An exciting forensic trek through some of literature’s deadliest settings, told through twenty of the genre’s most famous tales.
How did a beautiful Georgian house inspire Agatha Christie’s Dead Man’s Folly? How did a stretch of the East Anglian coast become the place in which a murder victim is discovered in P.D. James’s Devices and Desires?
Journeying through a selection of the genre’s most beloved classics, Novel Crime Scenes explores the landscapes of twenty crime novels in forensic detail. As each chapter examines the immediate world in which the mysteries unfold, Christina Hardyment also delves into the author’s background to discover what the setting of the book meant to them, often by following in the footsteps of Britain’s best-known crime writers. Hardyment’s investigative trail spans both miles and eras, setting readers down a detective’s path of discovery from the Devon moorland of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles to London’s Brick Lane as described in Ajay Chowdhury’s The Waiter.
Whether you are an armchair detective or an intrepid investigator, Novel Crime Scenes will inspire you to appreciate old favorites with deeper insights and discover thrilling new literary destinations.
Table of Contents
1 THE MELANCHOLY MOOR
Arthur Conan Doyle & The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902
2 THE SUNSET SIDE OF LONDON
G.K. Chesterton & The Man Who Was Thursday, 1908
3 HIGH HEATHERY MOUNTAINS
John Buchan & The Thirty-Nine Steps, 1915
4 THE STRIPLING THAMES
Ronald Knox & The Footsteps at the Lock, 1928
5 MUD, MIST AND TIDE
Margery Allingham & Mystery Mile, 1930
6 BRAZEN TONGUES CLAMOURING
Dorothy L. Sayers & The Nine Tailors, 1934
7 SUNKEN LABYRINTH
Geoffrey Household & Rogue Male, 1939
8 THE WORLD’S WHOPPER
Arthur Ransome & The Big Six, 1940
9 A STORY WHOSE VERY ROOTS GROW IN THE PLACE
E.C.R. Lorac & Crook O’Lune, 1953
10 DREAM HOUSE
Agatha Christie & Dead Man’s Folly, 1956
11 EERIE EMPTINESS
Gwen Moffat & Miss Pink at the Edge of the World, 1975
12 A HEAVING FLEECE OF WOODLAND
Ellis Peters & The Hermit of Eyton Forest, 1987
13 FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME
P.D. James & Devices and Desires, 1989
14 THE VERY SPIRIT OF THE CITY
Colin Dexter & The Way Through the Woods, 1992
15 TWENTY-ONE ACRES OF PARADISE
Sam Llewellyn & The Sea Garden, 1999
16 PARALLEL UNIVERSE
Malcolm Pryce & Aberystwyth Mon Amour, 2001
17 GENII LOCORUM
Ben Aaronovitch & Rivers of London, 2011
18 A COLD AND EERIE BLANKET
Martin Edwards & The Frozen Shroud, 2013
19 MAELSTROM
Peter May & The Coffin Road, 2016
20 A SEA OF PARKAS, BURQAS, DASHIKIS
Ajay Chowdhury & The Waiter, 2021