The 'Golden Age of British Detective Fiction" Thread

[Bick]

I really enjoy old British-based detective fiction – the classical whodunnits of the mystery writers of Britain from about 1920 through to about 1950. This period is generally referred to as the Golden Age of British detective fiction, and it was a hugely popular genre of course. The genre brought many female writers to the fore and they dominated the period in sales, though there were many males writers who wrote such mysteries with success too.

The successful female writers in the genre were referred to as Crime Queens, and by common consensus (and with the benefit of hindsight), there are four writers that have now long been considered the four queens of crime fiction: Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.

As well as producing much-loved books that have stood the test of time, these four writers exemplify the genre nicely by having recurring detectives in long series. We get to know the detectives, their methods, foibles and mannerisms.

I thought I would kick off a thread dedicated to British Golden Age detective fiction, by listing what I hope is a reasonably comprehensive starting list of notable authors in the genre. I’ve noted their main detectives (pretty much all had a recurring detective or two), as well as some of the most well regarded books. I’ve read a fair few, but not the majority of these. I’m looking forward to reading more. A surprisingly large number are still in print, despite the fact that many are no longer household names.

The list is unapologetically British – sorry, no hard-boiled US crime here – this is strictly a mystery genre. The settings of these tend more to the country town in England, with murder most horrid being committed by the scullery girl (really an exiled half-sister), in the drawing room with “pills” in the brandy.

I’ve noted a few works by the four most notable Queens of Crime first, then followed with other authors (in no particular order). Who have I missed? What books from these authors do you particularly like? Which authors would you say are ‘better’ than others? Let’s talk mysteries here.

(Incidentally, some here will have noticed I’m a fan of PG Wodehouse. I think it’s no coincidence that his characters are forever reading popular mystery novels of this kind. Freddie and Bertie are no stranger to a good whodunit, and I think that may be part of what initiated this thread!)


Margery Allingham
Notable detective: Albert Campion
The Crime at Black Dudley (1929), Mystery Mile (1930), Police at the Funeral (1931), Sweet Danger (1933), Death of a Ghost (1934), The Case of the Late Pig (1937)

Agatha Christie
Notable detectives: Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), Murder on the Orient Express (1934), The ABC Murders (1935), Death In The Clouds (1935), And Then There Were None (1939), One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940), Five Little Pigs (1943), Crooked House (1949), A Murder is Announced (1950)

Ngaio Marsh
Notable detective: Supt. Roderick Alleyn
A Man Lay Dead (1934), Enter a Murderer (1935), Overture to Death (1939)

Dorothy L. Sayers
Notable detective: Lord Peter Wimsey
Whose Body? (1923), Strong Poison (1930), Have His Carcase (1932), Murder Must Advertise (1933), The Nine Tailors (1934), Gaudy Night (1935)

G.K. Chesterton
Notable detective: Father Brown
Short story collections, e.g.: The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926)

Cyril Hare
Notable detectives: Insp. Mallett, Francis Pettigrew
Tenant for Death (1937), Suicide Excepted (1939), Tragedy at Law (1942), When the Wind Blows (1949), An English Murder (1951)

Edmund Crispin
Notable detective: Gervase Fen
The Moving Toyshop (1946), Swan Song (1947), Buried for Pleasure (1948)

Cecil Street (writing as Miles Burton or John Rhode)
Notable detectives: Desmond Merrion (Burton); Dr Priestley (Rhode)
As Miles Burton: The Secret of High Eldersham (1930), The Shadow on the Cliff (1944)
As John Rhode: The Elusive Bullet (1931), The Claverton Affair (1933), The Corpse in the Car (1935)

Josephine Tey
Notable detective: Miss Pym, Insp. Alan Grant
Miss Pym Disposes (1946), The Franchise Affair (1948), The Daughter of Time (1951)

Georgette Heyer
Notable detective: Insp. Hannasyde
Why Shoot a Butler? (1933), Death in the Stocks (1935), Behold, Here’s Poison (1936), A Blunt Instrument (1938)

Freeman Wills Crofts
Notable detective: Insp. French
Inspector French's Greatest Case (1925), The Sea Mystery (1928), Crime at Guildford (1935)

Joanna Cannan
Notable detective: Det. Insp. Guy Northeast
No Walls of Jasper (1930), Frightened Angels (1936), They Rang Up the Police (1939), Death at The Dog (1941), Murder Included (1950)

J.J. Connington
Notable detective: Sir Clinton Driffeld
Tragedy at Ravensthorpe (1927), Murder in the Maze (1927), The Case with Nine Solutions (1928), The Sweepstakes Murders (1932), The Castleford Conundrum (1932)

Anthony Berkeley
Notable detective: Roger Sheringham
The Wychford Poisoning Case (1926), The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929), Not to be Taken (1938)

Leo Bruce
Notable Detective: Sgt. Beef
Case for Three Detectives (1936), Case Without a Corpse (1937), Case with Four Clowns (1939), Case for Sergeant Beef (1947)

Philip MacDonald
Notable detective: Col. Anthony Gethryn
The Rasp (1925), The Maze (1932), Murder Gone Mad (1931), The Nursemaid Who Disappeared (1938)

H.C. Bailey
Notable detective: Dr. Reggie Fortune
Short stories of Mr Fortune; Black Land, White Land (1937), The Bishop's Crime (1940), Slippery Ann (1944)

Patricia Wentworth
Notable detective: Miss Silver
Grey Mask (1928), The Case is Closed (1937)

Michael Innes
Notable detective: Sir John Appleby
Death at the President’s Lodging (1936), The Daffodil Affair (1942), Appleby’s End (1945)

Herbert Adams
Notable detective: Roger Bennion
John Brand's Will (1933), The Chief Witness (1939), Crime Wave at Little Cornford (1948)

John Dickson Carr
(American, but resident in Britain many years and a key figure in the genre)
Notable detective: Dr Gideon Fell
The Hollow Man/The Three Coffins (1935), The Crooked Hinge (1938), The Problem of the Green Capsule (1939), He who Whispers (1946)

 

[dask]

Funny you should bring this up just now. I just finished this:

and loved it. Different but in a good way. Mark Sullivan must have read some Father Brown stories to get his mannerisms just right. He's easy to visualize as you read through these gems of puzzle solving.

Then there's this I finished a few months ago:

Maybe a little pre-Golden Age but close enough.

 

[Bick]

The Father Brown looks good. Chesterton is an interesting case - he straddles the Edwardian era and the mid-twenties when the genre really started. I suppose he helped form the genre as opposed to typifying it. I do mean to read some more at some point. Victorian fiction is whole other genre of course, though that book does look terrific in its own right.

Anyone else read anything from the 20's to 40's period?

 

[Vladd67]

I have read the Bulldog Drummond stories and the original Saint books, I have started reading the Fu Manchu books and Sexton Blake but I just can't get into the Blake stories, even for the standards of the day it seems too racist.

 

[The Judge]

I've read a lot of the Queens of Crime, and I still have a good number of books by Sayers and Allingham -- the latter all in the green Penguin livery. I thought I'd still got some Marsh, but I've just gone and checked and apparently not, so I might have to invest in some of those to while away the winter evenings (by coincidence I caught The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries on TV last night so I was already thinking of re-reading them!). No Christie, as I've always passed those on as soon as I've read them, as for me they were always one-trick ponies and not up to reading again while I still recalled the plot.

My favourite LPW stories are Murder Must Advertise and The Nine Tailors -- I'm not sure if it's coincidence that they're ones without Harriet Vane! You've left off Busman's Honeymoon (1937) from your list I see. I actually prefer that one to Gaudy Night, though the latter is fascinating in its depiction of the all-women's college when there was still prejudice against them. I don't know if you want to extend the conversation to adaptations, but just to say I've a cassette of the BBC Radio 4 production of The Nine Tailors with Ian Carmichael which is excellent, even though he was far too old for the part in reality, as can be seen in the TV series, and there I much prefer the versions with Edward Petherbridge.

The Allingham's I can't bring to mind so easily, perhaps because they've not been re-read as often and/or not been reinforced by TV and radio productions -- there was the Peter Davison series back in the late 80s but nothing since, I don't think. Of the ones you mention I've got Police at the Funeral, and I should have The Case of the Late Pig, but it seems to be missing. A couple of others worth mentioning, Dancers in Mourning (1937) and a strange one that isn't a whodunnit as such, but rather an adventure with mysteries to solve (though I've heard that comment about Allingham elsewhere), and which always perturbs me, The Tiger in the Smoke, though that is just outside your cut-off date of 1950 if we're being strict, as it was published in 1952.

Of the other authors you mention, I read a number of the Father Brown stories years ago, but the other year I bought a cheap-ish collection of the short stories in a small 4-book set, but I had to give them away before finishing the first, as I couldn't stand the relentless Catholicising and humbuggery any longer. I've read at least one Cyril Hare -- Tragedy at Law, I think -- and I think I've read a Josephine Tey years ago, but I can't recall anything of it. The other names on the list I've not even heard of, aside from Georgette Heyer, of course, though I had no idea she wrote crime novels.

As prose stylists I'd put Allingham and Sayers above Christie, but she's more ruthless than they are, I think -- she is prepared to make anyone her murderer, whereas the other two have more of a tendency to make the murderer someone unpleasant and to shield the nice people. (No evidence for that, just an impression, so I'm quite prepared to have counter-examples produced!) Interesting as well that Allingham, Marsh and Sayers all look to the upper classes for their recurring detectives, while Christie uses an elderly woman and a foreigner.

 

[Vladd67]

The Nine Taylors was on iPlayer not so long ago.

 

[Bick]

I have read the Bulldog Drummond stories and the original Saint books, I have started reading the Fu Manchu books and Sexton Blake but I just can't get into the Blake stories, even for the standards of the day it seems too racist.

I'm not very familiar with those books, but none are actually in the genre of golden age detective fiction.

 

[Boneman]

Bulldog Drummond!!! I read those voraciously in the 50s and they do belong in the golden age, as most of them were written in the 1920s.

Now I look at it, I think Jack Reacher is a modern-day equivalent. Returning from WWI, Drummond placed an advert in the times that read: "Demobilised officer, ... finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible; but crime, if of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential." Frightened to re-visit them now, in case I find they no longer conjure up those golden years as well as they did when I was nobbut a bairn...

 

[Bick]

Thanks for that feedback Judge. The Cyril Hare you think you've read is on my short list as it happens. I also agree about Christie relative to the other Queens. She was perhaps less literary, but she was also the most inventive and surprising, and also terrific at pacing. She also broke the rules for a good plot too (as in Roger Ackroyd). The main criticism of Christie is usually that she has rather one dimensional characters, but I think this tends to be overstated and in other ways (e.g. turns of phrase) she was very skilled I think.

 

[Bick]

Bulldog Drummond!!! I read those voraciously in the 50s and they do belong in the golden age, as most of them were written in the 1920s.

Now I look at it, I think Jack Reacher is a modern-day equivalent. Returning from WWI, Drummond placed an advert in the times that read: "Demobilised officer, ... finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible; but crime, if of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential." Frightened to re-visit them now, in case I find they no longer conjure up those golden years as well as they did when I was nobbut a bairn...

Drummond is adventure, not mystery, so not part of the genre I created the thread to discuss. Plenty of books fom the 1920's were great, but that doesn't make them detective fiction.

 

[Boneman]

aah... okay. But thanks for a great thread - good to be reminded of the golden era, and does make me want to revisit Dorothy Sayers!

 

[Randy M.]

Cecil Day-Lewis (writing as Nicholas Blake)
Notable detective: Nigel Strangeways
A Question of Proof (1935); Thou Shell of Death (1936); The Beast Must Die (1938)

I've read the first, don't recall it especially well except that it entertained me. C. Day-Lewis was a Poet Laureate and his son has become a rather distinguished actor.


Randy M.

 

[Bick]

Brilliant, thanks Randy. I think I've heard the name, but don't know the books. Definitly one to add to the list.

 

[J Riff]

S.S. Van Dine's 20 rules should be required reading for anyone trying to write classic detective.

 

[bardin]

Of the three Nicholas Blakes by far the most famous is The Beast Must Die which was also made into an excellent film (as 'This man must die' ) by Claude Chabrol in the 1960s.

One name not on your list and in my opinion one of the top two (with Christie) is Henry Wade. He had a pretty amazing life story - war hero, top class cricketer, Queen's Equerry, Baronet, Magistrate, Huntsman etc etc but also wrote excellent whodunits with mor eof a social conscience than most of his contemporaries - well worth seeking out

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: Vladd67.
Yes, the Saint novels & stories by Leslie Charteris are excellent.
All through they are not of the cosy English school of crime don't forget two great American writers.
Raymond Chandler, his Phillip Marlowe books can get a bit complicated but I love his prose.
And Dashiell Hammet of "The Maltese Falcon" fame.
I really like his Continental Op stories!
I would also recommend the Mr J.G.Reeder stories & novels of Edgar Wallace.

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: Bick.
Thanks for the list, there's a few there I shall have to look into.

 

[Extollager]

I really enjoy old British-based detective fiction – the classical whodunnits of the mystery writers of Britain from about 1920 through to about 1950. This period is generally referred to as the Golden Age of British detective fiction, and it was a hugely popular genre of course. The genre brought many female writers to the fore and they dominated the period in sales, though there were many males writers who wrote such mysteries with success too.

The successful female writers in the genre were referred to as Crime Queens, and by common consensus (and with the benefit of hindsight), there are four writers that have now long been considered the four queens of crime fiction: Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.

As well as producing much-loved books that have stood the test of time, these four writers exemplify the genre nicely by having recurring detectives in long series. We get to know the detectives, their methods, foibles and mannerisms.

I thought I would kick off a thread dedicated to British Golden Age detective fiction, by listing what I hope is a reasonably comprehensive starting list of notable authors in the genre. I’ve noted their main detectives (pretty much all had a recurring detective or two), as well as some of the most well regarded books. I’ve read a fair few, but not the majority of these. I’m looking forward to reading more. A surprisingly large number are still in print, despite the fact that many are no longer household names.

The list is unapologetically British – sorry, no hard-boiled US crime here – this is strictly a mystery genre. The settings of these tend more to the country town in England, with murder most horrid being committed by the scullery girl (really an exiled half-sister), in the drawing room with “pills” in the brandy.

I’ve noted a few works by the four most notable Queens of Crime first, then followed with other authors (in no particular order). Who have I missed? What books from these authors do you particularly like? Which authors would you say are ‘better’ than others? Let’s talk mysteries here.

(Incidentally, some here will have noticed I’m a fan of PG Wodehouse. I think it’s no coincidence that his characters are forever reading popular mystery novels of this kind. Freddie and Bertie are no stranger to a good whodunit, and I think that may be part of what initiated this thread!)


Margery Allingham
Notable detective: Albert Campion
The Crime at Black Dudley (1929), Mystery Mile (1930), Police at the Funeral (1931), Sweet Danger (1933), Death of a Ghost (1934), The Case of the Late Pig (1937)

Agatha Christie
Notable detectives: Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), Murder on the Orient Express (1934), The ABC Murders (1935), Death In The Clouds (1935), And Then There Were None (1939), One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940), Five Little Pigs (1943), Crooked House (1949), A Murder is Announced (1950)

Ngaio Marsh
Notable detective: Supt. Roderick Alleyn
A Man Lay Dead (1934), Enter a Murderer (1935), Overture to Death (1939)

Dorothy L. Sayers
Notable detective: Lord Peter Wimsey
Whose Body? (1923), Strong Poison (1930), Have His Carcase (1932), Murder Must Advertise (1933), The Nine Tailors (1934), Gaudy Night (1935)

G.K. Chesterton
Notable detective: Father Brown
Short story collections, e.g.: The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926)

Cyril Hare
Notable detectives: Insp. Mallett, Francis Pettigrew
Tenant for Death (1937), Suicide Excepted (1939), Tragedy at Law (1942), When the Wind Blows (1949), An English Murder (1951)

Edmund Crispin
Notable detective: Gervase Fen
The Moving Toyshop (1946), Swan Song (1947), Buried for Pleasure (1948)

Cecil Street (writing as Miles Burton or John Rhode)
Notable detectives: Desmond Merrion (Burton); Dr Priestley (Rhode)
As Miles Burton: The Secret of High Eldersham (1930), The Shadow on the Cliff (1944)
As John Rhode: The Elusive Bullet (1931), The Claverton Affair (1933), The Corpse in the Car (1935)

Josephine Tey
Notable detective: Miss Pym, Insp. Alan Grant
Miss Pym Disposes (1946), The Franchise Affair (1948), The Daughter of Time (1951)

Georgette Heyer
Notable detective: Insp. Hannasyde
Why Shoot a Butler? (1933), Death in the Stocks (1935), Behold, Here’s Poison (1936), A Blunt Instrument (1938)

Freeman Wills Crofts
Notable detective: Insp. French
Inspector French's Greatest Case (1925), The Sea Mystery (1928), Crime at Guildford (1935)

Joanna Cannan
Notable detective: Det. Insp. Guy Northeast
No Walls of Jasper (1930), Frightened Angels (1936), They Rang Up the Police (1939), Death at The Dog (1941), Murder Included (1950)

J.J. Connington
Notable detective: Sir Clinton Driffeld
Tragedy at Ravensthorpe (1927), Murder in the Maze (1927), The Case with Nine Solutions (1928), The Sweepstakes Murders (1932), The Castleford Conundrum (1932)

Anthony Berkeley
Notable detective: Roger Sheringham
The Wychford Poisoning Case (1926), The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929), Not to be Taken (1938)

Leo Bruce
Notable Detective: Sgt. Beef
Case for Three Detectives (1936), Case Without a Corpse (1937), Case with Four Clowns (1939), Case for Sergeant Beef (1947)

Philip MacDonald
Notable detective: Col. Anthony Gethryn
The Rasp (1925), The Maze (1932), Murder Gone Mad (1931), The Nursemaid Who Disappeared (1938)

H.C. Bailey
Notable detective: Dr. Reggie Fortune
Short stories of Mr Fortune; Black Land, White Land (1937), The Bishop's Crime (1940), Slippery Ann (1944)

Patricia Wentworth
Notable detective: Miss Silver
Grey Mask (1928), The Case is Closed (1937)

Michael Innes
Notable detective: Sir John Appleby
Death at the President’s Lodging (1936), The Daffodil Affair (1942), Appleby’s End (1945)

Herbert Adams
Notable detective: Roger Bennion
John Brand's Will (1933), The Chief Witness (1939), Crime Wave at Little Cornford (1948)

John Dickson Carr
(American, but resident in Britain many years and a key figure in the genre)
Notable detective: Dr Gideon Fell
The Hollow Man/The Three Coffins (1935), The Crooked Hinge (1938), The Problem of the Green Capsule (1939), He who Whispers (1946)

Fantastic bibliography!

 

[psikeyhackr]

I am not a murder mystery fan but this might interest some:

Agatha Christie

If you look at the statistics, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have been sold in billions of copies, and some of the movie-versions have won academy awards. That Christie was a genius, I think is undisputed. The numbers speak for themselves. But I think the...

www.worldliteratureforum.com

 

[Extollager]

Has anyone read this? Love the dustwrapper! I haven't read any of historian Hilda Prescott's books, but recently was quite intrigued by what I heard and saw about Jerusalem Journey and Once to Sinai, books about a medieval traveler in the East. The Man on a Donkey seems to have been her best-known book.