The Mystery Short Story

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A consideration of crime fiction’s more compact incarnation. Please be aware that there are spoilers in this episode for the two stories discussed here in detail: "Traitor's Hands" by Agatha Christie and "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell. Books mentioned in this episode: — Memories and Adventures by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle — A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle — "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Arthur Conan Doyle, collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — How to Write a Mystery: a Handbook from Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King — The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie — “The Tuesday Night Club" by Agatha Christie, collected in The Thirteen Problems — Mr. Fortune, Please by H. C. Bailey — "Traitor's Hands" by Agatha Christie, collected in The Hound of Death — "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell, collected in In the Shadow of Agatha Christie — Marple: Twelve New Mysteries 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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0:00.0	In March of 1927, the Stram magazine introduced a competition for its readers. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would
0:10.8	select his 12 favorite Sherlock Holmes short stories, and the fan who guessed the author's list, most
0:16.5	nearly, would win 100 pounds, and an autographed copy of his book, Memories and Adventures.
0:23.2	It was a promotional scheme for the forthcoming, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes,
0:28.2	the final volume of stories about this infamous detective.
0:32.6	When announcing this competition, Conan Doyle wrote,
0:35.6	It is as a little test of the opinion of the public that I inaugurate the small competition announced here.
0:43.1	I have drawn up a list of the 12 short stories contained in the four published volumes,
0:48.5	which I consider to be the best, and I should like to know to what extent my choice agrees with that of strand readers.
0:55.8	I have left my list in a sealed envelope with the editor of the Strand.
1:00.9	In June of 1927, the editor opened that envelope.
1:06.1	The character Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887, with a study in Scarlet.
1:12.8	Yet his popularity didn't become widespread until the first series of short stories in the Strand
1:18.5	magazine, beginning with a scandal in Bohemia in 1891.
1:24.2	By 1927, Conan Doyle had written only four novel-length works featuring The Great Detective,
1:30.4	compared to 56 short stories.
1:33.3	Notable characters like Irene Adler and Professor James Moriarty only exist thanks to the short story format,
1:40.4	and have had an outsized impact on popular culture ever since.
1:45.9	Arthur Conan Doyle was far from the only detective fiction writer to dabble in both short and long-form works.
1:52.7	Agatha Christie did introduce Rekuparro in a novel-length mystery,
1:56.9	but many of her other sleuthing characters debuted in short fiction.
2:01.1	Miss Marple's first appearance was in the short story The Tuesday Nightclub,
	...

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