5 Classic British Detective Fiction Authors
When it comes to detective fiction, I think there's an argument that the British do it best. Ask someone to name the best classic British detective fiction writers and I'll bet they'll include at least one of the authors that follow.
Agatha Christie – The Queen of Crime
Christie is my go-to for a detective fiction writer. Born in 1890 in Devon, Christie began writing during the First World War, and her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the world to one of the most famous detectives, and perhaps the most peculiar, of all time: Hercule Poirot. With his "little grey cells" and impeccably neat moustaches, Poirot solved many of Christie’s most intricate plots, including Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, two of my favourites.
She also, of course, created Miss Marple, the unassuming spinster living in a quaint English village who had a mind like a steel trap and could spot a murderer a mile off. Miss Marple used her experience and knowledge of human nature, surprisingly always on its darker side, to find the killer in classics like The Murder at the Vicarage and my favourite, A Murder Is Announced.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Man Behind Sherlock Holmes
Then there's Conan Doyle, who created a detective who just won't die. Born in Edinburgh in 1859, Doyle first introduced Holmes and his loyal companion, Dr John Watson, in A Study in Scarlet in 1887.
Holmes is the quintessential detective: sharp-eyed, brilliant, and, because of his genius, often insufferable. His stories showcase his deductive powers. Written for The Strand magazine, and always working to a tight deadline, I feel the stories sometimes don't stand up to re-readings. There are mistakes in some of the adventures, as well as impossibilities, but the quality of the writing keeps the reader hooked. It could also be said that Conan Doyle invented the idea of giving a detective a signature look: who doesn't think of a deerstalker and pipe when they picture Holmes? And who hasn't quoted "Elementary, my dear Watson" at an appropriate moment?
Dorothy L. Sayers – The Scholar of Sleuths
Although not a favourite of mine, it still has to be said, Sayers created a memorable detective in Lord Peter Wimsey. A graduate of Oxford, Dorothy L. Sayers was one of the intellectuals of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and one of her most famous novels, Gaudy Night, is set in an Oxford women’s college. Born in 1893, Sayers introduced Wimsey in Whose Body? (1923). Kudos to Sayers for giving Wimsey a major flaw - he suffers from what is now known as PTSD, a trauma following his wartime experiences. Unusually, she also allows Wimsey a love interest in Harriet Vane.
G.K. Chesterton – Creator of Father Brown
I must admit, I haven't read any Father Brown novels. I don’t' know why, but they just don't appeal to me. But if you like your detective to have principles and a strict moral code, you probably can't do better than read Father Brown. Father Brown first appearance was in 1911 in The Innocence of Father Brown.
Josephine Tey – The Writer Behind Inspector Grant
I've only been able to read one of Josephine Tey's books (The Daughter of Time) - like Father Brown, I just haven't been able to get into her other books like Brat Farrar and The Franchise Affair. Josephine Tey was Elizabeth MacKintosh's pen name, and her most famous creation is Inspector Alan Grant, a Scotland Yard detective known for his cool-headed logic. In The Daughter of Time, Grant solves the historical mystery of whether Richard III killed the Princes in the Tower, using only a selection of research books while lying bedridden in a hospital and it is riveting. If you haven't read any Tey, start with this one.
Images used:
- Agatha Christie plaque -Torre Abbey.jpg: Violetrigaderivative work: F l a n k e r, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
- Arnold Genthe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- uncredited; published by Boni and Liveright in connexion with her 1925 release Whose Body, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ernest Herbert Mills, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Craig Wallace / Josephine Tey blue plaque, Castle Street
- Sidney Paget, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons