Published: 1944 | Series: Robert MacDonald 25 Who shot miserly Old Mr. Folliner during a London blackout? About E.C.R. Lorac E.C.R. Lorac was the pseudonym of Edith Caroline Rivett (1894–1958), a prolific British author who began publishing during the golden age of detective fiction. Elected as
Published: 1937 | Series: Hercule Poirot 18 A picturesque cruise along the Nile is disrupted when American heiress Linnet Ridgeway is murdered. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became the best-selling novelist of all time. She wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, creating
Published: 1945 | Series: Roderick Alleyn 13 The body of Flossie Rubrick, MP, one of the most formidable women in New Zealand, is found packed inside one of her own bales of wool. About Ngaio Marsh Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh DBE (1895–1982) was a New Zealand author and playwright. Marsh
Dear listeners, I love to be transported by the crime fiction that I read. Settings that are nothing like my everyday life, whether that's a boat on the Nile or a sheep farm in New Zealand, are always welcome. Most of all, though, I like books that take
The best murder mysteries transport us to another era.
Caroline: I've always loved writing that can immerse me in another place and time, especially one very different to my own. There are lots of types of books that do this — historical fiction, science fiction, literary fiction, even some non-fiction. But for me, one type of book does
When do reading goals start to hurt more than help? Caroline and Leandra discuss reading intentions for the new year.
Published: 1926 | Series: Standalone When his son Ranulph is believed to have eaten fairy fruit, Nathaniel Chanticleer, the mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, finds himself looking into old mysteries in order to save his son and the people of his city. About Hope Mirrlees Hope Mirrlees (1887-1978) was a British translator, poet
Published: 1926 | Series: Alastair-Audley 1 Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, is a reprehensible rake with an axe to grind. Can Leonie win the Duke's affection, or will his need for revenge overcome them both? About Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (1902–1974) is best known today for her
Published: 1932 | Series: Alastair-Audley 2 When Mary Challoner discovered the young Marquis of Vidal's plans to run away with her lovely sister, she donned cloak and mask in a daring impersonation and found herself bound for France with the most notorious rake in Georgian London. About Georgette Heyer
Published: 2024 | Series: Standalone A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find he’s too late. About Lev Grossman Lev Grossman is the author of the Magicians trilogy, which was adapted for television in 2015. He has
Published: 2025 | Series: Standalone Slow Gods is the galaxy-spanning tale of one man's impossible life charted against the fate of humanity amongst the stars About Claire North Claire North is a pseudonym used for the adult fantasy and science fiction books written by Catherine Webb, a Carnegie Medal-nominated
Published: 2017 | Series: Standalone Dagobert Trostler is described as the Sherlock Holmes of Vienna. What sets him apart from his English counterpart is that Trostler is a bon-vivant in the heyday of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This collection features stories published in Vienna between 1889 and 1910. It provides a glimpse
Published: 1933 | Series: Asey Mayo 3 Asey Mayo, the “Codfish Sherlock Holmes,” investigates the murder of a traveling performer. About Phoebe Atwood Taylor Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1909-1976) was an American crime writer. She graduated from Barnard College in 1930 and married surgeon Grantley Walder Taylor in December 1951. She published
Published: 1931 | Series: Ellery Queen 3 An eccentric millionairess is discovered strangled with picture wire in an anteroom of the surgical suite of the Dutch Memorial Hospital. About Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is the pseudonym of American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905-1971). The two
Published: 1949 | Series: Standalone Twenty-one-year-old Brat Farrar is an orphan, alone in the world without friends or family. So when he is offered the unexpected chance to impersonate Patrick Ashby, the long-lost heir to a vast fortune on a country estate, he agrees. All is going to plan until Brat
Published: 1939 | Series: Standalone Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island, an isolated rock near the Devon coast. When one of the party dies suddenly they realise they may be harbouring a murderer among their number. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became the best-selling
Published: 1936 | Series: Albert Campion 7 In 1911, one of the members of the Barnabas family, owners of a leading publishing house in London, disappears. Twenty years later, another family member goes missing. About Margery Allingham Margery Allingham (1904-1966) was an English novelist. She is considered one of the four
Published: 1933 | Series: Lord Peter Wimsey 8 Lord Peter Wimsey goes undercover at an ad agency to find out who pitched a copywriter down a flight of stairs. About Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) is best known as the author of twelve detective novels, most of which feature
This is your audiobook for February 2026.
Published: 1931 | Series: Inspector French 7 During its regular Channel crossing the Newhaven-Dieppe Ferry encounters a yacht floating in its path. Further examination reveals that there are two dead bodies on board, both of whom have been shot. About Freeman Wills Croft Freeman Wills Crofts FRSA (1879-1957) was an Irish
Published: 1931 | Series: Standalone In this inverted mystery, the murderer's identity is revealed in the novel's first sentence: "It was not until several weeks after he had decided to murder his wife that Doctor Bickleigh took any active steps in the matter." About Francis
Published: 1928 | Series: Standalone Black lawyer Fred Merrit buys a home in a white neighborhood bordering Harlem. Merrit encounters the racism of his new white neighbors as well as racism and classism among the residents of Black Harlem. About Rudolph Fisher Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher (1897-1934) was a skilled physician,
Published: 1932 | Series: Standalone When a "conjure-man" or fortune-teller is discovered dead, his waiting room full of clients turn into suspects. Harlem detective Perry Dart is on the case. About Rudolph Fisher Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher (1897-1934) was a skilled physician, radiologist, musician, and influential writer during the
My personal favourite episodes from the archive.
Published: 1935 | Series: Standalone In this meta-fictional mystery, a pair of police detectives investigate the vanishing of a reclusive novelist whose true identity — and very existence — is called into question after his secretary reports him missing. About E.C.R. Lorac E.C.R. Lorac was the pseudonym of Edith
Dear listeners, I have read The Documents in the Case four times now, including my most recent revisit for today's new Green Penguin Book Club episode. Every time, I become more convinced of its brilliance and its utter oddness. 📣You can listen to this episode right now on
Green Penguin Music Caroline: Welcome to Shedunnit. I’m Caroline Crampton. And welcome back to Green Penguin Book Club, a series within Shedunnit that documents my journey of reading and discussing every crime or green title from the main Penguin series, in order. Our book today is The Documents in
Victoria Stewart joins Caroline to discuss Dorothy L. Sayers’ epistolary poisoning mystery.
Victoria Stewart joins Caroline to discuss Dorothy L. Sayers’ epistolary poisoning mystery.
Published: 1929 | Series: Standalone Strange events take place twenty years apart. A diamond necklace was stolen at a house party at the Tower House during the First World War; not long after, Sir Jeremy Sanfield shut up the Tower House and left for America, never to return. Twenty years later,
Published: 1934 | Series: Standalone Based on the events of a sensational murder trial, the 1922 Thompson and Bywaters case, F. Tennyson Jesse's novel portrays Edith Thompson as Julia Almond, who becomes trapped by her sex and class in a criminal justice system in which she has no control.
Published: 1930 | Series: Lord Peter Wimsey 5 The Crown's case is watertight. Harriet Vane is guilty of the killing her lover, and she will hang for it...unless her claims of innocence are true. Can Lord Peter Wimsey prove that Harriet Vane is not guilty of murder, and
Published: 1926 | Series: Lord Peter Wimsey 2 When the fiancé of Lord Peter's sister, Mary, is found dead outside the conservatory of the Wimsey family's shooting lodge in Yorkshire, the evidence points in an unfortunate direction. Their older brother, Gerald, the Duke of Denver, appears to
Published: 1868 | Series: Standalone The Moonstone, a priceless yellow diamond, is looted from an Indian temple and maliciously bequeathed to Rachel Verinder. On her eighteenth birthday, it is stolen again. About Wilkie Collins Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was a British author and playwright best-known for his novels, The Woman in White
Published: 2023 | Series: Standalone Stewart examines how ideas about crime, criminality, and judicial procedure that had developed in a domestic context influenced the representation and understanding of war crimes trials, victims of war crimes, and war criminals in post-Second World War Britain. About Victoria Stewart Victoria Stewart a writer and
Published: 2017 | Series: Standalone Stewart aims to provide a richer and more complex view of how crime and criminality were understood between the wars by placing debates about detective fiction in the context of this largely forgotten, diverse culture of writing about crime. About Victoria Stewart Victoria Stewart a writer
Dear listeners, Welcome to the first reading recommendations newsletter of 2026! Once a month, I pop into your inbox to share what the Shedunnit team — that is, me and my production assistant Leandra — have been reading while we are making the show. Perhaps you will find some inspiration for what
This is the Shedunnit Book Club Fact File episode for January 2026.
This is the Shedunnit Book Club Conversation episode for January 2026.
Putting Agatha Christie's alter ego in the spotlight.
Caroline: We spend a lot of time alone with our favourite writers, just them and us. With nothing but the page separating us, a close connection develops. Even though we only actually know what they have chosen to put in their work, a sense of familiarity and camaraderie often develops.
Was this Agatha Christie's greatest piece of misdirection?
Published: 1972 | Series: Ariadne Oliver 7 Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver investigate a decades-old tragedy to determine whether a young woman's parents died in a murder-suicide or double murder. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became the best-selling novelist of all time. She
Published: 1969 | Series: Ariadne Oliver 6 A teenage girl is drowned in an apple-bobbing tub at a Halloween party after boasting she once witnessed a murder, prompting Hercule Poirot to investigate her claim. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became the best-selling novelist of all
Published: 1966 | Series: Ariadne Oliver 5 Hercule Poirot helps a young woman who claims to think she may have committed murder while sharing a London flat with two other girls. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became the best-selling novelist of all time. She wrote
Published: 1961 | Series: Ariadne Oliver 4 A dying woman's list of names leads Mark Easterbrook to investigate a sinister trio of women in a village who may be connected to a series of convenient deaths. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became the
Published: 1956 | Series: Ariadne Oliver 3 Hercule Poirot investigates a mock murder hunt at a fête that turns deadly when a real body is discovered on the grounds of a country estate. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became the best-selling novelist of all time.
Published: 1952 | Series: Ariadne Oliver 2 This novel follows Hercule Poirot as he investigates the murder of an elderly charwoman to save a wrongly convicted man from hanging, uncovering secrets from the past that connect to present-day crimes. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British author who became
Published: 1936 | Series: Ariadne Oliver 1 Cards on the Table is a clever mystery where Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver Colonel Race and Superintendent Battle investigate the murder of a man killed during a bridge game, with only four suspects who were all playing at his table. About Agatha Christie Agatha
Was this Agatha Christie's greatest piece of misdirection?
This is your audiobook for January 2026.
Published: 1934 | Series: Parker Pyne A collection of short stories about Christie's lesser known sleuth Parker Pyne, a retired government employee who considers himself to be a "detective of the heart". It also contains the first appearances of Miss Lemon and Mrs Oliver, two characters who
Dear listeners, For the final Shedunnit episode of 2025, I am asking all six of the guests who joined me for Green Penguin Book Club episodes this year to take a nostalgic look at the place the series has in their own lives. In particular, I asked them to remember
We’ve got puffins, peacocks and penguins galore!
We’ve got puffins, peacocks and penguins galore!
We’ve got puffins, peacocks and penguins galore!
Dear listeners, We have arrived at our final reading update of 2025! I hope you have enjoyed getting this monthly peek into what Leandra and I are reading while we are working on Shedunnit, and have been inspired to pick up a book or two yourself as a result. We&
Published: 1930 | Series: Standalone This 1930 mystery novel is told entirely through letters, diary entries, and documents. When a man dies from apparent mushroom poisoning, the evidence seems clear, until a brilliant discovery reveals it might be murder, launching an intricate investigation into whether his death was accidental or carefully
Published: 1892 | Series: Sherlock Holmes Short Stories Collection 1 This is the first collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories, containing twelve tales that were published in the Strand Magazine between July 1891 and June 1892. It includes such classics as "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Adventure
Leandra and I discuss a complete breakdown of the trends and statistics involving the book club's voting polls and short list results.
Published: 2024 | Series: British Library Crime Classics This anthology of short stories includes cases from some of London's finest fictional detectives, including Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, John Dickson Carr’s Dr Gideon Fell and Anthony Gilbert's Inspector Field. The Shedunnit Book Club's
Dear listeners, This is seventh time December has rolled around during the time I've been making Shedunnit, which means that I've had plenty of opportunity to think about festive and wintry themes in murder mysteries. And, with the exception of 2022 (when I lost my voice
Make sure nobody has tampered with your turkey…
Make sure nobody has tampered with your turkey…
Make sure nobody has tampered with your turkey…
A closer look at the Detection Club co-founder.
Published: 1938 | Series: Standalone The apparently natural death of a village squire in Dorsetshire turns out to be a nasty case of arsenic poisoning that sets tongues wagging. About Anthony Berkeley Anthony Berkeley (1893-1971) was an influential British crime writer who revolutionized detective fiction through psychological complexity and unreliable narration.
This is the Shedunnit Book Club Conversation episode for December 2025.
This is the Shedunnit Book Club Fact File episode for December 2025.
This is your audiobook for December 2025.
Dear listeners, For the newest instalment in the Green Penguin Book Club series, I got to venture a little into a new sphere: the golden age of Hollywood. The book I look at in this episode, The Rasp by Philip MacDonald, set its British author on a path that resulted
Film historian Sergio Angelini joins Caroline to discuss a rather cinematic whodunnit.
Green Penguin Music Caroline: Welcome to Shedunnit. I’m Caroline Crampton. And welcome back to Green Penguin Book Club, a series within Shedunnit that documents my journey of reading and discussing every crime or green title from the main Penguin series, in order. Our book today is The Rasp by
Film historian Sergio Angelini joins Caroline to discuss a rather cinematic whodunnit.
Published: 1924 | Series: Anthony Gethryn #1 Philip MacDonald's first detective novel introduces amateur detective Anthony Gethryn and follows him as he investigates the murder of a cabinet minister bludgeoned to death with a wood-rasp at his English country house where everyone seems to have an alibi. About Philip
Published: 1926 | Series: Hercule Poirot 4 Roger Ackroyd, a wealthy widower, is found stabbed to death in his locked study. The victim's friend Dr. Sheppard narrates as the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot, newly retired to their village, investigates the murder. Multiple suspects emerge, each with secrets and motives,
Published: 1934 | Series: Lord Peter Wimsey 10 A car accident strands Lord Peter Wimsey and his manservant Bunter in the Lincolnshire fens on New Year's Eve. Taken in by the vicar of nearby village Fenchurch St Paul, Lord Peter ends up assisting with a record-breaking bell-ringing attempt, and
Published: 1941 | Series: Hannasyde & Hemingway 6 | Also found under the title A Christmas Party Inspector Hemingway of Scotland Yard investigates when wealthy Nathaniel Herriard is stabbed to death in his locked bedroom during a tension-filled Christmas house party at Lexham Manor. About Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (1902–1974) is
Published: 1942 | Series: Francis Pettigrew 1 A legal mystery in which High Court judge Mr Justice Barber receives anonymous death threats while traveling England's Southern Circuit, prompting barrister Francis Pettigrew to investigate before the threats become reality. About Cyril Hare Cyril Hare was the pseudonym of Alfred Alexander
Published: 1949 | Series: Inspector Cam, Book 1 In Joan Cockin's 1949 mystery novel, Inspector Cam investigates the murder of a nosy civil servant in the village of Little Biggling, where postwar tensions simmer between locals and the Ministry of Scientific Research staff who have overstayed their wartime occupation.
Dear listeners, This is the annual period where I begin to feel like I'm racing towards the end of the year, trying to get all the podcasting done before taking a break over Christmas. As such, my reading becomes very functional for a while — if it's
Published: 1944 | Series: Standalone, one of Agatha Christie's six novels written under her "Mary Westmacott" pseudonym. Stranded between trains on a journey back from the Middle East to England, smug, self-satisfied Joan Scudamore finds herself reflecting upon her life, her family, and finally coming to grips
Dear listeners, I know exactly when I started work on today's new episode of Shedunnit. It was 22nd January 2025 when I cracked open Georgette Heyer's first work of crime fiction, Footsteps in the Dark. (I do love to document what I read and when.) Since
Published: 1932 | Series: Standalone A brother and sister inherit a country house built on the foundations of an ancient abbey, and soon discover it harbours a mysterious and violent past. Is the house merely haunted, or is a murderer at work? About Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (1902–1974) is best
Why aren’t her dozen detective novels better known?
If I say the name Georgette Heyer, it immediately conjures a certain set of images, doesn't it? Debutantes in ballgowns designed to have the Empire silhouette, dashing men in flawless Regency evening dress, or else the military uniforms of the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. Opulent Mayfair townhouses, beautiful
Why aren’t her dozen detective novels better known?
Crime fiction and the 5th November.
Dear listeners, One might assume that, with all of its emphasis on logical deduction and empirical evidence, classic detective fiction would give all things spooky and supernatural a wide berth. And yet right from the very start with Edgar Allen Poe's short stories from the 1840s, writers have
A murder mystery can be spooky, too.
Caroline: A good murder mystery has a lot in common with a good magic trick. Both art forms combine an emphasis on transparency with their audience while simultaneously trying their best to deceive. The writer of a fair play mystery has an obligation not to conceal clues from their reader,
A murder mystery can be spooky, too.
Dear listeners, Do you like to read seasonally, matching your crime fiction to your own calendar? Or does it not matter to you whether there's snow on the ground outside when snow is falling in your book? Autumn is in full swing where both Leandra and I live,
Dear listeners, Part of what makes reading classic murder mysteries so enjoyable is the glimpse it offers into a world that is so unlike the one we inhabit today. Nothing makes the interwar "golden age" of detective fiction feel more alien to me than the ubiquity of servants.
How the interwar servant shortage changed detective fiction.
Caroline: In the autumn of 1919, Agatha Christie left Torquay and travelled by train to London. She had given birth to her daughter, Rosalind, at Ashfield, her childhood home, just a few days before. But now she was on the brink of a new era in her life, and she
