Tag Archives: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

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
Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert
The Murder at Road Hill House episode with Robin Stevens
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
The Nine Wrong Answers by John Dickson Carr
The Belting Inheritance by Julian Symons
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
The Tichborne Romance by Franklin Lushington
The Tichborne Claimant by Douglas Woodruff

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

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The Murder At Road Hill House Transcript

Caroline: Do you feel an uncomfortable heat at the pit of your stomach? Is there a nasty thumping at the top of your head? If there is, then you might have come down with a case of detective fever. According to Wilkie Collins’s 1868 novel The Moonstone, these were the symptoms — along with a sudden passion… Continue Reading

The Murder At Road Hill House

This sensational case from 1860 ignited a wave of detective fever that we still haven’t recovered from. Thanks to my guest Robin Stevens — you can hear her on two previous episodes of the show, Back to School and Death Sets Sail on the Nile, and her new collection of short stories about schoolgirl detectives Hazel… Continue Reading

The First Whodunnit Transcript

Caroline: The world of detective fiction has recently passed an important milestone. It’s a hundred years since the appearance of Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. First serialised in the London Times in 1920, it appeared in book form first in the US at the end of that year and then in… Continue Reading

The First Whodunnit

What was the first murder mystery, really? No major spoilers about clues or endings in this episode. However, there is some mention or discussion of the books listed below. Sources and further information: — The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie — Partners In Crime by Agatha Christie — A Study In Scarlet by… Continue Reading