June MysteryKIT: Golden Age Detection

My favorite mystery reading is from the British Golden Age, very roughly 1920-1940. My parents had a number of Agatha Christie's books on the shelf when I was growing up, and I devoured them! Since then I've read all of Christie's works. I've also read Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham (who also wrote a number of books that aren't detection), Nicholas Blake, Dorothy L. Sayers, and many, many more Golden Age detective novels. Christianna Brand is a personal favorite author who, while she wrote after the Golden Age, wrote fully in the spirit of the great GA authors.

For this challenge, while I encourage you to try to read something from the 1920s or 1930s, you should feel free to read anything that's billed as traditional Golden Age style detection. Looking for something recent? Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders is a fun homage to GA detection.

A few personal favorites to give you some ideas:

Agatha Christie:
Death on the Nile
And Then There Were None
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The ABC Murders
The Moving Finger
... really almost anything she wrote before or during World War II. The Secret Adversary and The Big Four are thrillers, not detection.

Other authors:
Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (first in series is A Man Lay Dead)
Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham
The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham
The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake (first in series is A Question of Proof; all are great but note that The Smiler with the Knife is a thriller, not detection)
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

What are your favorite Golden-Age-style mysteries? Tell the rest of us about them and about your reading this month! And don't forget to add your books to the wiki!

Lots of options in this category. I'll look through my list of things on hand and try to tackle something from that list.

I will use this KIT to advance my Agatha Christie project (reading all of her novels), and might try to squeeze in one of the British Library Crime Classics that fits.

>1 NinieB: Thank you for the suggestions above - I know next to nothing about the Golden Age apart from Agatha Christie, so I am interested in all the recs and BBs from this thread.

I have a couple of books by Golden Age authors, though rather later works:

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie and
Hare Sitting Up by Michael Innes

>2 thornton37814: We'll look forward to seeing your choice!

>3 MissBrangwen: Yay Agatha!

>4 Robertgreaves: Five Little Pigs is really good, and I think it's WWII-era so not really out of the ballpark. I haven't read Hare Sitting Up, so if you read it I'll look forward to your review.

I am going to read The Saltmarsh Murders by Gladys Mitchell. This is the fourth book in her Mrs. Bradley series. Mrs. Bradley is a very unique character and I am looking forward to reading more of her adventures.

I'm picking a Gladys Mitchell too, The Rising of the Moon.

This is a trickier one for me, but I'll come up with something. May hold off to try until tomorrow. Hopefully tagmashes will be fixed by then.

I will probably stick with Dame Agatha for this one.

I'll be reading Ngaio Marsh's Off With His Head.

I'll read Thirteen Guests by A. Jefferson Farjeon.

Without the tagmash working, it takes longer for me to figure out if anything on my tbr will fit. If it doesn't get working again, I will likely try this one (which wasn't on my tbr):

- The ABC Murders / Agatha Christie

I just got The Z murders from a book swap, yay.

I also love Golden Age detective novels! So I'm spoiled for choice, but I am planning to read Death in Ecstasy by Ngaio Marsh (pub. 1936), which is the next up for me in her Roderick Alleyn series.

>5 NinieB: It's probably going to be Francis Breeding's Death Walks in Eastrepps.

I'll reread (from aeons ago) A Man Lay Dead .

>1 NinieB: I was thinking of reading a Holmes/Russell mystery, any of which take place during the 1920s, will that work?

>17 fuzzi: Those are traditional detection, right? So I think that's in the spirit of the Golden Age. Enjoy!

>18 NinieB: super, thanks!

ETA: I just emailed our local library requesting a copy of Castle Shade when it is released next week, woo!

I will be reading Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers

I finished Francis Beeding's Death Walks in Eastrepps.

I read Murder Offstage by L.B. Hathaway

I finished The Monster by Harrington Hext (pseudonym of Eden Phillpotts).

I finished The Bone Is Pointed by Arthur W. Upfield, an Australian golden ager.

Just finished The Shakespeare Murders by A.G. Macdonell.

One of the best Golden Age mysteries that I've read. An intriguing plot, mostly good characterization especially the amateur sleuth who was particularly likeable, and an exciting, satisfying finish. The puzzle that concealed the treasure worth a million pounds was a clever one, no wonder it hadn't been solved in a hundred years.

>25 VivienneR: BB taken! I had an Amazon digital credit burning a hole in my pocket—it covered the price of this book.

>26 NinieB: Nice! I hope you enjoy it.

>25 VivienneR: BB for me too!

>28 christina_reads: :-)

The ABC Murders / Agatha Christie
(BBC Dramatization)
3 stars

So, when someone is killing people starting with the beginning of the alphabet, they bring Poirot in by sending letters hinting at the next murder to come. So, the first person to die had both initials start with A and the town she was in started with A; then B, then C…

I listened to the BBC Dramatization (though I didn’t grab it on purpose), which is usually better for me than the books. I’ve found that many of these “golden age” (and earlier) mysteries just aren’t my thing. I liked the premise behind it, but this one still (even the dramatization) didn’t hold my attention well enough to follow everything. It may have been better (for me) than reading the actual book, though.

The July Mystery KIT is up.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/332932

I have completed my read of The Saltmarsh Murders by Gladys Mitchell. Originally published in 1932, this mystery was everything I was hoping for - strange, humorous and clever.

I am reading The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie. Poirot did not appear for quite a few chapters, as Dame Agatha was setting the scene and describing the characters and their backgrounds. I am into it now.

Not the golden age, but my library has recently added the Evan Horne series to its collection. I'm checking out the first book, Solo hand by Bill Moody. Looks like they are all based in the jazz scene to some extent.

>34 markon: I can recommend that series. I enjoyed a few and then thought they were showing signs of sameness. The author has amazing music knowledge.