When you boil it down to the essentials, a detective barely needs to be a human being.

The plot of a really great who-done it demands only that the sloothing entity observe,

analyze, deduce and then denounce, a thinking machine with a clear input and output that governs the story. Indeed, the most famous detective of

them all, Sherlock Holmes, rejected aspects of existence commonly associated with

a full or rounded life, including curiosity about the world, political engagement, and romantic relationships.

The famous rules of Golden Age detective fiction from the 1920s took a firm line on this latter point.

Love interests were frowned upon, and it was felt by some critics of the genre that incorporating romance into a plot weakened it.

And yet some of the most popular authors from this time completely disregard this prohibition. All of the Queens of Crime, Christie, Allingham, Marsh and Sayers,

and plenty of others besides wove romantic storylines through their crime fiction.

And I think it adds greatly to the depth and variety of what they produced.

Or, to put it another way, can you imagine Peter Wimsey without Harriet Vane? I know I can't.

Welcome to She Dunit. I'm Caroline Crampton. Now those of you who listen all the way to the end of these podcast

episodes that I make, will know that the very last thing I usually include is a little teaser

for the topic of the next one.

If you heard the last one, you'll have noticed that what I said I'd be doing today and the title

of this episode don't match up. That's for a good reason. I had been planning on releasing an episode today

all about the kinds of prejudice that we encounter in Golden Age crime fiction and the best way to think

about instances of things like anti-Semitism, racism and

misogyny as modern-day readers. And I still very much do want to do that episode

because I think the topic is interesting and important, but all last week when I was trying to do the research and writing necessary to put it out today.

I was also reading news stories and messages about the worsening coronavirus pandemic around the world. and I found it really hard to do justice to such a serious and potentially

upsetting subject in that circumstance.

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