Golden Age of Detective Fiction

I saw this tag on IndiaReadsALot blog and had so much fun reading her thoughtful responses that I couldn’t wait to share my own thoughts. Consider yourself tagged if you wish to participate.

What is your mystery origin story? (The first mystery you read)

• Title: The Box-Car Children
• Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner
• Series: The Box-Car Children (#1)
• Format: Paperback
• Age Rating: Children
• Genre: Children’s Mystery

I have been a collector of mysteries since childhood. I loved The Box-Car Children series, and I bought many of them from the Scholastic Book Fair and put them in a cardboard facsimile boxcar. It was my pride and joy.

• Title: The Secret of the Old Clock
• Author: Carolyn Keene
• Series: Nancy Drew (#1)
• Format: Hardcover
• Age Rating: Children
• Genre: Children’s Mystery

I inherited my grandmother’s collection of Nancy Drew hardbacks and obsessively read them until my other grandmother told me I was too old for them and gave them away. My mom, spent weeks trying to track down her mother’s books and never got them back-which rankles her to this day.

If you could be the detective in a mystery novel, who would be the author and what’s one trope you’d insist be in the story?

I would love to be the heroine in an Agatha Christie mystery. A country house murder carried out by a stiletto dagger amongst a closed circle of suspects would do me fine.

What is a mystery series you’ve read this year, that you want more people to read?

• Title: Death at Crookham Hall
• Author: Michelle Salter
• Series: Iris Woodmore Mysteries (#1)
• Format: Digital
• Age Rating: Adult
• Genre: Historical Mystery

Plot: London, 1920. For the first time ever, two women are competing against each other to become an MP. Reporter Iris Woodmore has a big story on her hands when she accompanies one of the candidates to the House of Commons. But it’s a place that holds painful memories. In 1914, her mother died there when she fell into the River Thames during a daring suffragette protest. Then, in the shadow of Big Ben, a waterman tells Iris her mother didn’t fall – she jumped.

Iris discovers that the suffragette with her mother that fateful day has been missing for six years, mysteriously disappearing just after the protest. Desperate to know the truth behind the fatal jump, Iris’s investigation leads her to Crookham Hall, an ancestral home where secrets and lies lead to murder… – Goodreads synopsis

This mystery is so good! It features women gaining political and personal power in England’s profoundly patriarchal society, grappling with the ramifications of domestic violence, and the historical backdrop of the suffragette movement. So much rich soil underpins this mystery that I want everyone to read it.

What is your favourite mystery subgenre? What subgenre have you not read much of?

Golden Age mysteries are my bread and butter. My love of the genre drove me to start this blog and I love writing about them as a hobby.

I’m not fond of legal thrillers/ mysteries. I just find them dry and uninteresting most of the time.

Who are your auto-buy authors?

• Ellery Queen
• Mary Roberts Rinehart
• E.C.R. Lorac
• Anthony Berkley
• Agatha Christie
• Ethel Lina White

How do you typically find mystery recommendations?

Previously, I worked as an editor and librarian, and used bookseller. I have many contacts in the literary world who give magnificent recommendations. I love traveling to independent bookstores and getting recommendations from current booksellers. Fellow book bloggers and Twitter followers are also helpful recommenders.

What upcoming mystery releases are you excited for?

What is one misconception about the mystery genre you would like to lay to rest?

Most people think mysteries are rather lowbrow and devoid of any literary value. Of course, there are vapid mysteries—like any genre—but many are written beautifully and contain deep philosophical discussions about class, race, sexism, feelings about war, and ponderous themes. Good writers write good mysteries and craft rich characters who have intelligent and important things to ponder and challenge the reader.

If someone had never read a mystery book before, what 3 books would you choose to get them started.

I can’t wait to read other participants’ responses and to learn what they love and loathe about the mystery genre. Did I mention any of your favorites or malign a book you love? Sound off below.