As a forgotten essay from Agatha Christie reveals her disdain both for her own characters and those of her crime-writing contemporaries, we look at the diverging history of detective fiction on opposite sides of the Atlantic, from the cosy crime of Miss Marple to the hardboiled fiction of Chandler and Hammett.
Christie was a founder member of the Detection Club and contributed to the collaborative novel Ask a Policeman. Published in 1933 to raise funds for the club, it has recently been reissued with Christie's waspish essay as an introduction. We catch up with a modern-day member of this distinguished circle, Laura Wilson, to find out what they get up to today.
Next we take a trip across the Atlantic to track down one of the rising stars of American crime writing, Attica Locke. Her latest novel, The Cutting Season, is set on a Louisiana plantation, where race and history are just beneath the surface. We also meet Tanya Byrne, the debut author who has become the first writer for Young Adults ever to be shortlisted for a Crime Writers Association Dagger award.
Finally we join the criminal fraternity ourselves by stealing a listen to Tom Hollander reading from the audiobook of JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy
Reading list
The Cutting Season by Attica Locke
Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne
Ask a Policeman by the Detection Club, with an introduction by Agatha Christie
A Willing Victim by Laura Wilson
Download The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling from Audible
