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

Published: May 30, 2023, 5 a.m.

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!\xa0

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

\u2018Is there anybody there?\u2019 said the Traveler,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0Knocking on the moonlit door;\xa0
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0Of the forest\u2019s ferny floor:\xa0
And a bird flew up out of the turret,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0Above the Traveler\u2019s head:\xa0
And he smote upon the door again a second time;\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0\u2018Is there anybody there?\u2019 he said.\xa0
But no one descended to the Traveler;\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0No head from the leaf-fringed sill\xa0
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0Where he stood perplexed and still.\xa0
But only a host of phantom listeners\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0That dwelt in the lone house then\xa0
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0To that voice from the world of men:\xa0
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0That goes down to the empty hall,\xa0
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0By the lonely Traveler\u2019s call.\xa0
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0Their stillness answering his cry,\xa0
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0\u2019Neath the starred and leafy sky;\xa0
For he suddenly smote on the door, even\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0Louder, and lifted his head:\u2014\xa0
\u2018Tell them I came, and no one answered,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0That I kept my word,\u2019 he said.\xa0
Never the least stir made the listeners,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0Though every word he spake\xa0
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0From the one man left awake:\xa0
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0And the sound of iron on stone,\xa0
And how the silence surged softly backward,\xa0\xa0\xa0
\xa0\xa0\xa0When the plunging hoofs were gone.

Book List:

The World\u2019s Last Night\xa0by C.S. Lewis\xa0

The Five Red Herrings, Murder Must Advertise,\xa0and\xa0Gaudy Night\xa0by Dorothy L. Sayers\xa0

Nancy Drew #45: The Spider Sapphire Mystery\xa0by Carolyn Keene\xa0

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes\xa0by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle\xa0

The Footsteps at the Lock\xa0by Ronald Knox

Agatha Christie\xa0

Murders in the Rue Morgue\xa0and\xa0The Purloined Letter\xa0by Edgar Allan Poe\xa0

The Moonstone\xa0and\xa0The Woman in White\xa0by 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\xa0

The Daughter of Time\xa0and\xa0Miss Pym Disposes\xa0by Josephine Tey\xa0

Murder Fantastical\xa0by 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\xa0

Brave New World\xa0by Aldous Huxley

The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Series by Ellis Peters

The Inspector Adam Dalgliesh Series by P.D. James\xa0

Connect with Us:

You can find Angelina and Thomas at\xa0HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram\xa0@angelinastanford,\xa0and on Facebook at\xa0https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

Find Cindy at\xa0morningtimeformoms.com, on Instagram\xa0@cindyordoamoris\xa0and on Facebook at\xa0https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out\xa0Cindy\u2019s own Patreon page\xa0also!

Follow\xa0The Literary Life\xa0on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let\u2019s get the book talk going!\xa0http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB