Episode 174: The “Best of” Series – The Importance of Detective Fiction, Ep. 3

The Literary Life Podcast

In this conversation, Angelina and Cindy talk all things related to the detective novel. Why do we love detective fiction so much? What are the qualities of a good detective novel? What is the history of detective fiction, and how did World War I bring about the Golden Age of the genre? Angelina and Cindy answer all these questions and more. Be sure to scroll down for links to all the books and authors mentioned in this episode!

Commonplace Quotes:

Those who read poetry to improve their minds will never improve their minds by reading poetry, for the true enjoyments must be spontaneous and compulsive and look to no remoter end. The Muses will submit to no marriage of convenience.

C. S. Lewis

One of these days I shall write a book in which two men are seen to walk down a cul de sac, and there is a shot, and one man is found murdered, and the other runs away with a gun in his hand, and after twenty chapters stinking with red herrings, it turns out that the man with the gun did it after all.

Dorothy L. Sayers The Listeners

by Walter De La Mare

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveler, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the grasses Of the forest’s ferny floor: And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the Traveler’s head: And he smote upon the door again a second time; ‘Is there anybody there?’ he said. But no one descended to the Traveler; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still. But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveler’s call. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf, ’Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:— ‘Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word,’ he said. Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone.

Book List:

The World’s Last Night by C.S. Lewis

The Five Red Herrings, Murder Must Advertise, and Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

Nancy Drew #45: The Spider Sapphire Mystery by Carolyn Keene

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald Knox

Agatha Christie

Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe

The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The Albert Campion Series by Margery Allingham

The Roderick Alleyn Series by Ngaio Marsh

The Flavia de Luce Series by Allen Bradley

The Inspector Appleby Mystery Series by Michael Innes

The Daughter of Time and Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey

Murder Fantastical by Patricia Moyes

The Cormoran Strike Series by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

Alexander McCall Smith

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series by Laurie King

Chief Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Series by Ellis Peters

The Inspector Adam Dalgliesh Series by P.D. James

Connect with Us:

You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

Find Cindy at morningtimeformoms.com, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy’s own Patreon page also!

Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB