Recommendations from Jake Kerridge and Moira Redmond (requested by many attendees at this year’s conference):

Taking Detective Stories Seriously – the collected crime reviews of Dorothy L. Sayers with an introduction by Martin Edwards

Murder for Pleasure – the life and times of the Detective Story by Howard Haycraft

Snobbery with Violence – English crime stories and their audience by Colin Watson

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

Guilty but Insane – Mind and Law in Golden Age Detective Fiction by Samantha Walton

Deadlier than the Male by Jessica Mann

The Hooded Gunman – an illustrated history of the Collins Crime Club by John Curran

Talking about Detective Fiction by P. D. James

Murder Ink – the mystery reader’s companion by Dilys Winn

Murderess Ink – the better half of the mystery by Dilys Winn

A Catalogue of Crime by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor

Bloody Murder – from the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History by Julian Symons

The Bedside Companion to Crime by H. R. F. Keating

The Puritan Pleasures of the Detective Story  – from Sherlock Holmes to Van der Valk by Erik Routley

Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? by Pierre Bayard

The novels of Gilbert Adair

A Talent To Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie by Robert Barnard

To mark 150 years of the Metropolitan Police Crime Museum (sometimes referred to as Scotland Yard’s “Black Museum”), it is opening its doors for a limited period to members of the public to view items from its collection of artifacts relating to crimes the force has investigated. Museum curator, Dr Clare Smith, says “The exhibits relate to cases that inspired or are referenced by Golden Age writers such as the Emily Kaye and Patrick Mahon case mentioned by Dorothy L Sayers and The Brides in the Bath and Crippen cases referenced by Agatha Christie.” Normally members of the public are not permitted to view the collection, which is primarily a resource for the police for training and historical record-keeping purposes, so this is an opportunity not to be missed for anyone interested in the overlap between true crime and detective fiction, especially of the Golden Age.

Tickets are free of charge but must be reserved in advance through the Museum’s website: https://police-museum-tour.eventbrite.co.uk/