Clerical Crimes

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Arts, Books

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2022

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do murder mysteries contain so many vicars? Mentioned in this episode: — Measuring religious affiliation in Great Britain by Clive D. Field — The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers — Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James — The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie — Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers — Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie — “The Blue Cross” by G.K. Chesterton from The Innocence of Father Brown — Literary Distractions by Ronald Knox — The Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters — Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser — St Peter’s Finger by Gladys Mitchell — Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert — The Black Seraphim by Michael Gilbert — Holy Disorders by Edmund Crispin — “The Guilty Vicarage” by W.H. Auden — Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers — Christianity and the Detective Story edited by Anya Morlan and Walter Raubicheck — The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler 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/clericalcrimestranscript 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	A golden age murder mystery should work on two levels.
0:07.9	There's the day-to-day world that the characters inhabit, in which they eat meals, share gossip
0:14.2	and occasionally kill each other.
0:17.5	Lying behind that is a more elemental realm, in which abstract concepts like justice,
0:24.0	order, fairness, guilt and revenge find expression.
0:28.7	The two are commonly brought together for the reader, when the detective investigates
0:32.8	possible motives for the crime at hand.
0:36.5	This is where it becomes clear that apparently minor incidents, such as a misdelivery or
0:41.6	a dropped pin, are actually indications of the presence of these vast yet invisible forces.
0:49.8	Introducing a character who routinely spends their time thinking about these bigger concerns
0:54.0	is a clever way of adding depth to a story.
0:58.3	Of course popping a deep-thinking philosopher into a classic English country house who
1:03.0	done it might seem a bit forced, but a detective or psychiatrist with a feel for the infinite
1:09.5	and horrifying variety of human nature can do the trick.
1:14.2	Plus, luckily there is a handy type of character who blends right into the golden age setting,
1:20.9	while also providing that link to the more conceptual level of a detective story.
1:27.4	Which is why today we're trying to answer a very important question.
1:32.0	Why are classic murder mysteries so full of vickers?
1:50.2	Welcome to Shee Dunnett, I'm Caroline Crampton.
1:57.6	Golden age detection is full of religious figures of varying kinds, most of them Christian,
2:08.9	and a variety of terminology gets bandied about.
2:13.2	Some might be referred to as vicar, some as father, others as reverend, rector,
	...

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