Let It Snow (Replay)

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Arts, Books

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2022

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Snow is a very powerful tool for a detective novelist. It can create a sinister atmosphere, keep suspects and murderer stormbound, and preserve the footprints of anyone who dares to escape. What could be more seasonal or festive than that? This episode of Shedunnit first aired on 11th December 2019. Caroline is currently recovering from Covid; the next new episode will be in January 2023. Mentioned in this episode: —Murder on the Orient Express (1934) by Agatha Christie —Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (1938) by Agatha Christie —Mystery in White (1937) by J. Jefferson Farjeon —Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries (2015) edited by Martin Edwards —The Sittaford Mystery (1931) by Agatha Christie —The Nine Tailors (1934) by Dorothy L. Sayers —“The Erymanthian Boar” in The Labours of Hercules (1947) by Agatha Christie —An English Murder (1951) by Cyril Hare —Death and the Dancing Footman (1942) by Ngaio Marsh —Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950) by Agatha Christie —Stairway to Murder (1959) by Osmington Mills —There Came Both Mist and Snow (1940) by Michael Innes —The Sad Variety (1964) by Nicholas Blake —Blood Upon the Snow (1944) by Hilda Lawrence —The Slype (1927) by by Russell Thorndike — Hangman’s Holiday (1933) by Dorothy L. Sayers —Groaning Spinney / Murder in the Snow (1950) by Gladys Mitchell —The Case of the Abominable Snowman (1941) by Nicholas Blake —1222 (2011) by Anne Holt —The Snowman (2007) by Jo Nesbo —Whiteout (2011) by Ragnar Jonasson 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/letitsnowtranscript 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	The days are drawing in. Darkness falls mid-afternoon. The light and warmth inside only
0:12.6	emphasizes quite how icily cold it is out. At first, the snow is a cheery accompaniment
0:20.1	to a festive gathering somewhere remote and rural, a thick white blanket to be admired
0:25.4	out of the window while sitting by the fire with a glass of something. But as the weather
0:31.3	gets worse and worse, things take a sinister turn. A murder under these conditions is doubly
0:38.4	horrifying. The snow means that help can't get through, but also that the crime must have
0:44.7	been committed by someone who is already inside.
0:53.1	This is a classic murder mystery scenario, especially beloved of British detective novelists
0:58.0	from the early 20th century. If judging by the crime fiction of this period, you could
1:03.8	be forgiven for thinking that there was a white Christmas every year between 1918 and 1940
1:09.9	and beyond. As written by the likes of Agatha Christie, Gladys Mitchell, Cyril Hare and others,
1:17.8	is every villain's best friend and detect its worst enemy. That's why, today, we're going
1:25.1	to let it snow. What you're about to hear is a replay of an episode that first aired in December
1:36.3	2019. I had grand plans to bring you something shiny and festive and brand new as the last episode
1:43.2	of this year, but unfortunately, Covid had other plans for me, and I'm going to have to save
1:49.1	that for another time. While I'm resting and recovering, though, I hope you enjoy this classic
1:55.1	from the She-Dannett archive. The first time that I can remember being really conscious of the
2:08.9	role that Snow plays in detective fiction is probably one that many fans of this genre share.
2:15.1	On Christmas Day in 2010, I watched the ITV adaptation of Agatha Christie's murder on the
2:20.9	RR express on television with my family. It stars David Sushia as her killer horror, of course,
2:27.5	and it's a lavish 80-minute version of the story that is a notably darker departure from the
2:32.7	more cheery episodic nature of some of the earlier ITV pyros. What struck me about it most, though,
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