In the Dentist's Chair

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

Open wide! Support the podcast by joining the Shedunnit Book Club and get two extra Shedunnit episodes a month plus access to the monthly reading discussions and community: shedunnitbookclub.com/join. There are spoilers in this episode for the titles listed below. Mentioned in this episode: — Death in the Dentist's Chair by Molly Thynne — The Uncertain Glory by Molly Thynne — "Death Sits in the Dentist's Chair" by Cornell Woolrich, collected in Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics — Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay — One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie — Death of a Dentist by M.C. Beaton — Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie — "The Cornish Mystery" by Agatha Christie, collected in Poirot's Early Cases — "The Wrong Problem" by John Dickson Carr, collected in The Third Bullet and Other Stories — Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts — Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham — The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham — The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne — "The Honour of Israel Gow" by G.K. Chesterton, collected in The Innocence of Father Brown — "In the Teeth of the Evidence" by Dorothy L. Sayers, collected in In the Teeth of the Evidence — Balachander, N et al. “Evolution of forensic odontology: An overview.” Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences vol. 7,Suppl 1 (2015): S176-80 — Bishop M. The influence of 'Golden Age' authors of detective fiction, in particular, D. L. Sayers, on the public opinion of dentists and dentistry. Br Dent J. 2024 Jul;237(1):51-54 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/inthedentistschairtranscript. 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 everyday course of modern life, we rarely feel more vulnerable than when we are horizontal,
0:10.0	a stranger in a mask looming with a sharp and buzzing implement in hand ready to do violence to our teeth.
0:17.0	Of course we do this willingly for the sake of good oral health,
0:22.0	but it is almost too easy to appreciate the appeal of this scenario to the detective novelist.
0:28.0	Physically and mentally subdued, the patient already feels like a victim, a situation familiar to so many, which the reader can easily picture.
0:40.0	Plus, on a practical level, in a surgery, there are a lot of sharp implements to hand as well as masks and gowns that easily obscure identity
0:49.5	To the creative imagination seeking a setting for a crime, it's very fertile ground.
0:56.8	So join me, won't you, in the dentist's chair?
1:00.6	Open wide. Welcome to She Dunnet. I'm Caroline Crampton.
1:10.0	A friendly warning, there are going to be some spoilers in this episode.
1:14.4	If you want to avoid knowing details about something that you're reading or planning to read,
1:18.8	please consult the list of books and stories in the episode description before proceeding.
1:23.4	As a dental patient rather than a dentist, the first kind of dental-based
1:37.8	mystery that comes to mind is, of course, the sort where a murder victim is
1:42.2	actually found in the dentist's chair.
1:45.0	Whether you are prey to major anxieties or phobias about dentist appointments
1:50.0	or just have a normal amount of apprehension about what might be wrong with your teeth,
1:54.4	this feels like the obvious route for a golden age crime writer to go.
1:58.8	We don't have to look far for a novel that ably fulfills this brief.
2:04.0	Death in the dentist's chair by Molly Thinn was published in 1932,
2:09.0	and is the dental mystery of our dreams, or nightmares, delete as appropriate.
2:14.0	Thin's chess-playing detective of Greek origin Dr. Constantine
	...

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