Dear listeners,

One might assume that, with all of its emphasis on logical deduction and empirical evidence, classic detective fiction would give all things spooky and supernatural a wide berth. And yet right from the very start with Edgar Allen Poe's short stories from the 1840s, writers have enjoyed flirting with the possibility of an otherworldly explanation before revealing their true solution. Making the reader entertain the possibility that the locked room murder could have been committed by a ghost makes the impact of the real-world explanation all the greater.

Today's new episode is all about the different ways that writers from the golden age of detective fiction made use of ghosts, witches, curses, monsters, spirits and more. I hope you enjoy listening, perhaps while carving your pumpkin putting the finishing touches to your costume.

As I was making this episode, I went searching along my shelves for my spookiest murder mysteries. Here's a selection, in case you're in need of some seasonal reading inspiration.

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

An obvious choice, but still an excellent one. Christie's 1969 mystery not only opens at a children's Halloween party (at which the British attendees are marvelling over the newly imported American tradition of "carving pumpkins") but includes some spooky moments of intuition and ritual later on. This cover is quite Blair Witch Project, isn't it? I believe more recent ones make the Halloween connection a bit more overtly.

Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer

Heyer's first detective novel, published in 1932, is set in a creepy country house with no electricity and more than one ghost. At one point, a skull pops out of a hitherto-unknown priest hole, scaring the new inhabitants no end. But is the house really haunted, or is someone trying to push them out?

Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

The fact that Poirot is called into this case posthumously is eerie enough, his "client" having written to him before she died but the letter not being posted until weeks afterwards. Add the fact that before her death, this woman participated in a seance where a mysteriously glowing aura appeared all around her, and you have the makings of a real spine-chiller.

Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham

Mine is a US edition of Allingham's 1931 novel, which is all about an ancient family curse that threatens to strike down the new generation — unless Albert Campion can uncover what is really going on in time. Bonus points if you also watch the 1989 episode of Campion (starring Peter Davison) based on this book.

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

The ultimate witchy detective novel, to my mind. Can the three peculiar women who live in the old Pale Horse pub really kill through the power of the mind, or is something even more sinister afoot? I especially enjoy Mrs Oliver's appearance in this book, the only one where she detects solo without Poirot.

The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr

If you want a story that really pushes the boundaries of what detection can do with the supernatural, then you must read a John Dickson Carr. As I discuss in the episode, lots of his work experiments with "impossible" crimes in this vein. I'm particularly partial to this one, also found under the title The Three Coffins, which includes Dr Gideon Fell's famous lecture about locked room mysteries.

I hope you get to enjoy some spooky reading this week, and that the episode proves to be a nice accompaniment to your Halloween plans.

Until next time,

Caroline

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. Links to Blackwell’s are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you).

Dear listeners,

Do you like to read seasonally, matching your crime fiction to your own calendar? Or does it not matter to you whether there's snow on the ground outside when snow is falling in your book? Autumn is in full swing where both Leandra and I live, and this to me feels like a very "winter is almost here" selection of books that we have for you today.

If you enjoy these book recommendation newsletters, in which we offer you a peek into our personal reading experience while we are working behind the scenes on the show, you might like to catch up with the last edition here or share your own reading plans in the comments here. The entire Shedunnit newsletter archive can be found here.

Caroline Has Read: The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

I picked up this book a few weeks ago in preparation for the recent "Crime Clubs" episode all about crime writers' organisations and secret societies. Because part of my focus with the podcast is introduce new writers and titles to the audience, I don't often get time to revisit the classics (although the Shedunnit Book Club's reading programme does help a bit with this). It was great, therefore, to have an excuse to look again at this 1908 novel. It's still chaotic and confusing, but also very funny. When I have a long break from Chesterton, I forget how sharp and amusing he can be.

Caroline Will Read: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers

I can't believe it's already here, but this is the last book the Club has chosen to read in 2025 — we're looking at it in December for our "Festive Setting" theme. I need to read it soon in order to make the members-only episodes about it. This is a book I really love, and so I feel extra pressure to do it justice!

Leandra Has Read: The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

I recently finished The Stolen Queen, a historical narrative featuring a theft at the Met Gala, an Egyptian curse, and a 1936 archeological dig at Egypt's Valley of the Kings that haunts Charlotte Cross over forty years later. This was my first experience with Fiona Davis's work. She is well-loved by historical fiction readers, and I believe this was the first time she has infused her narrative with mystery elements. We juggle two timelines, one taking place in 1930s Egypt while the other is set in 1978 New York. Events in 1936 change the course of Charlotte's life, who at the time was an anthropology student, and she still carries that long-buried trauma with her as associate curator at the Met in New York City. She is forced to grapple with the past when a valuable artefact is stolen during the Met Gala, and there are signs that Hathorkare's legendary curse has been reawakened.

The concluding reveals and explanations felt clunky and robotic, but that isn't surprising as Davis is less familiar with how one might neatly and organically wrap up a mystery. I can see many readers appreciating this character-driven narrative, especially if they enjoy reading about interpersonal family dynamics, Egyptian history, and archeology. I imagine some will get a kick out of seeing a fictionalised version of former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland on the page as well.

Leandra Will Read: Autumn Chills by Agatha Christie

If I don't read it now, this story collection will sit on my shelves collecting dust for another year. Even though these stories can be found in other collections that I would read any time of the year (and a few of them will likely be familiar to me because of that), my brain refuses to read Autumn Chills unless it is autumn due to the title alone! Similarly, I recommended The September House by Carissa Orlando to a friend last winter, and she said she would read it...but not until September. I assume many can relate to this when considering narratives centered around a major holiday like Christmas. How many of you would read The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay in April? By stating here that I will read Autumn Chills this season, I hope it will keep me accountable! If next October arrives, and I'm once again listing it as a book I need to read, you will know I have failed.

That's what we've got coming up reading-wise. What are you planning to read this month? Let us know by replying directly or by leaving a comment to join the conversation with other readers. If you'd like to follow our reading adventures in between these posts, I (try to) publish monthly reading updates on my blog/newsletter and Leandra documents what she's reading on her YouTube channel.

Until next time,

Caroline

Links to Blackwells are affiliate links; if you make a purchase at this retailer the price remains the same for you but the podcast receives a small commission for referring you.

Dear listeners,

Part of what makes reading classic murder mysteries so enjoyable is the glimpse it offers into a world that is so unlike the one we inhabit today. Nothing makes the interwar "golden age" of detective fiction feel more alien to me than the ubiquity of servants. Butlers, nannies, maids, cooks, gardeners — these are stock figures of the genre, all now long vanished from contemporary domestic life.

Servants are very useful to the detective novelist as witnesses, since their encyclopaedic knowledge of their household and employers makes any anomaly immediately stand out to them. They are ubiquitously present in the house, too, meaning that they are frequently used to provide alibis or create the "impossible" conditions of a crime. Lest we forget, in Death and the Dancing Footman Ngaio Marsh had said footman doing the popular 1930s dance "Hands, Knees, Boomps-a-Daisy" in the hall in order to establish that nobody could have entered a room to commit a murder.

In fact, making the servant the culprit worked so well that S.S. Van Dine banned it in his "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories", published in 1928. He wrote:

Servants – such as butlers, footmen, valets, game-keepers, cooks, and the like – must not be chosen by the author as the culprit... It is a too easy solution. It is unsatisfactory, and makes the reader feel that his time has been wasted.

Writers mostly followed this dictum, although they did continue to weave servants into their fiction in other interesting ways. What has intrigued me the most over my years of reading in this genre, though, is the way in which detective fiction reflects the changing nature of the servant profession over the first half of the twentieth century. Agatha Christie was at the forefront of this, documenting the so-called "servant problem" through her fiction. From the elderly and loyal parlourmaid Dorcas in The Mysterious Affair at Styles to the extreme competence of Lucy Eyelesbarrow decades later in 4.50 from Paddington, this knotty tangle of psychological, economic and class issues is all there in the work. And you can hear all about it on the latest episode, The Servant Problem.

But that's not all that I have to share with you today. This episode marks also marks the start of the Shedunnit Pledge Drive. This is the annual event where I ask listeners to support the future existence of the show by joining the Shedunnit Book Club. As in previous years, I'm aiming to add 100 new members by the end of the Drive, which will enable me to meet the costs of making the show for another year.

As a thank you to all those who belong to the Shedunnit Book Club, I'm giving them an early preview of a brand new podcast I'm making:

Each episode of Today in Murder Mysteries tells a story from the history of classic crime that occurred on its date of release. What was Agatha Christie doing on 12th October 1912? Why was 9th November 1936 such a significant date for Dorothy L. Sayers? These are the kinds of questions I'm answering in this podcast. Each episode is short — ten minutes or less — and the hope is that it allows us to zoom in on all kinds of fascinating crime fiction tales.

At the moment, there is no public release or launch planned for this show, but members will get to hear the first 12 episodes of Today in Murder Mysteries over the course of the Pledge Drive! So far, I've released once about Agatha Christie, one about a lesser-known Detection Club member, and tomorrow there will be one about Angela Lansbury. Join now if you'd like to hear these and more. And of course, help to fund Shedunnit for another year.

Until next time,

Caroline

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. Links to Blackwell’s are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you).