WW2 and the Golden Age Transcript

Caroline: The high point of golden age detective fiction occurred between the First and Second World Wars. That's a generally accepted fact. Of course, when Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and co were writing and publishing in the 1930s, they didn't know they were part of a literary movement that would be called a "golden age". But decades later, when critics looked back on this extraordinary moment in crime fiction, that's what the interwar period would come to be known as.

In the same way, the beginning of the Second World War is widely considered to be the end of this golden age. Not least because two of the genre's most prominent advocates, Dorothy L. Sayers and Anthony Berkeley, stopped writing crime fiction at the end of the 1930s. By the time the war ended in 1945, the world had utterly changed. Country houses, neat solutions, and minute class distinctions were things of the past. Stories, like life, became messier and more obviously impacted by trauma.

But. But. There are exceptions to every rule, including this one. The golden age of detective fiction had ended, supposedly, in 1939. Strictly, this isn't a form of crime writing that survived the Second World War, let alone reckoned with all of its complexities. And yet one of the best examples of a classic impossible crime whodunnit was published in 1944 and relies on the everyday details of the war for every aspect of its plot. How can that be?

To find out, let's take a closer look at Green for Danger by Christianna Brand.

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Welcome to Shedunnit. I'm Caroline Crampton.

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Before we get into it, a warning: Shedunnit production assistant Leandra Griffith and I are going to discuss this book with full spoilers. Please listen responsibly!

Full conversation transcript coming soon

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This episode of Shedunnit was produced and hosted by me, Caroline Crampton. My guest was Leandra Griffith, who as well as being Shedunnit's production assistant, also makes videos about books at her Youtube channel, Leandra the TBR Zero. You can find links to all the books and sources we referenced in the episode description and at shedunnitshow.com/ww2andthegoldenage. I publish transcripts of every episode including this one; find them all at shedunnitshow.com/transcripts.

If you'd like to hear more conversations about books like this, join the Shedunnit Book Club now at shedunnitbookclub.com/join. Leandra and I discuss make an episode like this every month discussing the book that the book club is reading.

Shedunnit is edited by Euan McAleece and production assistance came from Leandra Griffith.

Thanks for listening.

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