An Inspector Calls

Dear friends,

This newsletter is by way of being a two-for-one deal, because I haven't been very well the last couple of weeks and thus did not have the bandwidth to send one for the last new episode. However, I am now back in your inbox and I would like you to look at these four books and think about what they have in common:

They are all detective novels. They are all Penguin Crime paperbacks (known affectionately in this parish as "green penguins"). And they are all books that I happen to own. But for our purposes today, the salient point is that these are all murder mysteries in which a professional detective — a police inspector — takes the starring role. Reading from left to right, we have cases conducted by Inspectors Cockrill, Bridie, Owen and French.

This is the motif that I'm focusing on in the new episode of the podcast, "An Inspector Calls". While I have always enjoyed the exploits of both amateur and professional golden age sleuths, I think it's fair to say that it's the amateurs who get most of the attention from crime fiction fans. Poirot, Marple, Campion, Holmes — these are the names in lights.

But recently I have found myself very much enjoying quieter, more unassuming characters like E.C.R. Lorac's Inspector Macdonald, who hold themselves to a certain standard of professional ethics and get the job done with a reassuring level of efficiency. There's plenty to be said for a pro that works in partnership with an amateur, as Lestrade did with Holmes or Japp with Poirot, but I'm curious about those steadfast, play-by-the-rules detectives who can carry an entire novel by themselves.

Lorac's work was sadly never added to the Penguin series, but I do have a White Circle edition of Macdonald's 1946 Devon-set adventure Fire in the Thatch:

These five professional detectives — E.C.R. Lorac's Macdonald, Christianna Brand's Cockrill, Margery Allingham's Bridie, E.R. Punshon's Owen and Freeman Wills Crofts' French — each bring something different to a professional-led murder mystery. I work my way through all of their characters and case histories on the new episode, and I hope you will find something new to think about or perhaps a new series to explore as you listen.

And while I'm here, I must draw your attention to the last episode of Shedunnit, which did not get its own newsletter. That was an instalment of Green Penguin Book Club all about Penguin 64, The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. My guest was mystery writer and locked room specialist Tom Mead, and I greatly enjoyed diving into this impossible crime thriller with him.

If you have heard that episode and/or have read the book, please do write into the show at caroline@shedunnitshow.com with your thoughts — I will be sending another "Green Penguin Mailbag" newsletter very soon.

Until then,

Caroline

You can listen to every episode of Shedunnit at shedunnitshow.com or on all major podcast apps. Selected episodes are available on BBC Sounds. There are also transcripts of all episodes on the website. The podcast is now newsletter-only — we're not updating social media — so if you'd like to spread the word about the show consider forwarding this email to a mystery-loving friend with the addition of a personal recommendation.