The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace
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 planned killing.
About Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) is best known as the author of twelve detective novels, most of which feature her aristocratic and literary-minded sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. She was a co-founder of the Detection Club, an important critic during the golden age of detective fiction, and a major champion of ambitious crime fiction. After her last crime novel was published in 1937, she dedicated herself to writing plays, religious broadcasting, and translation, including a major new version of Dante's Divine Comedy.
About Robert Eustace
Robert Eustace (1869–1943) was the pen name of Eustace Robert Barton, a doctor who was a prolific co-writer of crime fiction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of his stories were written in collaboration with the Irish writer L.T. Meade, with whom he created the memorable characters of John Bell, a "ghost exposer" and the criminal genius Madame Sara. He also wrote stories with Edgar Jepson and Edgar Wallace. On the strength of his work with Dorothy L. Sayers in The Documents in the Case, he was elected as a member of the Detection Club. His life was the subject of his own Shedunnit episode, Who Was Robert Eustace?.
The Documents in the Case has been mentioned in several episodes of the podcast. It came up in Death on Paper, which is about the phenomenon of epistolary mysteries. It featured heavily in Who Was Robert Eustace?, which covers the murky biography of the book's co-writer. It is also mentioned in Dorothy L Sayers Solves Her Mystery. It appeared as the focus of episode 13 of Green Penguin Book Club.
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