Caroline: There's a tendency sometimes to think of detective fiction from the early twentieth century as "cosy". In fact, in some countries the phrase "cozy mystery" even serves as a semi-official subgenre of crime writing — especially in America where it is defined against the
Caroline: In 1945, the American critic Edmund Wilson published a series of three essays deploring detective fiction as written by Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and Dorothy L. Sayers as of little value. In the second essay, which was titled “Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?" as a direct dig
Caroline: Before there was Miss Marple, Mrs Bradley or Harriet Vane, there was Amelia Butterworth, Dorcas Dene and Loveday Brooke. Although Victorian detective fiction is most associated with a male character that tends to overshadow all else — Sherlock Holmes — there was a thriving tradition of women detectives among nineteenth century
