Tag Archives: The Thirteen Problems

You Probably Imagined It!

Meet the hypochondriacs of golden age detective fiction.

My new book, A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria, is out now in the UK and published on 24th April in North America. To find out more and get your copy, visit my website carolinecrampton.com/abodymadeofglass.

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Mentioned in this episode:
— “The Case of the Perfect Maid” by Agatha Christie, collected in Miss Marple’s Final Cases
N or M? by Agatha Christie
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie
Green for Danger by Christianna Brand
Black Plumes by Margery Allingham
— “The Blue Geranium” by Agatha Christie, collected in The Thirteen Problems
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie
Fear for Miss Betony by Dorothy Bowers
A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
4.50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie
Family Matters by Anthony Rolls
— “They Don’t Wear Labels” by E.M. Delafield, collected in Capital Crimes
Below Suspicion by John Dickson Carr
Blue Murder by Harriet Rutland
Grave Mistake by Ngaio Marsh
Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham
Poison in the Garden Suburb by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole

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There are some minor spoilers in this episode — no solutions to whodunnits totally revealed, but some plot details discussed. If you want to avoiding knowing such details about something that you’re reading or plan to read, please consult the list of books and stories in the episode description before proceeding.

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

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

Miss Marple, Spinster Sleuth

A feminist take on the gossiping busybody of St Mary Mead. Thanks to my guest, Leandra Griffith. As well as being Shedunnit’s production assistant, she posts about mysteries on her Instagram @leandra_thetbrzero and her YouTube channel. Become a member of the Shedunnit book club and get bonus audio, listen to ad free episodes and join… Continue Reading

A Mysterious Glossary

Do you know your ack emma from your pip emma? Would you wear the cat’s pyjamas? Are you, in fact, a goop? Helen Zaltzman joins me to delve into some baffling language from golden age detective fiction. Thanks to my guest for this episode, Helen Zaltzman. She is the host of The Allusionist, a marvellous… Continue Reading

Murder Isn’t Easy

How much did Agatha Christie really know about dead bodies? Thanks to my guest for this episode, Carla Valentine. She is a trained mortuary technician and the technical curator at Barts Pathology Museum in London. She’s also the author of Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie. There are no major plot spoilers in… 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

Young Sleuths Transcript

Caroline: I can’t remember how old I was when I read my first detective novel, but I definitely wasn’t a teenager yet. I devoured my first Agatha Christie — the Miss Marple short story collection The Thirteen Problems — under the covers on a family holiday when I was 11 after finding it on the shelf at… Continue Reading

Young Sleuths

Young detectives, and young readers, play an important part in the history of detective fiction. Many thanks to my guest, Maureen Johnson. Her newest YA mystery, The Box in the Woods, is out now. Find out more at her website www.maureenjohnsonbooks.com and follow her on Twitter @maureenjohnson. There are no major plot spoilers in this… 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