From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Golden Age of Murder

Martin Edwards

Start date: December 11, 2021

Finish date: January 14, 2022

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: The perfect taster for our Detection Club-themed challenge for 2022
[close] The perfect taster for our Detection Club-themed challenge for 2022

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 474 topics — 9,147 comments total

Buddy reads

* Vale of Tears (Bradecote and Catchpoll #5) by Sarah Hawkswood (Sept/Oct 25)
By Susan · 5 posts · 11 views

last updated Sep 20, 2025 02:26PM

* Vale of Tears (Bradecote and Catchpoll #5) - SPOILER Thread - (Sept/Oct 25)
By Susan · 5 posts · 7 views

last updated Sep 21, 2025 08:01AM

showing 10 of 28 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 04, 2017 John Frankham rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

This book is by Martin Edwards, who edits the British Library Crime Classics series, including introductions to the novels and the collections of short stories. He is steeped in the title subject, and it shows in the quality of the finished product.

Amending an earlier review:

This long, mainly chronological study, looks at the famous Detection Club, founded in 1930 by Dorothy Sayers, G.K Chesterton and 36 other popular mystery writers of the time. It was a very diverse group comprised of authors ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jun 16, 2020 Calum Fisher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a wonderful, definitive history of the Detection Club and of Golden Age mystery fiction (in the UK at least) in general. Edwards has an encyclopedic knowledge of books and authors both classic and obscure, and the book has enough to-read suggestions to last a lifetime - even he can't have read them all, surely? But this is more than a discussion of fiction, it is also hugely enhanced by focusing on the lives and relationships of the authors, including to some extent their relationships w This is a wonderful, definitive history of the Detection Club and of Golden Age mystery fiction (in the UK at least) in general. Edwards has an encyclopedic knowledge of books and authors both classic and obscure, and the book has enough to-read suggestions to last a lifetime - even he can't have read them all, surely? But this is more than a discussion of fiction, it is also hugely enhanced by focusing on the lives and relationships of the authors, including to some extent their relationships with each other, and finding clues to these in their books. The whole thing is wonderfully done and beautifully woven together, the product of years of archive research as well as decades of reading. Christie, of course, has a prominent role in the book, but I was glad to see lesser-known characters such as Anthony Berkeley and Dorothy L Sayers more centre-stage, as they clearly played a more integral role in the Club.

Perhaps the book's greatest contribution is its righteous taking to task of Julian Symons, whose brilliant history of crime and detective fiction (he clearly separates these) was somewhat dismissive of the latter, and of the Golden Age in particular. Edwards criticises Symons directly and repeatedly, mounting a strong defence of these books as fiction - genre fiction, yes, but capable of considerable art, ingenious craft, and wider social commentary. He also mostly scotches Symons' claim that the vast majority of Golden Age writers were conservative right-wingers (this is simply false), though I could have done with more discussion of their politics and how they are (or are not) reflected in their work - the form still strikes me as conservative in a loose sense (not least aesthetically), regardless of the personal politics of its authors. Finally, and perhaps above all, Symons dismissed vast swathes of the Golden Age as 'Humdrums' - Edwards begs vehemently to differ, and rightly so. He mounts a particularly strong defence of Henry Wade. I would add Gladys Mitchell (whom Symons found mostly 'impenetrable') - interestingly an author that Edwards identifies as conservatively-inclined, yet whose books (and perhaps personal life) betray an anarchic, critical spirit. There is certainly more to be written about the personal and aesthetic politics of Golden Age writing.

The Golden Age of Murder is, however, an exceptional achievement and a riveting read. It's hard to imagine it being bettered. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2022 Tahlia Fernandez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library

When I think of this book, the first word that comes to mind is "Intriguing". That is what this book was: intriguing, absorbing, fascinating. I was introduced to the Golden Age of Mysteries when I was 9 or 10 years old with "Hercule Poirot's Christmas". I was hooked and spent most of my childhood and teenage years devouring whatever Agatha Christie mysteries I could get my hands on. This love continues to this day. This book has helped expand that love beyond Christie, Sayers, and Allingham by i ...more

Like · see review

Apr 04, 2017 Ellen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Loved this. It has sent me scurrying off to dig out all my Agatha Christies. Her stories are so familiar one forgets how innovative she was.

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2016 Doris rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, mystery, z-2016-challenge

Gossipy and entertaining, but too many names to keep track of and no real point.

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 19, 2021 Carolien rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021, non-fiction

This is an excellent resource for anyone with an interest in the mainly English authors of mysteries of the 1920s - 1950s. Many of these authors were part of the Detection Club and the club's current historian tells how the club was formed, how the authors interacted with each other and the sources for their plots and characters. Highly recommend this for those interested in this period's detective fiction. The book is full of little nuggets of information and will ensure that you add another pi ...more

Like · see review