The Decree Absolute

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Arts, Books

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The fascinating history of divorce in detective fiction. My guest was Dr Jen Aston, Associate Professor in Law at Northumbria University. In addition to her other academic work, she's currently leading a project looking at approaches to the history of divorce. Learn more about that at northumbria.ac.uk/divorce_history. 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. Books mentioned in this episode:— "Murder!" by Arnold Bennett, collected in Resorting to Murder— Jumping Jenny by Anthony Berkeley— “The Case of the Discontented Husband” by Agatha Christie, collected in Parker Pyne Investigates— Death in High Heels by Christianna Brand— Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers— The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L Sayers and Robert Eustace— Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles— Holy Deadlock by A.P. Herbert— Love All by Dorothy L Sayers— Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L Sayers— "The Incredible Elopement" by Dorothy L Sayers, collected in Hangman's Holiday Related Shedunnit episodes:— The Lady Detective To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. Some book links are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What happened?
0:05.1	From director Maggie Jelenhall.
0:07.0	We dug you up and brought you back to life.
0:10.4	Starring award winners Jesse Buckley.
0:12.4	What did you want with a dead girl?
0:14.4	And Christian Bale.
0:15.6	I'm the same.
0:16.5	Born from the dead.
0:17.6	A master.
0:18.4	With Peter Sarnsguard, Annette Benning, and Penelope Cruz.
0:21.4	The dead have got something to say, and I'm saying it.
0:25.0	Every fight screen.
0:26.8	The ride in cinemas March 6.
0:32.9	The crime at the heart of a classic murder mystery tends to be a personal, even intimate one,
0:40.0	whereas later 20th century hudanits and thrillers began to explore the crimes of strangers in greater
0:45.4	depth, stalkers, serial killers and so forth. During the interwar years, most fictional murderers
0:51.7	were to be found much closer to home, within the home in fact in many cases.
0:56.9	Relatives, friends, colleagues and spouses, these are the killers of the golden age.
1:02.6	At the heart of this domestic context very often is a marriage.
1:06.7	Whether the author is setting their plot in a lavish country house or a pokey suburban villa,
1:11.9	the chances are good that there will be a married couple about the place somewhere.
1:16.4	Said couple might even contain the book's victim or its perpetrator, or both.
	...

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