I could talk about how libraries work as an avenue for serendipitous discovery of books but I won’t because this review is going to be a paean to the golden age of mysteries.

Or at least, it would be if I could write paeans.

The Golden Age of Murder, on the other hand, is a history and an appreciation of the Detection Club. And since the Detection Club comprised of most of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction authors (e.g. Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, etc), the book is also an investigation into the form of the mystery during its golden ages and how it was created and subverted.

Because there are quite a few people in the Detection Club, the focus on the people were a bit uneven. In general, I thought that Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Anthony Berkeley got the most attention, with M. Cole and G.D.H. Cole, G. K. Chesterton, and E. C. Bentley getting the next most. The rest of the members, such as Helen Simpson, John Rhode, Milward Kennedy, etc are also discussed but the spotlight didn’t shine on them for too long – understandable, given that the book was only 435 pages.

What this book did do quite brilliantly was to use the members of the Detection Club to chart the changes in mystery novels, from the rise of the idea of “fair play” to how various authors subverted the unspoken rules at times. It was a fascinating look and if it wasn’t pointed out, I wouldn’t have guessed that the mystery novel achieved so many breakthroughs during the golden age.

I was also really surprised by the diversity in the members of the Detection Club. In terms of political views, they range from pro-establishment to pro-socialism, and their views in other matters were equally diverse. But they still managed to come together to collaborate and discuss murder mysteries (and influence one another). In this age of growing polarisation, it was refreshing to see a reminder that you can be friends with people who have different beliefs.

The book also made a good point about the lack of darkness/grittiness in many of the novels – the Golden Age of Detective Fiction was during the 1920s and 1930s, which was also the time of the Great Depression and a few years after WWI. The reading public didn’t want more dark things, they wanted to escape through fiction, hence the high amount of ‘cozy mysteries’ produced during that time.

This is a great book and I highly recommend it to fans of mysteries, especially if you enjoy Golden Age mysteries. I’m a bit ashamed that even after reading Talking About Detective Fiction (which is due for a re-read), I’ve still not read so many of these authors. Fingers crossed that I’ll be able to find their books in the library or bookstore!

Featured Image: Photo by Me