Oxford vs Cambridge

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do these two historic university cities appear in so many murder mysteries? Books mentioned in this episode: — The Masters by C.P. Snow — Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis — Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh — Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm — Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers — The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin — The Cambridge Murders by Dilwyn Rees — Death at the President’s Lodging by Michael Innes — An Oxford Tragedy by J.C. Masterman (£825.00) — Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay — Murder at Cambridge by Q Patrick — Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham — The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh — Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter — Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid — Case Histories by Kate Atkinson — Cambridge Blue by Alison Bruce — Fall of Angels by Barbara Cleverly — Invitation to Die by Barbara Cleverly — James Runcie's Granchester stories — Rory Clement's Tom Wilde series Support the podcast by joining the Shedunnit Book Club and get extra Shedunnit episodes every month plus access to the monthly reading discussions and community: shedunnitbookclub.com/join. 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. 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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0:33.7	The precise appeal of Golden Age detective fiction is a tricky equation to solve, I find.
0:40.4	These are books about violence and murder that we read for pleasure and relaxation.
0:45.9	They tend to focus on a very narrow slice of society, the wealthy, and work with a small set
0:51.7	of tropes and constraints, yet many of us read them over and over again without getting bored.
0:58.0	Indeed, that familiarity and repetition can be part of the appeal.
1:02.1	It's comforting and reassuring to recognise recurring elements in a new story.
1:07.6	One aspect of the genre's appeal lies in the settings authors of the 1920s and 1930s chose for their murder mysteries.
1:14.6	This is an area where there is great range and variety, with settings as far apart as the ancient city of Petra in Jordan and the claustrophobic suburbs of England's home counties.
1:26.6	But as I've been reading over the past few
1:28.6	years, two cities that share historic connections have stood out to me in particular. Book after
1:34.6	book has been set in these places, not just during the golden age of detective fiction, but also
1:40.0	since, with a frequency that suggested something deeper going on than just both have old
1:45.6	universities.
	...

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