Dear listeners,

We're very fortunate to be living in an era of reprints. It is now the norm that publishers big and small are bringing crime fiction from the past back into ready availability. Especially with more ebook and audio editions as well, reading classic detective fiction has never been so accessible.

It's all changed very quickly, too. When I started Shedunnit in 2018, a few republication projects were already underway, but I would often just have to give up on an episode idea because I simply couldn't source the more obscure books I wanted to cover for a reasonable price. And now there's almost too many — I frequently feel that I'm not doing a good job of showing the breadth of what listeners could be enjoying.

Today, I'm going to highlight a few upcoming titles that I'm personally looking forward to and that I thought you might like to check out too. Just to note: no publisher has asked or paid me to do this, nor has any oversight of what I say! I do receive advance preview copies of some titles, which is why I'm able to show you photographs for a couple of those I've selected. If you like the sound of any of these books, considering pre-ordering or requesting at your local library to support the ongoing work of reprinting classic crime fiction. Publication dates and availability will vary depending on where you are in the world; in the UK, at least, these are all coming out in the next three months.

Suspicion by Seichō Matsumoto

I was first introduced to the Japanese writer Seichō Matsumoto when the Shedunnit Book Club read his 1958 novel Points and Lines (aka Tokyo Express) in the summer of 2024. I really enjoyed that "unbreakable alibi' mystery that sees a young detective pore over train timetables and reconstruct ferry journeys to find the true explanation for a supposed double suicide. For the members-only bonus episode I made about it, I interviewed translator Jesse Kirkwood, who was a great guest. I've been keeping an eye on Jesse's work ever since, and when I spotted that he had a new Matsumoto translation out, I clicked "pre-order" ever so fast. I'm looking forward to reading this psychological noir about a supposed femme fatale who maintains her innocence even as the whole world is accusing her of murdering her husband...

Airing in a Closed Carriage by Joseph Shearing

I think this might be the longest title in the British Library Crime Classics series to date. Look how chunky it is! Joseph Shearing was one of several pennames used by the prolific writer Marjorie Bowen. Much of her work is tinged with horror or supernatural elements, and what I've read so far of her mystery fiction gave me the creeps (in a good way) too. I recorded one of her short stories, "Cambric Tea", for Book Club members in December 2023. This book is based on the real-life Florence Maybrick case, which I've covered on the show before, and I'm intrigued to see what Bowen does with it. Readers of my personal newsletter will know that I'm trying to make time for longer books in 2026, and at nearly 500 pages this should be a good candidate.

The Baffle Book by Lassiter Wren and Randle McKay

Although I'm a keen reader of golden age puzzle mysteries, I don't tend to enjoy actual puzzles that much. Cryptic crosswords leave me cold and Cain's Jawbone is incomprehensible to me. I do like the sort of riddle that is written like a very short short story, though, and The Baffle Book from 1928 is just that. The answers are in the book and there's also a grading system that awards points at different levels (so you don't get discouraged by not getting something completely right). Very fun.

Why Did She Die? by Joan Coggin

I wrote at the end of last year about my enjoyment of the Lady Lupin series of novels from the 1940s. I find their combination of character, setting, silliness and plot works very well for me — they're good light reading. With this book, Galileo Publishing will have republished all four of Joan Coggin's mystery novels, a true service to those who enjoy her fiction as it was quite hard to come by before.

Are you looking forward to any particular reprints over the next few months? Let us know in the comments.

Until next time,

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.

Dear listeners,

When reading murder mysteries, I tend to think of motive as a psychological question. What is it about the inner life of one of these characters that makes them willing to take the life of another? Revenge, greed, hate: these are internal factors that are then released into the world. Until I started researching the history of divorce for today's new episode, I hadn't considered that there could be an unrelated and exterior structure that played such a large part in the decision to kill.

With the help of my guest, legal historian Dr Jen Aston, I took a look back at the way the process for ending a marriage evolved over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and how the difficulty of doing so influenced the way murderer's motives appeared in fiction.

There are some books that I would recommend taking a closer look at if you're interested in this subject.

Jumping Jenny by Anthony Berkeley

Berkeley's 1933 detective novel is a thrilling take on an inverted mystery, with detective Roger Sheringham veering into morally grey territory as he tries to prevent the police from arriving at the real explanation for a woman's death. This is the most technical divorce murder mystery I've yet read, as it deals with the cooling off period between the issue of the "decree nisi" and the "decree absolute" and how someone with ill intentions could take advantage of this to ruin others' happiness. Berkeley had been divorced himself and was outspoken on the cruelties of the state of the law in the interwar years, so perhaps this deep engagement with the process is to be expected from him.

Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles

Two years before Jumping Jenny, Berkeley had published a different take on the question of "what might an evil and unscrupulous man do when divorce is not possible?". His answer was this "howdunnit", in which readers follow the male protagonist through all his attempts to try and kill the wife whose "decency" won't allow her to free him to be with another woman. This character is deeply unpleasant, but such is Berkeley's skill that he almost makes you root for the bad guy in the end.

Busman's Honeymoon and other works by Dorothy L. Sayers

Sayers never wrote a novel that put divorce front and centre as Berkeley did, but it simmers away in the background of much of her fiction. In Clouds of Witness, a woman is unable to escape an awful domestic abuse situation because of the imbalance in the grounds that men and women can use to seek a divorce. The Documents in the Case, our recent Green Penguin Book Club subject, features an act of adultery that might not have ended in tragedy had the dissolution of a marriage carried less social stigma at the time. And in the epistolary prologue to Busman's Honeymoon, we get a very funny description of the "Brighton quickie" method of securing divorces. Sayers makes very clear that this dishonest, absurd tactic does not meet with her approval.

I hope you find today's new episode interesting!

Until next time,

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.

Dear listeners,

Welcome to our reading recommendations newsletter! 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. I hope you'll find some ideas for what you might read here, or get a hint of what is coming up on the podcast in the future.

Caroline Has Read: Jumping Jenny by Anthony Berkeley

I read this 1933 novel featuring Berkeley's series detective, Roger Sheringham, as part of my research for the episode you will hear next week — I wonder if anyone can guess what the topic will be based on this title? I found it to be a fascinating but unsettling read. It opens with Sheringham attending a fancy dress party at a country house, where all the guests have been asked to come in costume as famous murderers. The host has also decorated the exterior with a fake gibbet with several dummy figures strung up on it.

By the end of the night, his own sister-in-law is hanging there, dead, for real. Was it suicide or a rather cunning murderer? Sheringham thinks he knows, and in an extraordinary move for a detective, he alters the scene to protect a friend. This sets of a confounding sequence of events, as the police try to discover what really happened, while Sheringham attempts to mislead them while concealing his own involvement. It's a really compelling formal experiment that merges the "howdunnit" with the "whodunnit" and, although not exactly comfortable reading, I would recommend it if you're interested in 1930s crime fiction innovation.

Caroline Will Read: The Murders in Praed Street by John Rhode

This is coming up soon as a Green Penguin Book Club choice. I know that John Rhode (one of the pennames used by the author Cecil Street) was incredibly prolific, but I've only read one of his books before — The Paddington Mystery from 1925, which was the Shedunnit Book Club's chosen book in January 2025. As you'll hear if you listen to the bonus episode we made about it, I wasn't a particular fan of that book, so I'm hoping that The Murders in Praed Street is something different.

Leandra Has Read: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

As members of the Shedunnit Book Club already know, this 1892 short story collection is the club's March choice. Somehow, I am ahead in schedule and managed to already re-read my copy. Quite a few years span between now and my initial reading of this collection, and one topic I looked forward to discussing with members and Caroline are which stories seem to be more memorable than others. There were plots I remembered distinctly while other stories I had no memory of having read them before. It will also be fun to discuss how often our infallible detective does, in fact, fail one way or another.

Leandra Will Read: Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Last year, Heather Fawcett wrapped up her fantasy series following Emily Wilde, a curmudgeonly professor and expert of faerie folklore. As saddened as I was to see Emily's adventures come to a close, I was fortunate enough to have a new release by Fawcett on the horizon! One of my most anticipated releases for 2026 is Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter. It follows a woman who runs a cat rescue in 1920s Montreal. With little options left to her, she must seek the help of a grouchy but charming wizard in order to save the cat shelter. Described as a heartwarming cozy fantasy, I imagine it will be the perfect read to get me through the latter half of winter!

That's how we started the year with our reading What are you going to be reading? You can let us know by replying directly to this email or by leaving a comment to join the conversation with other readers. We've also recently released a bonus episode just for Shedunnit Book Club members discussing our best books of 2025 and what reading habits we're adopting in 2026, so if you aren't already a member, you might like to join so you can listen to that.

Until next time,

Caroline

P.S. You'll notice that our book links are now to a new style of page on the Shedunnit website (for example), where we're gathering together all of the links to places where you can purchase each title, along with details of when said book has been mentioned on the podcast. I hope you find them a useful way to browse. If you purchase a book from one of the links on those pages, the podcast will receive a small commission for referring you — while the price remains the same for you — so it's a good way to support the show while doing something you were doing anyway!