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Just discovered this channel and I'm loving it! ❤

Having read Agatha christies Autobiography, I can't help but think that Archie was a classic Narcissist. He love bombed Agatha at the beginning and needed to be the centre of attention at all times telling Agatha he couldn't stand not getting what he wanted, he told her he was glad they'd had a girl as a boy would have taken the attention off of him. He had an affair because Agatha was busy clearing out her mothers house and again the attention was not on him, he gave her no sympathy and he said he couldn't stand illness and death everything had to be perfect. Worsley's hero worship of a man who was a massive man child puzzles me he was absolutely awful! Oh and in the pictures he wasn't all that, not handsome at all.

I look forward to each episode, and have paper and pen ready to write down recommended novels. I noticed that I have several Edmund Crispin Green Penguin novels on my bookshelf.

Interesting material but listening to the whining voice of Brobeck is an experience marginally worse than fingernails on a chalk board.

I recently read "Murder at Pentecost" and it was a nice surprise.

Because Agatha and Archie had a young daughter, I’ve always wondered about the safety of the child when Agatha disappeared. Who was taking care of the little girl?

Delighted to hear Elizabeth Peters and Sue Grafton included, thank you.

Congrats on the 2,000 subs!

I love margery allingham Albert campion. I always think he is somehow 'hiding in plain sight' as a detective. My favourites are sweet danger and the beckoning lady. Such drowsy delight. I dislike hide my eyes and after listening to this agree, it's because it really is about evil. The others are about greed or self interest or simply money. Great podcast I'll look for the rest.

Thank you Caroline !

Great topic Caroline. Brrr!

Excellent as always, Caroline ❤ I've always thought Wimsey's reference to someone who 'tucks in' to someone's meal to disguise the time of their murder refers to the eating of Sandy Campbell's breakfast in Five Red Herrings.

Superb listening as always ❤One other chocolates murder is in the background of Edmund Crispin's Buried for Pleasure, the murder that is being surreptitiously investigated by Gervase Fen's friend Bussey which eventually leads to his own.

Enlightening as always -- I agree about Marsh's Alleyn being boring -- the dramatizations with Patrick Malahide are quite wonderful, though, and the chemistry with Belinda Lang as Troy is something to see. So true about the complexities of the Wimsey/Vane relationship enriching every bit of the novels in which they both appear -- I never tire of the novels and find new things every time I enter them. I'm appreciative of Paton Walsh's continuations as well -- especially The Attenbury Emeralds which, for me, would have been an appropriate place to draw the final curtain -- the Late Scholar struck me as a soulless shell. Thank you, as always, for what you bring to this conversation ❤

Even though I came to you through Edmund Crispin, I especially appreciate your posts on Dorothy Sayers whose work I have adored for 20+ years -- I agree with her own assessment that Murder Must Advertise is not her 'best work,' but I find it her most purely enjoyable novel, especially when listened to through the medium of Mr. Ian Carmichael -- in listening, I think you can appreciate how she has so extraordinarily captured the atmosphere of that working office and the wit and humor is as good as it gets in the genre you are exploring. Your work is deeply appreciated ❤

Jeeves is not a butler. He is a valet. A gentleman's personal gentleman. He does not run a great house.

An outstanding conversation -- so much so that it inspires more of the same: to George Fentiman being a random container of mental health issues, I believe he was actually modelled on her husband Mac Fleming who had similar debilitations resulting from his service in WW1. To the unreality of Ann Dorland's attraction to Dr. Penberthy, I think it's not difficult to imagine him as projecting -- and her responding to -- a heroic/altruistic persona, after all it was all about obtaining funds for his oh-so-important 'medical clinic.' To "Leave Ann Alone!," we need another novel a la Wide Sargasso Sea written from Ann's perspective after she breaks off from Robt Fentiman and goes on to have a fascinating bohemian life. Also, as to Sayers blanking out the mysterious clue in Five Red Herrings, in that passage she has Wimsey go through a meticulous listing of every color of paint he can retrieve in the satchel and environs of the corpse and since he has previously described the presence of clouds in the sky of the painting at the scene, she can "leave it to the intelligent reader" to conclude that there is something amiss when there is white paint on the canvas and palette but no corresponding tube in the supply -- the tube in question also not-too-much-later appears -- identified and out of place -- in the pocket of one of the suspects. In any case, I would say you're taking away some of the pure joy of her writing by trying to pin her to the framework of comparatively "legitimate" methods of the period and genre. Finally, to the idea of there being no such thing as 'literary detective fiction,' one other novelist: Raymond Chandler.

interesting!

Bless you for featuring this extraordinary man -- he is virtually unknown in the US (where I am) and I discovered him solely by accident through a YT post of Philip Bird reading some of Crispin's short stories. *So* *much* enjoyment has ensued as I tracked down every (tragically out-of-print) recording Mr. Bird made of the novels and story collections -- I have found listening to the novels to be on another plane entirely and recommend it to anyone interested in hearing Gervase Fen and the world he inhabits brought to life. It is unfortunate that the work has subsequently been recorded by far lesser talents -- Mr. Bird's recordings are truly one with the spirit of the writing. Thank you again ❤

Currently, in the Meg Langslow mystery series by Donna Andrews, in recent years she has been publishing two books a year, one of which is set around Christmas.

This is a delightful little collection of notes and queries. Thank you to your entire team for all the hard work.

Merry Christmas from the US

Thank you Caroline, really interesting!

I like all her books but "Have His Carcass" is my favorite. I like Agatha too but her endings never leave me satisfied.

Even the murders of the golden age are made softer, the victim is often old, usually unpleasant and they are usually shot ot stabbed(or bludgeoned) from behind so they never saw it coming. Just an observation.

H C Bailey is an undiscovered gem..! The wit of Oscar Wilde with the ingenious plots of Agatha ....an unbeatable combination..But sadly forgotten...?

Spooky seasonal coincidence: I listened to The String of Pearls just two hours ago. Audiobook here on youtube.

Speaking of cozy murders , on USA tv there will be remake of the angela landsbury show murder she wrote in 2025.

Having listened to this episode again in December 2024, I want to agree with you that Peter Ustinov is my favorite Hercule Poirot, even though he is rather physically larger than Poirot is described by Agatha Christie. For the overall quality of the film, my favorite adaptation is the 1974 “Murder on the Orient Express”.

Happy and magical holiday season!

One of mu favorite authors

Happy Christmas Caroline

One story that immediately springs to mind is 'Christmas Party' by American mystery writer Rex Stout. His corpulent genius detective, Nero Wolfe, is forced by circumstances to leave the comfort of his brownstone house, something he famously hates to do, to attend a Christmas party in disguise. Given his size, guess what it is. It's already a complicated situation, but it gets worse when the host of the party is found murdered. Suspicion falls on the Santa who was at the party and disappeared before the police showed up. Wolfe has to solve the mystery before the humiliating truth about his involvement comes out.

Very enjoyable. Always enjoy the Christmas Shedunnit. Just read Ngaio Marsh's "Death And The Dancing Footman". Not so Christmassy, but very wintry.

Merry Christmas!

My father introduced me to Edmund Crispin's books back when I was a teenage nerd. He drove a little two stroke Saab, and named it Lily Mungin, because of an L and M on two mysterious dashboard buttons on the radio. But it was named after Lily Christine. I've been investigating Bruce Montgomery every since. For somebody who wasn't prolific, he certainly did a lot. What we have is already everything I don't need a twelve foot shelf of Gervase Fen. Phases of the Moon is as darkly comic as anything James Thurber ever wrote.

A musician and a golden age mystery writer. Delightful stories roo. Esp the short stories. Sadly an alcoholic who died young.

Georgette Heyer is also one of my favorite authors. I especially love her mysteries with the combination of great plots, characters and writing, including humor. Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey are definitely tops on my go-to list of most satisfying reads!

I just received “The Case of the Gilded Fly”, my first Edmund Crispin mystery. Thanks so much, Caroline, for introducing me to him and other Golden Age authors!

Spot on! - so glad you have included Crispin, one of my favourite authors, for all the reasons you list.

@ 10:06 I think you mean "it's impossible to overestimate" instead of "underestimate."

Buried for pleasure is my favourite. I loved the poltergeist ..... the 'thing' that 'continues to polter'. I felt sorry for the non-doing pig which I felt should have had a long and non-doing life.

Fun trivia fact: Montgomery both wrote the score and script of Raising the Wind, a comedy film from the Carry On team that has a ton of musical gags.

I am completely taken with the Quin/Satterthwaite stories. My favorite is The End Of The World. It’s just so complex in the psychology of the characters, as well as the spiritual insights.

I enjoy all of Agatha Christie’s detectives, especially Tommy and Tuppence, Ariadne Oliver and Mr. Satterthwaite. I have recently reread “Halloween Party”, “The Secret Adversary” and “N or M”, which is one of my very favorite Agatha Christie novels. I also have enjoyed all of Dorothy L Sayers’ mysteries, although I haven’t read the Montague Egg stories as often as the Lord Peter Wimseys, which are, along with Agatha Christie’s creations, my all-time favorites.

So glad you have covered Montague Egg - and that intriguing religious analysis! Thank you

I have always had a soft spot for Montague Egg and Parker Pyne as well.

Mr Satterthwaite stories make me sad somehow.

Tommy and Tuppence, and Mr Quinn, are my favourite Christie creations, no question. I've read all of them, and outside Postern of Fate, they all feel eminently re-readable. Another interesting Sayers story for me outside her usual canon is The Documents in the Case, because it was such a break from her standard material. Not that I don't like her other stuff, Sayers is one of my favourite writers and the Wimsey books underappreciated classics.

I love this idea. I will definitely check the gardening recommendations!