The Golden Age of Murder

Home > Other > The Golden Age of Murder > Page 48
The Golden Age of Murder Page 48

by Martin Edwards


  Police at the Funeral (Allingham) 243

  Pontifex, Son and Thorndyke (Freeman) 184

  Portrait of a Murderer (Meredith) 238–9

  Possession (Byatt) 433

  President’s Mystery, The (Van Dine et al) 258n

  Private Patient, The (James) 432

  ‘Problem of Uncle Meleager’s Will, The’ (Sayers) 23–4

  Professor on Paws, The (Berkeley) 42

  Provincial Lady Goes Further, The (Delafield) 137–8

  Public School Murder, The (Woodthorpe) 273, 279n

  ‘Purloined Letter, The’ (Poe) 97, 425

  Pursued, The (Forester) 146n

  Put Out that Light (Woodthorpe) 406–7

  Question of Proof, A (Blake) 275–6

  Reader is Warned, The (Dickson) 395–6

  Real Inspector Hound, The (play) (Stoppard) 259n

  Red House Mystery, The (Milne) 112–13, 114

  Red Thumb Mark, The (Freeman) 181–2

  Regiment of Women (Dane) 213

  Released for Death (Wade) 396–7

  Rex v. Rhodes: the Brighton Murder Trial (Hamilton) 358

  Rising of the Moon, The (Mitchell) 240

  Riverside Villas Murder, The (Amis) 173n

  Road to Wigan Pier, The (Orwell) 396

  Rope (Hamilton) 364n

  Rose and the Yew Tree, The (Christie) 275

  Sabotage (film) 215, 216n

  Scandal at School (G. D. H. and M. Cole) 218

  Scandal of Father Brown, The (Chesterton) 305

  Scoop, The (Detection Club radio detective story) 168–72, 173n, 177, 246, 301, 403

  Second Shot, The (Berkeley) 131–2

  Secret Adversary, The (Christie) 60–1, 71, 419

  Secret of Chimneys, The (Christie) 63, 66

  Seven Dials Mystery, The (Christie) 66

  Sexton Blake series 19, 31n, 92

  Shadow on the Wall (Bailey) 388–9

  Shall We Join the Ladies (play) (Barrie) 332

  She Had to Have Gas (Penny) 191n

  Shilling for Candles, A (Tey) 257n

  Shock to the System, A (Brett) 432

  Shooting Party, The (Chekov) 63, 64

  Shot at Dawn (Rhode) 200, 201

  Sic Transit Gloria (Kennedy) 331

  ‘Sign of the Broken Sword, The’ (Chesterton) 351n

  Silence of a Purple Shirt (Woodthorpe) 330–1

  Silent Passenger, The (film) 307

  Silk Stocking Murders, The (Berkeley) 48–9, 201, 351n

  Singing Bone, The (Freeman) 286

  Sinking Admiral, The (Detection Club novel) 434, 436n

  Sins of Father Knox (Skvorecky) 119

  Sir John Magill’s Last Journey (Crofts) 220

  Sittaford Mystery, The (Christie) 155, 156, 187–8

  Six against the Yard (Detection Club) 285–6, 290n

  Six Dead Men (Steeman) 232n

  Sleuth (play) (Shaffer) 31n, 259n

  Snow upon the Desert (Christie) 59

  Social Decay and Regeneration (Freeman) 179–80, 181

  Somebody at the Door (Postgate) 79n

  Someone from the Past (Bennett) 313n

  So What Did You Expect? (Shaffer) 412n

  Speedy Death (Mitchell) 153, 240–1

  Spellbound (film) 258n

  Still Dead (Knox) 180

  Stoat, The (Brock) 146n

  Strong Poison (Sayers) 21, 124–5, 127, 156, 215, 216n, 261, 405, 425

  ‘Sunningdale Murder, The’ (Wallace) 55

  Suspicion (film) 144

  Suspicions of Mr Whicher, The (Summerscale) 299–300, 446

  Sweepstake Murders, The (Connington) 188

  Sweet Danger (Allingham) 243

  Tales of the Mean Streets (Morrison) 99

  ‘Tea Leaf, ‘The’ (Eustace/Jepson) 123, 127

  Telephone Call, The (Rhode) 293

  Ten Star Clues (Punshon) 404

  Thank Heaven Fasting (Delafield) 426

  ‘They Don’t Wear Labels’ (Delafield) 427

  39 Steps (film) 48

  Thou Shell of Death (Blake) 375–6

  Three Taps, The (Knox) 118

  Three-Act Tragedy (Christie) 224

  Thrones, Dominations (Walsh) 340–1, 342n, 404, 423

  To Be Hanged (Hamilton) 364n

  Todmanhawe Grange (Fletcher) 383n

  To Wake the Dead (Carr) 96

  Top Story Murder (Berkeley) 138

  Torquemada Puzzle Book, The (Powys Mathers) 379

  Towards Zero (Christie) 132

  ‘Travelling Rug, The’ (Sayers) 228

  Trent’s Last Case (Bentley) 20, 104, 105–6, 111, 196, 262, 303, 307, 378

  Trent’s Own Case (Bentley/Allen) 303–4

  Trial and Error (Berkeley) 197, 361–2, 424

  Truth Comes Limping (Connington) 374

  ‘Tuesday Night Club, The’ (Christie) 155

  12.30 from Croydon, The (Crofts) 262–3

  Twenty-Five Sanitary Inspectors (East) 146n

  23 Paces to Baker Street (film) 257n

  Two Tickets Puzzle, The (Connington) 187

  ‘Unbreakable Alibi, ‘The’ (Christie) 88

  Under Capricorn (film) 213

  Unexpected Guest, The (play) (Christie) 59, 159n

  Unfinished Portrait (Westmacott) 420

  Unnatural Death (Sayers) 23, 26, 56, 224

  Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, The (Sayers) 27, 193, 309

  ‘Unsound Mind’ (Berkeley) 132–3

  Untimely Death (Hare) 432

  Vacation from Marriage (Perfect Strangers) (film) 212

  Vane Mystery, The (Berkeley) 48, 127

  Vantage Striker (Simpson) 331

  Vegetable Duck (Rhode) 293

  Verdict of Twelve (Postgate) 74, 77, 79n, 139

  Verdict of You All, The (Wade) 194, 196

  Vicar’s Experiments, The (Rolls) 365n

  Warrant for X (MacDonald) 257n

  Way Things Are, The (Delafield) 426

  Well of Loneliness, The (Hall) 213

  Wheel Spins, The (White) 31n

  Where Every Prospect Please (Halkett) 235–6

  ‘Who Killed Baker?’ (Bush/Crispin) 204

  Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? (Bayard) 382, 384n

  Who Was Old Willy? (Kennedy) 406

  Whose Body? (Sayers) 19–20, 21, 240

  ‘Why I Like Detective Stories’ (Stein) 116

  Why I’m Not a Millionaire (Spain) 412n

  Winnie-the-Pooh (Milne) 113

  Wintringham Mystery, The (Berkeley) 43, 47, 63

  ‘Wrong Problem, The’ (Carr) 370

  Wychford Poisoning Case, The (Berkeley) 43–4

  X v Rex (Porlock) 137

  Young and Innocent (film) 257n

  Young Vanish, The (Everton) 190n

  Zeal of Thy House, The (play) (Sayers) 383–4

  ‘Z’ Murders, The (Farjeon) 351n

  Acknowledgments

  The Golden Age of Murder is a very different book from any other study of this fascinating yet neglected subject. I could not have written it, however, without a great deal of help, or without building on foundations laid by others, above all Julian Symons, a former President of the Detection Club and author of Bloody Murder, a study which broke fresh ground. I am deeply grateful to the countless people who have given me assistance, directly and indirectly, during long years of reading and research, and while it is impossible to mention everyone by name, I’d like to express my thanks to all of them.

  I am especially appreciative of my family, who have spent years surrounded by mountains of old books and magazines, and patiently (well, fairly patiently!) accompanied me to second hand bookshops up and down the country in search of elusive titles. This book would not exist in its present form if my agent, James Wills, and my publisher, David Brawn, had not believed in it, and I owe a great deal to them, to my copy-editor, John Garth, as well as to Simon Brett and my colleagues in the Detection Club. Among the latter, those distinguished writers Peter Lovesey, Ruth Dudley Edwa
rds, Jessica Mann and Ann Cleeves read early drafts, and offered generous insight and guidance. So did Tony Medawar, one of Britain’s Golden Age experts, as well as John Curran, who decoded Agatha Christie’s secret notebooks, and two American authorities on traditional detection, Douglas Greene and Tom Schantz. Their input was invaluable, and saved me from many errors, yet there is still much more to be discovered about Golden Age detective fiction and the people who wrote it. This book is not the last word, but I hope it may form a landmark, and encourage further research and discovery. I bear in mind the wisdom of Julian Symons, who made clear that he was always receptive to ‘reasoned contradiction’ and lived up to that promise, responding generously and with a willingness to revisit his opinions when, as a young man, I wrote to him about the first two Francis Iles books.

  In the course of my investigations, I met, spoke to or corresponded with members of the families of several early members of the Detection Club. Understandably, memories of events dating back more than half a century were often hazy, but their reminiscences gave me a fuller understanding of the past. Once or twice, I felt there was a danger of intruding on private unhappiness; the legitimate public interest in such things has its limits, and I have striven to reflect that in writing this book. I will not, therefore, mention individual family members by name, but I am indebted to various members of the families of Anthony Berkeley, Anthony Gilbert, Helen Simpson, Christopher Bush, Josephine Bell and Margot Bennett, and deceased members of the Detection Club Robert Barnard, Harry Keating and Margaret Yorke, for their assistance and consideration.

  Many lovers of Golden Age detective fiction in a number of different countries have given me useful information, as well as taking part in lively but good-natured debate about the respective merits of some writers, and the right way to assess Golden Age stories. Some supplied illustrations, some loaned me rare first editions. Space permits only a selective list of specific thank-yous, but the British contingent include Geoff Bradley and many contributors to CADS, including Liz Gilbey and Philip L. Scowcroft; the late Christopher Dean; Seona Ford and their colleagues in the Dorothy L. Sayers Society; the Sayers estate; Barry Pike and Julia Jones of the Margery Allingham Society: the late Bob Adey, Celia Down, David M. Chapman, Nigel Moss, Mark Sutcliffe, Jamie Sturgeon, Ralph Spurrier, James M. Pickard, Lyndsey Greenslade, Chris Garrod, Christine Simpson, Ann Granger, P. D. James, Sheila Mitchell, Catherine Aird, Charles Gordon Clark, Mike Ashley, Christine Poulson, Jennifer Palmer, Alan Hamilton, Emma Wilson, the late Chris Peers, and the late R. F. Stewart. I benefited from help from American friends and correspondents, notably Laura Schmidt and her colleagues at Wheaton, home of the Dorothy L. Sayers archive, Steve Steinbock, Arthur Robinson, B.J. Rahn, Arthur Vidro, Curtis Evans, Howard Lakin, George Easter, and Marvin Lachman. Italy’s Mauro Boncompagni, Germany’s Almuth Heuner, France’s Xavier Lechard, and Australia’s Malcolm J. Turnbull were a mine of information. So were contacts I made via social media, and in particular members of the GA Detection forum and Facebook group. To all of them, my sincere thanks.

  Martin Edwards

  About the Author

  MARTIN EDWARDS is an award-winning crime writer and an internationally renowned commentator on detective fiction. His Lake District Mysteries include The Coffin Trail, which was shortlisted for the Theakston’s prize for best British crime novel. He has also published eight non-fiction books, eight novels about Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin, two stand-alone novels, over 50 short stories, and has edited 22 anthologies. His awards include the CWA Short Story Dagger and the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham Prize. Alongside his writing, he is Archivist of the Detection Club and the Crime Writers’ Association, series consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics books, and consultant to a national law firm. The Golden Age of Murder is the result of years of research and a lifetime of reading.

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

  Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

  http://www.harpercollins.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

  2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor

  Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada

  http://www.harpercollins.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1

  Auckland, New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  1 London Bridge Street

  London, SE1 9GF

  http://www.harpercollins.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  195 Broadway

  New York, NY 10007

  http://www.harpercollins.com

 

 

 


‹ Prev