Delegates at the recent Bodies From The Library Conference at the British Library may recall the debate which took place on the merits, or lack of them, of the husband and wife writers G.D.H. and M. Cole. In the interests of balance, and of identifying which of their books to seek out and which to avoid, I have sought the views of people who know their works better than I do.

Barry Pike suggests the following titles as worth investigating:

Death of a Millionaire
The Blatchington Tangle (which has a 4* rating on Amazon from 31 reviews – so it is arguably a reasonably reliable guide to opinions)
Death of A Star
The Brothers Sackville
Burglars in Bucks (also, and confusingly for those who know their English counties, published as The Berkshire Mystery)
The Murder at Crome House (which has only two reviews on Amazon, a 3* and a 4*)

Barry suggests that you avoid the following:

Big Business Murder
Dr Tancred Begins
Murder at the Munition Works

BUT…Martin Edwards in his book The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, says that Dr Tancred Begins is, with Last Will and Testament, an “interesting experiment” and the pair of books rate a 5* and a 3* review on Amazon respectively (though there is only one review of each so these must be taken with caution).

Martin does include a G. D. H. and M. Cole book in his list of 100 books, End of An Ancient Mariner, which he says is “good enough to make it a pity that the Coles did not devote more time and effort to developing the inverted form of detective novel.”

And finally, Barry flags The Missing Aunt as “very entertaining”.

So if you are interested in following up this controversy and forming your own opinion (provided you have deep pockets as some of these out of print volumes come with eye-watering prices for those of us used to picking up our classic crime reading from the shelves of second hand book shops) you are now in a position to do so with a little guidance to steer you towards the best of their output and away from their less successful outings.

Josephine Bell: Death at Half-Term

Anthony Berkeley: Murder in the Basement

Nicholas Blake: A Question of Proof

Anthony Boucher: The Case Of The Seven of Calvary

Dorothy Bowers: Fear for Miss Betony

Leo Bruce: Case with Ropes and Rings

Miles Burton: Murder in the Coal Hole

G.D.H. and Margaret Cole: Scandal at School; Off with Her Head; Knife in the Dark

Edmund Crispin: Love Lies Bleeding; The Case Of The Gilded Fly

Glyn Daniel: The Cambridge Murders

Helen Eustis: The Horizontal Man

Timothy Fuller: Harvard Has a Homicide

James Hilton (Glen Trevor): Was It Murder? /Murder at School

Michael Innes: Death at the President’s Lodging

Lange Lewis: Murder Among Friends; Juliet Dies Twice

E.C.R. Lorac: A Pall for a Painter

Ngaio Marsh: Artists in Crime

John Cecil Masterman: An Oxford Tragedy

Helen McCloy: The Man in the Moonlight

Gladys Mitchell: Tom Brown’s Body; Laurels Are Poison; Death at the Opera

Dermot Morrah: The Mummy Case Mystery

Clifford Orr: The Dartmouth Murders

Stuart Palmer: Murder on the Blackboard

Q. Patrick/ Quentin: Murder at School; Death and the Maiden; The Cambridge Murders

Rupert Penny: Sweet Poison

R. Philmore: Short List; Procession of Two

Milton M. Propper: The Student Fraternity Murder

Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night

L. A. G. Strong: Othello’s Occupation

F.J. Whaley: Reduction of Staff

Ethal Line White: The Third Eye

Victor L. Whitechurch: Murder at the College

R.C. Woodthorpe: The Public School Murder