Tag Archives: Michael Gilbert

Clerical Crimes

Why do murder mysteries contain so many vicars?

Mentioned in this episode:
Measuring religious affiliation in Great Britain by Clive D. Field
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers
Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie
“The Blue Cross” by G.K. Chesterton from The Innocence of Father Brown
Literary Distractions by Ronald Knox
The Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters
Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser
St Peter’s Finger by Gladys Mitchell
Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert
The Black Seraphim by Michael Gilbert
Holy Disorders by Edmund Crispin
“The Guilty Vicarage” by W.H. Auden
Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
Christianity and the Detective Story edited by Anya Morlan and Walter Raubicheck
The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler

NB: 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). Blackwell’s is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge.

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Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/clericalcrimestranscript

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

The Tichborne Claimant

The golden age of detective fiction was obsessed with identity. The reason why? An extremely melodramatic Victorian legal case involving shipwreck, Shetland ponies and a tangled aristocratic inheritance. Please be aware that there may be spoilers for the following books in this episode. Books referenced: — The Claimant by Michael Gilbert — Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert… Continue Reading

At Home With Shedunnit

Who would be the Hastings to your Poirot? What kind of mystery would you like to write? What would you do if you came across a corpse? In this special episode to celebrate Shedunnit’s third anniversary, Caroline’s husband Guy takes the mic and asks her all these questions and more. Guy is on Twitter as… Continue Reading

A Century of Whodunnits Transcript

Something I love about making this podcast is the space it provides for me to zoom right in. I can dedicate a whole episode to a single trope from classic detective fiction, whether that’s tropes like “the butler did it” or settings like “on a boat”. I’ve narrowed the focus even further by putting a… Continue Reading

A Century of Whodunnits

Reading through the twentieth century, one murder mystery at a time. There are no major spoilers in this episode, but the opening plot scenario of each book is discussed briefly. There is a major spoiler for the Sherlock Holmes story “The Final Problem” from 1893. The ten books I read for this episode are: —… Continue Reading

Cryptic Crimes Transcript

Caroline: Classic detective fiction has rules. Codified as the genre grew in popularity in the 1920s and early 30s, these conventions mostly feed into the idea of “fair play” between author and reader. The art of writing a good murder mystery, then, is sticking to this framework while also subverting it. There’s a great skill… Continue Reading

Cryptic Crimes

If you can solve a crossword, you can solve a murder. Thanks to my guest, Hamish Symington. You can find out more about his work at hamishsymington.com and order a custom cryptic crossword from him at customcrypticcrosswords.com. There are no major spoilers about clues or endings in this episode. However, there is some mention or… Continue Reading