Christianna Brand's Impossible Crimes

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Which matters more in a murder mystery, plot or character? Join the Shedunnit Book Club for two extra Shedunnit episodes a month plus access to the monthly reading discussions and community: shedunnitbookclub.com/join See Caroline in person at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 13th August at 10.45am. Tickets here. There are no major spoilers in this episode but some minor plot details for the titles listed below are discussed. Mentioned in this episode: — Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand — Nurse Matilda Goes to Town by Christianna Brand — Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital by Christianna Brand — Death in High Heels by Christianna Brand — The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie — Tour de Force by Christianna Brand — The Three-Cornered Halo by Christianna Brand — Green for Danger by Christianna Brand — Suddenly at His Residence (aka The Crooked Wreath) by Christianna Brand — Heads You Lose by Christianna Brand — Death of Jezebel by Christianna Brand — The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley — London Particular (aka Fog of Doubt) by Christianna Brand — The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from Inspector Cockrill by Christianna Brand NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge. To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/christiannabrandsimpossiblecrimestranscript. Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the appreciation of detective fiction, there is a tendency to view certain elements of the form as an either-or situation.
0:12.0	A writer can either be good at plots or at characters, dialogue or
0:17.3	description, clueing or twists. It isn't normal or indeed permitted to have both sides of the equation be present in high quality form at the same time.
0:28.5	This way of thinking can even be used as a way to subtly criticize, as in the oft repeated cliche about Agatha Christie that she was
0:36.8	uniformly great at the ideation of mystery plots but a writer of very boring prose.
0:43.0	That's not true as it happens,
0:45.0	but it certainly demonstrates how one aspect of crime writing
0:48.0	is always being played off against another.
0:52.0	I feel this comparison game particularly keenly with writers who were known to
0:56.8	experiment with so-called impossible crimes. These are plots where the crime
1:01.6	is presented in such a way that it seems utterly impossible upon a reasonable first glance
1:07.0	because of impediments like locked rooms, perfect alibis, sealed crime scenes and so forth.
1:14.0	Later, a detective is able to attack this apparent impossibility with deduction
1:19.0	and demonstrate how the ingenious crime was in fact possible all along.
1:24.9	Necessarily such plots can end up being very complicated,
1:29.4	somewhat mechanical and at times rather implausible as their creators seek to overcome their self-created impossible obstacles.
1:38.0	This complexity and the sometimes necessary sacrifice of emotional depth and atmospheric description it demands
1:46.3	is why I would count myself as more of an admirer than a fan of a writer like John Dixon Carr
1:51.5	for instance. I can appreciate the cleverness of this kind of mystery I thought, but these are not stories that will ever capture my heart.
2:00.0	Or at least that's what I thought, until I began to immerse myself I'm Caroline Crampton. Christina Brand is a writer with an interesting if scattered bibliography.
2:30.0	The list of books she produced has a restless unsettled aspect to it, especially when compared
2:36.4	to the regular consistent output of authors like Agatha Christie or Naiomarsh.
	...

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