Tag Archives: P.D. James

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

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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.

A Second Century of Whodunnits

Reading my way through the last hundred years, from the 1920s to the 2020s, one mystery at a time. My previous attempt at this reading project can be found in the episode A Century of Whodunnits. Books mentioned: — Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L Sayers — Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles — Laurels are… 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

Swan Song

How do you say goodbye to a beloved detective? Agatha Christie, of course, made a mystery out of it. Thanks to my guest, Mark Aldridge. You can find out more about his work at markaldridge.info and order a copy of his new book, Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, from all good… Continue Reading

Swan Song Transcript

Caroline: Detectives have to be fundamentally infallible. On their journey to a mystery’s solution they can be fragile, or flawed, or unreliable, or uncertain, but the reader has to be able to rely on the sleuth to find a satisfactory answer in the end. It’s a fundamental part of what makes a whodunnit work. After… Continue Reading

The Telephone Call

Why has the murder of Julia Wallace on the night of 20 January 1931 haunted detective novelists for decades? Well, it all comes back to the telephone call. Become a member of the Shedunnit Book Club and get bonus audio, listen to ad free episodes and join a book-loving community at shedunnitshow.com/bookclub. Books and sources:… Continue Reading