Books by Christianna Brand
Christianna Brand (1907-1988) was an English writer of mysteries who was born in British Malaya. Her real name was Mary Christianna Lewis.
“Christianna Brand was a superb Golden Age author. Hers is a name that deserves to be mentioned alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh…She wrote only a handful of mysteries, but Green for Danger represents her at her very best. It’s not a locked-room mystery. It doesn’t feature a physical impossibility, but it does feature a perfect, closed circle of suspects. This is set up from the very first page of the novel. We begin with a postman doing his rounds. What Christianna Brand does, which is so audacious, is she itemises the handful of letters that are in his bag, which are the correspondence of our key players in the mystery – the doctors and nurses at the field hospital. She then boldly states that one of these people is a murderer, so we know that from the handful of six or so characters to whom we’ve been introduced at that point, one of them is the murderer. It flies in the face of that Golden Age mystery cliché of having the least likely suspect – somebody who has played a minor role in the narrative – suddenly taking on new significance.” Read more...
The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries
Tom Mead, Thriller and Crime Writer
“Death of Jezebel has been unavailable at a sensible cost for decades. People have been talking about it, but not able to find it. Now it’s available as a mass market paperback, which is great in itself. It’s a very interesting story. It’s complex, it’s labyrinthine. It’s set at a pageant post-Second World War. Apparently, that was a big thing at that time, which I didn’t realize before I read the book. It’s got multiple solutions and is very ingenious. It’s also a closed circle mystery, because she gives you a cast of characters at the beginning and says that one of those people is the killer. You’ve also got a fair idea of why. It’s quite tightly written, but she manages to juggle the suspects around in a very ingenious way.” Read more...
Martin Edwards, Literary Scholar
“In classic summer holiday mystery fashion, a murder is committed among the resort group that he’s in, and the interesting twist is that Inspector Cockrill is initially the suspect when the local police start investigating the crime. He’s right there, he has the means and the motive—so part of the reason that he jacks in his holiday and starts investigating is because he needs to prove that he didn’t do it. Then, of course, it becomes an interesting investigation in its own right.” Read more...
Caroline Crampton, Memoirist
Interviews where books by Christianna Brand were recommended
The Best Summer Mysteries, recommended by Caroline Crampton
If you’re about to jet off for a relaxing vacation, you might be looking for a page-turning detective story to keep you enthralled on your sun-lounger. Here, Caroline Crampton—creator of the popular podcast Shedunnit—recommends five classic murder mysteries set in glamorous summer holiday locations.
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1
The Detective Stories of Edgar Allan Poe: Three Tales Featuring C. Auguste Dupin
by Edgar Allan Poe -
2
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
by Gaston Leroux -
3
The Third Bullet and Other Stories
by John Dickson Carr -
4
Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938)
by Agatha Christie -
5
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
by Ross and Shika Mackenzie (translators) & Soji Shimada
The Best Golden Age Mysteries, recommended by Martin Edwards
The Best Golden Age Mysteries, recommended by Martin Edwards
Partly as a response to the horrors of World War I, the 1920s and 30s saw a surge in the writing of whodunnits, a period often referred to as the ‘golden age’ of mystery writing. Here, Martin Edwards, one of the leading experts on the genre, picks out some key works, with a special focus on ‘locked room’ mysteries.
The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries, recommended by Tom Mead
In the Golden Age of mystery between the two World Wars, writers loved to devise fiendish plots where seemingly impossible crimes were committed. Tom Mead, author of two ‘locked-room’ mysteries set in the 1930s, introduces us to some of his favourite books in the genre, from the Golden Age itself to books written in more recent decades that pay tribute to its traditions.