For some readers, who done it are transient, disposable things.

Once you've read a murder mystery once, there's no point keeping it or reading it again according to this school of thought

You already know who did it and there's little use in cluttering up your shells with books that are now redundant. But for others, this is complete

heresy. It isn't enough just to read Detective Novel's ones. We want to own them, so we can return to them again and again.

For me there's so much more to a good mystery than just finding out who the culprit was.

Personally, I read my favorites at least once a year, even if it was. Personally, I read my favorites at least once a year, even if it's just to enjoy the atmosphere

and the characters.

Beyond the pleasures of re-reading though, lies a whole world of collecting.

Lots of detective novelists who started writing between the World Wars, like Agatha Christie and Nai O' Marsh, went on to publish dozens of books over their long lives and you can collect them all.

For some lesser known writers who are now out of print, just tracking down all their titles can prove to be a life's work.

And then there are different editions and covers from around the world, not to mention other associated ephemera-like autographs, stamps, pens, film posters and more.

The perfect collection is never complete.

Welcome to She Dunit.

I'm Caroline Crampton. Books can be beautiful objects as well as historical artifacts. There's a particular kind of satisfaction you get from seeing

a completed set up on your shelf, especially if you had to spend many hours in secondhand bookshops

and charity shops to track them down.

Of course this can be true for any kind of book, but Golden Age Murder Mysteries are especially

suited to the amateur collector. This is partly because the period produced plenty of prolific authors,

and partly because detective novels have always had a large audience.

So even for the rarest titles, you tend to have at least some chance of finding a copy eventually and being able to afford to buy it.

It's not important to everybody I'm sure, but I also think there's something special

about reading a book from the 1930s in a copy that was published in the 1930s.

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