Nothing could bad could possibly happen here, the inhabitants of the peaceful English village say to each other. Until the first poison pen letter arrives.

No major spoilers in this episode.

Listen using the player on the page at shedunnitbookclub.com/poisonpenadfree, your private podcast feed (instructions here) or download the mp3 directly here.

I made a reading of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle for you, because it’s one of my favourite Christmas mysteries. I hope you like it!