Books
Was Corinne’s Murder Clued?: the Detection Club and Fair Play, 1930-1953

by Curtis Evans
CADS, 2011, $10.00/$12.00

Though members of the Detection Club swore allegiance to fairly clued classical puzzles, even founding members like Anthony Berkeley and Dorothy L. Sayers strayed from strict conformity to the rules. Evans draws on members’ correspondence in an engagingly written and impeccably documented history of the organization showing the gradual erosion of the fair-play concept. Apart from the still-famous names, the contributions of writers like Milward Kennedy and E.R. Punshon to the development of the form are given their due. Writers heretofore names on a page are brought to life as individual personalities. The title refers to an entertaining debate over the membership qualifications of Douglas G. Browne and the elaborate solution to a bathtub murder in his novel What Beckoning Ghost (1947). Illustrations include pictures of members and prospects plus a few dust jacket covers. Everyone interested in the history of the British detective novel should read this.

Jon L. Breen

Though members of the Detection Club swore allegiance to fairly clued classical puzzles, even founding members like Anthony Berkeley and Dorothy L. Sayers strayed from strict conformity to the rules. Evans draws on members’ correspondence in an engagingly written and impeccably documented history of the organization showing the gradual erosion of the fair-play concept. Apart from the still-famous names, the contributions of writers like Milward Kennedy and E.R. Punshon to the development of the form are given their due. Writers heretofore names on a page are brought to life as individual personalities. The title refers to an entertaining debate over the membership qualifications of Douglas G. Browne and the elaborate solution to a bathtub murder in his novel What Beckoning Ghost (1947). Illustrations include pictures of members and prospects plus a few dust jacket covers. Everyone interested in the history of the British detective novel should read this.

Teri Duerr
2455

by Curtis Evans
CADS, 2011, $10.00/$12.00

Evans
2011
was-corinnes-murder-clued-the-detection-club-and-fair-play-1930-1953
10.00/$12.00
CADS