Caroline: How many busy places full of people are there, do you think, where the body of a murder victim could sit propped up in a chair for hours without being noticed? Where the penalty for disturbing the quiet atmosphere is so great that those nearby would rather a corpse
15 Nov 2023Caroline: So often, when I'm talking about the real life cases that shaped detective fiction in the twentieth century, we're dealing with stories that end in tragedy for the woman in the dock. I'm thinking of Edith Thompson, who was hanged in 1923 for
01 Nov 2023Caroline: Detective fiction, especially the fair play style that relies on logical deduction above all else, should have no time at all for ghosts, spirits or magic. What place could supernatural happenings have in a genre defined by its interest in precision and verification? That demands to know exactly who
18 Oct 2023