So just this morning I listened to the Literary Life Podcast episode on this exact theme, the significance of detective fiction. Clearly I have been missing out. I'm diving headfirst into Dorothy Sayers (reading Gaudy Night and listening to the LL commentary on it). Angelina Stanford has so many interesting thoughts about the significance of the detective novel... Its Golden Age was in the interwar period, when people desperately needed to grasp onto a sense of order and rationality, that good will triumph over evil. I'd love to dive into some of the other recommendations you share here like Brother Cadfael and Father Brown. Thanks for sharing!
I love a good murder mystery! And not the modern or even later Agatha Christie psychological thrillers, but the classic golden age mysteries where the case is solved. It’s lovely to inhabit a world where puzzles can actually be solved!
Christie and Sayers are of course right at the top, but Nagio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Elizabeth Daly, and Patricia Wentworth are all really fun, too. British Library Classics are re-releasing many titles that are new to me- some better than others, but it’s another good place to look when you run out of Cadfels. :)
Well written! I fell in love with Agatha Christie's novels last year for the same reason! I was delighted to find that time and time again, evil was vanquished, and each time it was recognized for what it truly is: evil. I'm slowly, and haphazardly, making my way through the greats. I'm reading through Chesterton now and plan to pick up Doyle next.
You may enjoy The Literary Life podcast, if you've never heard of them! They love the genre for the same reasons.
Thank you! I have Christie on my too read shelves and I look forward to reading her. Sounds like some great reading ahead of you. And I love that podcast! I haven’t listened to their episode on detective fiction yet but I look forward to doing so.
I need to listen to that-you’re the second to recommend it to me. I’ve loved other episodes of theirs. I never thought of that connect between the war/desire for order and good triumphing-but it totally makes when you say that.
So just this morning I listened to the Literary Life Podcast episode on this exact theme, the significance of detective fiction. Clearly I have been missing out. I'm diving headfirst into Dorothy Sayers (reading Gaudy Night and listening to the LL commentary on it). Angelina Stanford has so many interesting thoughts about the significance of the detective novel... Its Golden Age was in the interwar period, when people desperately needed to grasp onto a sense of order and rationality, that good will triumph over evil. I'd love to dive into some of the other recommendations you share here like Brother Cadfael and Father Brown. Thanks for sharing!
I love a good murder mystery! And not the modern or even later Agatha Christie psychological thrillers, but the classic golden age mysteries where the case is solved. It’s lovely to inhabit a world where puzzles can actually be solved!
Christie and Sayers are of course right at the top, but Nagio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Elizabeth Daly, and Patricia Wentworth are all really fun, too. British Library Classics are re-releasing many titles that are new to me- some better than others, but it’s another good place to look when you run out of Cadfels. :)
I agree about loving the classic “puzzle” mystery over modern thrillers. I haven’t heard of them-thank you for the recs!!
Well written! I fell in love with Agatha Christie's novels last year for the same reason! I was delighted to find that time and time again, evil was vanquished, and each time it was recognized for what it truly is: evil. I'm slowly, and haphazardly, making my way through the greats. I'm reading through Chesterton now and plan to pick up Doyle next.
You may enjoy The Literary Life podcast, if you've never heard of them! They love the genre for the same reasons.
Thank you! I have Christie on my too read shelves and I look forward to reading her. Sounds like some great reading ahead of you. And I love that podcast! I haven’t listened to their episode on detective fiction yet but I look forward to doing so.
I need to listen to that-you’re the second to recommend it to me. I’ve loved other episodes of theirs. I never thought of that connect between the war/desire for order and good triumphing-but it totally makes when you say that.