The Detective's Best Friend

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Arts, Books

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Please join me for a long-awaited guided tour of the role that dogs play in detective fiction. Books mentioned: — My Lady's Money by Wilkie Collins — The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle — A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon — The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Mystery of the Black Dog by Ellery Queen — "The Oracle of the Dog" by G.K. Chesterton — Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie — Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie — Peril at End House by Agatha Christie — Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac — The Dog It Was That Died by E.C.R. Lorac — The Kennel Murder Case by SS Van Dine — Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay — The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett — The Case of the Howling Dog by Erle Stanley Gardner — Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin — Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin 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 independent 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/thedetectivesbestfriendtranscript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by EA Sports with PlayStation 5.
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0:28.5	Rated Peggy Free.
0:30.0	Every detective needs a companion.
0:38.0	A solo sleuth is at a disadvantage in lots of ways.
0:42.3	They have no backup in awkward situations.
0:45.3	They have only their own skills to rely on.
0:48.3	And crucially, they have no one with whom to share their thoughts in such a way that they are also laid out helpfully for the reader.
0:56.3	Nobody should be lonely while they're on a case.
1:00.8	The classic way of solving this problem, of course, is for the detective to have a Watson.
1:06.5	A loyal, slightly less intelligent friend with some helpful supplementary talents.
1:12.9	We're so accustomed to this central pairing in who done it now that its emission is more striking than its presence.
1:20.2	Imagine Poirot without Hastings, Alan without Fox, whimsy without bunter or vain.
1:27.0	It doesn't bear thinking about.
1:30.2	But what if this companion doesn't have to be human?
1:34.4	Perhaps the detective's best friend could be something else entirely, with four legs, rather than two.
1:42.0	Join me for a long-awaited guided tour of the role that dogs play in detective fiction.
	...

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