Shedunnit

A body is found in a sealed chamber, definitely murdered, but there is no way the culprit can have got in or out. How was it done?

Special thanks to my guest Jim Noy. He writes about detective fiction at theinvisibleevent.com, makes a podcast called In GAD We Trust, and once compiled a useful list of his 15 favourite impossible crime novels.

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 Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe (actually published in 1841, not 1843 as I wrongly say in the episode)

—A Master of Mysteries by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace

—The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace

—"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

—The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill

—The Great Thinking Machine: "The Problem of Cell 13" and Other Stories by Jacques Futrelle

—The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace

—"The Invisible Man" by G.K. Chesterton

—"The Round Room Horror" by A. Demain Grange, available in Ye Olde Book of Locked Room Conundrums edited by Jim Noy

—Hag's Nook by John Dickson Carr

—The Plague Court Murders by Carter Dickson

—The Problem of the Green Capsule by John Dickson Carr

—The Problem of the Wire Cage by John Dickson Carr

—Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

—Tour de Force by Christianna Brand

—Death of Jezebel by Christianna Brand

—The French Powder Mystery by Ellery Queen

—The Crooked Wreath / Suddenly at His Residence by Christianna Brand

—Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

—Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie

—The House That Kills by Noel Vindry

—La Treizieme balle by Marcel Lanteaume

—Six crimes sans assassin by Pierre Boileau

—The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux

—The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

—Invisible Green by John Sladek

—Black Aura by John Sladek

—The Case of the Little Green Men by Mack Reynolds

—Puzzles Of The Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov

—Asimov’s Mysteries by Isaac Asimov

—The Real Town Murders by Adam Roberts

—Goodnight Irene by James Scott Byrnside

—The Opening Night Murders by James Scott Byrnside

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/lockedroomtranscript.

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

Download the mp3 of this episode here.

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Renée read her first detective novel in the 1930s. She hasn’t stopped since.

Special thanks to my guest Renée. Her first crime novel is The Wild Card.

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:

—These Two Hands by Renée

—Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Wednesday to come by Renée

—Setting the table by Renée

—An interview with Renée from 2017 on RNZ

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/lifelongfantranscript.

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

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It started with dinner and ended with a group of crime writers swearing an oath on a skull.

Special thanks to my guest Martin Edwards. His latest novel is Mortmain Hall and he’s on Twitter as @medwardsbooks.

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 Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

—The Complete Father Brown Mysteries by G.K. Chesterton

—Conan Doyle and the Crimes Club by Stephen Wade

—The Scoop and Behind the Screen by Members of the Detection Club

—The Floating Admiral by Members of the Detection Club

—Ask a Policeman by Members of the Detection Club

—Martin Edwards's website

—Mortmain Hall by Martin Edwards

—Gallows Court by Martin Edwards

—The Sinking Admiral by Members of the Detection Club

—The Anatomy of Murder by Members of the Detection Club

—Howdunit by Members of the Detection Club

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/detectionclubtranscript.

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

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If a woman needs a room of her own and £500 a year to write fiction, what does she need in order to write crime fiction?

Special thanks to my guest Francesca Wade. Her book is Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars. She’s on Twitter @francescawade.

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:

—Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade

—A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

—Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf

—Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton

—Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul by Barbara Reynolds

—Gaudy Night  by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? by Katrine Marcal

—Are Women Human?: Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society by Dorothy L. Sayers

—In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens by Alice Walker

—Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phyllis Wheatley

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/aroomtranscript.

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

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This summer, you can still travel to the murderous destinations visited by your favourite detectives.

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

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:

—Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh

—At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie

—“Triangle at Rhodes” in Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie

—“The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan” in Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

—Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

—Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

—Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh

—Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie

—Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie

—Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

—Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh

—Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism Between the Wars by Alison Light

—The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey

—Calamity in Kent by John Rowland

—The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude

—The Mystery of the Blue Train  by Agatha Christie

—A Caribbean Mystery  by Agatha Christie

—Death in Clairvoyance  by Josephine Bell

—Tour de Force  by Christianna Brand

—When in Rome by Ngaio Marsh

—Crossed Skis by Carol Carnac

—Dead Men Don’t Ski by Patricia Moyes

—“The Erymanthian Boar” from The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie

—Peril at End House  by Agatha Christie

—Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers

—“The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face” fromLord Peter Views The Body by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Evil Under the Sun  by Agatha Christie

—“The Blood Stained Pavement” and “The Companion” fromThe Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

—Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries  edited by Martin Edwards

—Murder in Midsummer: Classic Mysteries for the Holidays  edited by Cecily Gayford

—Murder Takes a Holiday: Classic Crime Stories for Summer  edited by Cecily Gayford

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/murderonholidaytranscript.

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

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She wrote over 70 detective novels and won the praise of that most stern of critics, Dorothy L. Sayers. Yet golden age author E.C.R. Lorac is now a mystery to most modern crime fiction fans. What happened?

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

Special thanks to my guest Sarah Ward. She is the author of several crime novels under her own name, and her Gothic thriller The Quickening comes out in August under the name Rhiannon Ward. You can pre-order that here or find out more on her website crimepieces.com. She’s on Twitter @SarahRWard1.

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 Organ Speaks by E.C.R. Lorac

—The Murder on the Burrows by E.C.R. Lorac

—Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac

—Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R. Lorac

—Picture of Death by E.C.R. Lorac

—Crossed Skis by Carol Carnac

—Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac

—Fell Murder by E.C.R. Lorac

—Fire in the Thatch by E.C.R. Lorac

—Shroud of Darkness by E.C.R. Lorac

—Masters of the Humdrum Mystery  by Curtis Evans

—Curtis Evans' blog The Passing Tramp

—Martin Edwards' blog Do You Write Under Your Own Name?

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/ecrloractranscript.

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

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Sometimes, Agatha Christie didn’t want to be Agatha Christie.

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

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 Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

—The Big Four by Agatha Christie

—The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie

—The Mysterious Mr Quin by Agatha Christie

—Giant’s Bread by Mary Westmacott

—“The Lady Vanishes” — episode 4 of Shedunnit about Christie’s disappearance

—Rosalind Hicks’ article about Mary Westmacott

—Unfinished Portrait by Mary Westmacott

—The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

—And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

—The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

—An Autobiography by Agatha Christie

—The Rose and the Yew Tree  by Mary Westmacott

—Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

—Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott

—Agatha Christie: The Woman and her Mysteries by Gillian Gill

—“A Hidden Body in the Library: Mary Westmacott: Agatha Christie, and Emotional Violence” by Sarah E. Whitney from Clues: A Journal of Detection, Vol 29 Number 1, Spring 2011

—Agatha Christie: A Biography by Janet Morgan

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/marywestmacotttranscript.

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

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There was one thing that Dorothy L. Sayers never told anyone.

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

Resources, donation links and diverse crime fiction suggestions are at shedunnitshow.com/blacklivesmatter.

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:

—Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers

—The Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton

—The Devil is an English Gentleman by John Cournos

—Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul by Barbara Reynolds

—Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers

—The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers, 1899-1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist edited by Barbara Reynolds

—Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers: Selections from Her Novels, Plays, Letters, and Essays edited by Carole Vanderhoof

—Dorothy L. Sayers: A Careless Rage For Life by David Coomes

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/dorothyssecrettranscript.

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

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It's not who, or how, but why.

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

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:

—Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

—Heir Presumptive by Henry Wade

—The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers

—The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald Knox

—The Crooked Hinge by John Dickson Carr

—Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey

—The Belting Inheritance by Julian Symons

—Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie

—The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

—After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

—The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne

—Too Many Cousins by Douglas G Browne

—Dead March for Penelope Blow by George Bellairs

—4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

—Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham

—The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin

—"The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleaguer’s Will” and "The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach” by Dorothy L. Sayers, both collected in Lord Peter Views the Body

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/cuibonotranscript.

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

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The perfect collection is never complete.

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

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:

—Dance of the Years by Margery Allingham

—Mrs McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

—Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie

—Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

—Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

—Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie

—Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

—Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

—The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

—The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

—The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

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/thecollectorstranscript.

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

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