THE GOLDEN AGE NEVER LOSES ITS SHINE
The enduring appeal of the Whodunnit.
By Victoria Dowd
Say the words Golden Age Detective fiction (or GAD as it is known by fans) and images of old fashioned, cosy murder mysteries immediately spring to mind. Indeed, many of the groups of devotees have very tight definitions of GAD. Nothing less than strict adherence to these rules will qualify a book for entry to the Golden kingdom of crime.
In 1929, Ronald Knox set his rules down in the ‘Detective Decalogue,’ – ten rules that defined the genre. They range from the criminal must be mentioned early in the story, to no poisons unknown to science can be used. The detective must not be the murderer and it can’t be a supernatural agency. There can never be more than one secret passageway. Nowadays, there is one rule which many GAD enthusiasts have added to this list – dates. Only fiction written in the 1920s and 30s will even be considered as GAD. Which, technically, would even exclude a number of Agatha Christie’s later novels.
The tropes of this era are well-known and easily recognisable to most readers. The setting is familiar – an isolated country house or chocolate box village some of the most popular. A comfortable, or ‘cosy,’ setting instantly makes the reader feel at home in this recognisable scene, although much of it isn’t familiar to the majority of us.
Not many have a library or wear black tie to dinner and discuss murder over cocktails. The characters are familiar archetypes, the vicar; the lord of the manor; the maid; the post mistress. The list is enticing because we know it so well, even if most readers don’t go to church every Sunday or socialise with Lords.
There are clues, red herrings and no real forensic investigation of the body. It is all left to the quirky, highly intelligent Detective and we, the readers, must pit our wits against them and the author. The great challenge that draws us in is the puzzle. Can you, the reader, get to the answer before the Detective? The author sets up the board, arranges the characters and then the game begins. It’s no coincidence that as the murder mystery grew in popularity, so too did the crossword puzzle – something Agatha Christie was fiendishly good at.
I could say this style of novel has experienced a resurgence in recent years but there are two main issues here. Firstly, the purists might revolt if we were to open up the genre to modern day fiction. This, in itself, puzzles me. If we simply preserve these books in aspic and don’t allow the genre to move on, surely it will become the sole domain of the ‘aficionados’ and will become less and less appealing to new audiences.
Arguments rage over adaptations of Agatha Christie’s works which do not slavishly follow the books. It’s often seen as nothing less than a betrayal to produce new versions which try to bring a modern slant. Mention the name Sarah Phelps in some groups and it is akin to blasphemy! Again, this would leave us with a body of work that to many seems quite dated and not as relevant to the new 21st century crime readers.
However, the main issue with the word ‘resurgence’ is that it’s never really gone away. Agatha Christie has famously remained the world’s best-selling author with only Shakespeare and the Bible outselling her. Her works are repeatedly made into new series and films, which bring in new audiences. The 2015 version of And Then There Were None drew an audience of 6 million.
The Kenneth Branagh film of Murder on the Orient Express had a stellar cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Judy Dench and Olivia Coleman. Although old-school Agatha Christie fans may not have been pleased with Kenneth Branagh’s action hero Poirot or the moustache some say looks like the man on a can of Pringles, it has attracted a whole army of fans. Death on the Nile is eagerly anticipated.
The genre is still very much alive and flourishing. New fiction that plays with the familiar tropes of the genre is regularly released and many are bestsellers. Sophie Hannah is writing new novels starring Poirot. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill went straight into the bestsellers. Some traditionalists feel it is sacrilege but each release brings new fans.
The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey was the critically acclaimed 2018 murder mystery set in Medieval England and narrated by a Priest who has his own secrets. There are superstitions, religious politics and this ancient world is so vivid it feels incredibly modern. This is a beautiful murder mystery which crosses over into literary fiction, whilst still maintaining that need to work out who is the murderer.
The Last by Hanna Jameson is another magnificent example of the whodunnit being brought up-to-date with the old familiar isolated hotel housing the set of abandoned people who must interact when a body is found and they must catch a murderer. But there is the added layer of a global nuclear war and the rest of the world no longer exists. The question then arises in a murder mystery, why is it important to solve one murder when billions of people have been murdered? How do we enforce justice when the system has collapsed? It is a fascinating and exciting take on the genre.
The Whodunnit is alive and well. Adaptations of old, familiar novels have increased its popularity. Fantastic new novels are regularly being released. This is not a dead genre to be studied as a historical period piece. It remains a thriving form of the crime novel that brings thrilling takes on a favourite formula, with or without ghosts.
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Victoria Dowd
Victoria is a crime writer and her debut novel, The Smart Woman’s Guide to Murder, is published by Joffe Books. It’s the first part of a crime series that is modern take on the classic murder mystery with lots of dark humour. The second part of the series, The Smart Woman’s Guide to Survival will be published early 2021. She is also an award-winning short story writer, having won the Gothic Fiction prize for short fiction in 2019 awarded by Go Gothic.
She was runner up in The New Writer’s writer of the year award and her work has been short listed and Highly commended by Writers’ Forum. She was also long-listed for The Willesden Herald International Short Story Competition and has had short stories published in various literary journals and magazines. Victoria also writes the non-fiction series Adapting Agatha about adaptations of Agatha Christie novels. She is originally from Yorkshire and, after studying law at Cambridge University, was a criminal law barrister for many years before becoming a full-time writer.
Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/victoria_dowd
Find out more about her on her website https://victoriadowd.com/
THE SMART WOMAN’S GUIDE TO MURDER
A faded country house in the middle of nowhere.
The guests are snowed in.
The murders begin.
Withering and waspish, Ursula Smart (not her real name) gate-crashes her mother’s book club at an isolated country house for a long weekend retreat. Much to Mother’s chagrin. Joining them are Mother’s best friend, Mirabelle, Aunt Charlotte and Less, and Bridget with her dog Mr Bojangles. It doesn’t matter that they’ve read Gone Girl three times this year already, this retreat is their chance to escape bustling suburbia. But someone has other ideas.
A body is found in the grounds.
Is a lone killer hunting them? Or has one of their own group embarked on a killing spree?
What they need is to stop sniping at each other long enough to solve the mystery before the killer strikes again.
What they need is a guide to survive.
A GOLDEN AGE COUNTRY HOUSE MURDER MYSTERY BROUGHT BANG UP TO DATE
Funny and shocking in equal turn, Victoria Dowd’s brilliant whodunnit is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Anthony Horowitz, Liane Moriarty, Faith Martin, Frances Lloyd and Stuart Turton.
Category: On Writing
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