Dear listeners,

Although you can hear me on the new episode of Shedunnit, I'm not the star of the show. This one is the creation of my husband, Guy Cuthbertson, who has spent the past several years working on his own book all about a fascinating work of twentieth century literature: Lady Chatterley's Lover. The initial publication of this book in Italy in the late 1920s coincides almost exactly with the first appearance of Miss Marple in print, and in his episode Guy explores all of the intriguing parallels between the work of D.H. Lawrence and Agatha Christie. Since he's in charge of the podcast today, it seems only fitting that I hand over this newsletter to him, too.

Guy says: I talk in this episode about Lady Chatterley’s Lover and the Miss Marple books, looking at similarities and differences. What I could also have discussed is the fact that, even though it is not a detective novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover does have some of the elements of detective fiction. Lawrence does talk of "clues" and "evidence"; there are secrets and lies; there are lawyers; there are confessions and cover-ups. Clifford’s nurse Ivy Bolton, rather a nosey gossip, is a kind of detective, as is Mellors’ estranged wife Bertha. They both discover the affair. Bertha looks for evidence, finding a bottle of perfume and some scribbled initials "C.S.R." at Mellors’ cottage, and then a book with Lady Chatterley’s maiden name written inside it: Constance Stewart Reid. If only Connie had not read books she would not have been caught. In fact, there is some criticism of books, and popular fiction in particular. We are told that "most novels, especially popular ones, are humiliating" and ‘the public responds now only to an appeal to its vices’. The novel is likened to gossip, and it is, like gossip, "all the more vicious because it is always ostensibly on the side of the angels". 

There is even quite a bit of talk of murder and killing. And, by way of innuendo, of hoping to "plunge in the dagger a few more times yet". What if Connie and Mellors had decided to kill Clifford? What if Clifford had decided to kill Mellors? Well, that would have to be another version of the story. But the novel is "crime fiction" too in that the book that was the crime, and the book was discussed in court at the Old Bailey in 1960; or Lady Chatterley herself was spoken of as a criminal, as if the trial was a trial of Lady Chatterley herself and as if she were in the dock. Papers spoke of Lady Chatterley, the person, being found innocent. A cartoon from the time also showed an elderly Mellors making an appearance in court in 1960, admitting that he was once Lady Chatterley’s lover.

I mention Cecil Day Lewis, Nicholas Blake, appearing as a witness in defence of Lady Chatterley, and how Lady Chatterley’s Lover is mentioned in his fiction. Lady Chatterley’s Lover also appears in the work of other Golden Age novelists, such as Edmund Crispin (Bruce Montgomery) and Gladys Mitchell, some of whom are discussed in my book. Some people love Lady Chatterley’s Lover, others hate it, some will be bored by it; but it is a novel that has had a huge impact on the world. In that sense, too, it is like Agatha Christie’s books.

Caroline again: If you enjoyed hearing from Guy, you might like to pre-order Lady C or place a hold at your library — it's a clever, funny, well-researched account of a book with an extraordinary story.

And before we finish, I thought you might like to see a couple of photographs from what turned out to be an accidental research trip for both of us to Torquay in 2022. We went on a steam train trip, and look what the train's name was!

Our trip took a dramatic turn when a small fire broke out beside the track (it was a very hot July day) and our train had to halt for a while at an intermediate station. Full marks to all the Christie fans who can name the novel for which she borrowed this name, without looking it up:

I promise Morris had had plenty of water and is not expiring from heat as it looks here. He's just very dramatic about sunshine, which he does not approve of.

I hope you enjoy Guy's episode, and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the launch on 10th May!

Until next time,

Caroline (and Guy)

P.S. Many thanks for your patience over the past few weeks while the newsletter has been sporadic. I've been unwell and had to prioritise meeting deadlines for the actual episodes. Fingers crossed, I'm back now!

You can listen to every episode of Shedunnit at shedunnitshow.com or on all major podcast apps. Selected episodes are available on BBC Sounds. There are also transcripts of all episodes on the website. The podcast is now newsletter-only — we're not updating social media — so if you'd like to spread the word about the show consider forwarding this email to a mystery-loving friend with the addition of a personal recommendation.

Dear listeners,

Things have been a little hectic on my end the past few weeks, so I've missed a couple of newsletters. I'm sorry about that and hope to be resuming normal weekly service soon.

As such, there are two new episodes that I need to alert you to. The first concerns this book:

Jim Noy joined me for a Green Penguin Book Club discussion about The Sanfield Scandal by Richard Keverne — a golden-age era thriller from 1929 that, in one sense, was doing Enid Blyton before Enid Blyton was. It prompted some interesting discussion of how we appraise genre with hindsight versus in the moment. Keverne was also a brand new author to both of us, which as we're long-time fanatics about reading this stuff doesn't happen very often, so that was a lovely bonus of doing the episode.

And then today, I have a different kind of episode for you: I take a psychological deep dive into a single instance from Agatha Christie's autobiography and look at how it influenced her crime fiction. As a child, she experienced recurring nightmares of a "Gun Man", who appeared in a military uniform and with a musket. The terrifying thing about this figure wasn't his weapon, though, but the way he seemed to exist, unnoticed, in the happiest, most cheerful situations. In her dream, Christie would be enjoying a picnic until suddenly noticing that the person she had thought was her mother or her friend was actually this sinister Gun Man in disguise. He was always hiding in plain sight, casting an evil shadow over what had seemed to be a good day.

I'm sure you can see how this dream connects to golden age detective fiction, a style of crime writing that thrives on the closed circle of suspects and sudden revelations that characters are not all that they seem. Christie also expanded significantly on the Gun Man idea in the fiction she wrote under the Mary Westmacott pseudonym, so it was good to bring some of that into the episode as well. I recently re-read all of the Westmacott novels and feel like I have come to a greater appreciation for them than I had in the past. Absent in the Spring, in particular, is a book that I think holds up against the top rank of Christie's crime fiction.

I hope you enjoy these episodes, and I look forward to being back with more for you soon!

Until next time,

Caroline

Dear listeners,

Welcome to our reading recommendations newsletter! Once a month, I pop into your inbox to share what the Shedunnit team — that is, me and my production assistant Leandra — have been reading while we are making the show. I hope you'll find some ideas for what you might read here, or get a hint of what is coming up on the podcast in the future.

Caroline Has Read: The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Claudia Gray

I'm cheating a bit here, because reading (or rather listening to) Claudia Gray's "Mr Darcy & Miss Tilney" series was actually a recommendation that Leandra made to me, and now I'm passing it on to everyone else. Regardless, I've really enjoyed these gentle yet well-plotted historical mysteries, with original Austen characters and settings serving as the backdrop for new crime stories. Jonathan Darcy (son of Darcy and Elizabeth) and Juliet Tilney (daughter of Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland) team up in the first book when they are both guests at a house party where Mr Wickham is murdered. This one is their third outing, by which time they have become known as crime-solvers. It sees them summoned by Jonathan's great aunt, the ever-imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh, because she suspects that someone is trying to kill her. It's always interesting to me to see how an author handles a murder mystery-style story that doesn't begin with a murder, and I felt like Gray did a really good job here.

Caroline Will Read: The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart

The Shedunnit Book Club has just chosen our book for May, which will be Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey. A group of members has decided that alongside it, they're going to read Mary Stewart's 1961 novel The Ivy Tree, which I understand is another take on the tropes that Tey is exploring. I had never heard of this book before, so I'm excited to give it a try.

Leandra Has Read: The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

Ever since Caroline interviewed Tana French in 2022 for The Kidnap of Elizabeth Canning episode, I have been meaning to finally pick up The Franchise Affair for the first time. It shows how quickly time passes, as it took me nearly four years to do it. With that said, I did manage to read four books by Tana French in that time! Inspired by the 18th-century abduction case, Tey reimagines the event from a post-WWII lens. The residents at the Franchise have been accused of kidnapping a young girl named Betty Kane. She says the two women locked her in their attic and beat her before she managed to escape. The accused, Mrs. and Miss Sharpe, are adamant that they have never seen Betty in their lives. Who is lying?

I thoroughly enjoyed Tey's choice to follow the story from the perspective of solicitor Robert Blair. As a character so used to his routine and life of small comforts, it was fun seeing him challenged as he seeks to uncover the truth. While Alan Grant makes an appearance, it's another example in GAD where sometimes the series detective takes a backseat role, blending into the background as a secondary character. I highly recommend this title for those interested in how media and public opinion can influence an investigation. It has a great final court scene as well!

Leandra Will Read: The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie

In a book club I host outside of Shedunnit, we will be reading The Seven Dials Mystery in honor of the new adaptation released by Netflix. The plan is to read the book in March and then watch the three-part TV series throughout April. This will be my first time reading Seven Dials, so it will be interesting to see how I get on with it. In this light-hearted thriller, a practical joke involving eight clocks backfires horribly. One of the clocks has gone missing, and someone is dead.

That's what we'll be reading in March — how about you? You can let us know by replying directly to this email or by leaving a comment to join the conversation with other readers. 

Until next time,

Caroline