Murder, she wrote (UK)
Three British murder mysteries that happen to be written by women
It’s August, my least favorite month. My very fun child is away at camp, my house is undergoing some stupid repairs, the weather…the weather.
But I like a good whodunnit in the summer, so I picked up an Agatha Christie (last year it was Endless Night, which I heartily recommended here). And it brought to mind two other ones, also written by British ladies. And, as quickly as you can spread clotted cream on a scone — and I can spread it both quickly and thickly — I had a theme.
🥇🥈🥉But also, this August is better than most because it’s Olympics time! Next week, I want to do a sports theme to celebrate my favorite biannual spectacle. The problem is, I don’t find myself reading a ton of sporty books. So please respond to this email or comment on this post (however you get your Substacks) with any recommendations. I’m gonna include a nice crowdsourced list of recs along with a couple of my own!
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💃The Body in the Library
Agatha Christie, 1942
"Oh it was heaven! Nothing like rushing through the water at what seems to you a speed of about two hundred miles an hour. It is one of the most perfect physical pleasures I have known."
This is not a quote from this novel. It’s a quote from Dame Agatha herself who, according to Wikipedia, was among the first Britons to surf standing up! What!? When she wasn’t hanging ten, Christie was churning out mysteries I cannot solve no matter how hard I try, even when I try to choose the person I least suspect. Even when I try to choose the person I most suspect!
There’s some cool stuff about class snobbery in this slim novel. The body found in the library comes from humble origins, and the library is in the country home of a fancy family. One of the guys in the confusing police hierarchy I don’t fully understand is a Gentleman who has some trouble getting over his bias, and I liked the tension there. Gentle, unassuming Miss Marple swoops in and says some awesome stuff about how the only reason she gets to the truth before everyone else does is that they tend to believe people (and the book implies that rich people get believed more), and she just doesn’t believe a thing she hears.
Recommended for: Those who want to try to figure it out, but not too hard. Why bother, really? Just let it happen.
🙈 Case Histories
Kate Atkinson, 2004
Thank heavens for my bookish friend Jackie, who introduced me to Kate Atkinson. Atkinson’s book Life After Life is one of my favorites. I just did a search and can’t believe I haven’t recommended it yet here. What would my theme even be — incredible books that defy genre?
For years, I have been slow-dripping this detective series, which stars disheveled Scottish grump Jackson Brodie and the women who, rightly, yell at him. Literally every single installment has gotten a five-star rating from me. Case Histories is the first one, and it’s funny, sad, and very British. Jackson is trying to figure out a few intertwined murders and disappearances from past and present as he comes to terms with some violence in his own past, and some of it involves harm to children — that’s your warning. When it all comes together, you will experience a lot of feelings all at once.
Another warning, there is a racist elderly woman who has a cat named a very bad racial slur that is said often. It’s kind of the point and it's meant to be shocking, but I’m letting you know in advance.
Recommended for: Those who are fans of good interior monologues, Barbara Pym, good mysteries, good books, and dry humor.
🛋 The Paying Guests
Sarah Waters, 2014
Have you read Sarah Waters!? Like Kate Atkinson, I have never read a thing by her that I haven’t loved. This one’s my favorite so far, and involves a murder. I’m cheating a little because it’s not a whodunnit — you know exactly who did it from the get-go. Instead, it’s a will-they-get-caught. Should they get caught? Are they justified? Who are we rooting for exactly?
This is a book that starts out very quietly and then gets exciting as quickly as you can spread jam on top of your clotted cream. It also takes place in that post-war London setting (in this case, post-WWI) that I love, with everyone trying to make it how they can: the main character and her mother have converted their big empty Victorian home into a guest house, and the somewhat coarse couple who lives upstairs has quite upset the balance. But maybe Frances has been wanting a little something to upset her balance, eh?
Recommended for: Those who like a story about pushing social mores and who can handle some real suspense.
And now, a thing to say
I wrote last week about how I felt about the NYT’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century list (to sum up: don’t worry about it!). Then the Times published their Reader’s List of the same.
I was excited to see my fave Demon Copperhead at the top, but found this list kind of underwhelming as well! So I want to reiterate: I urge you not to go through any of these like they’re syllabi. Consider them a cross-section, and find books from recommendations. Ask bookstore or library staff (or your friends! or me!!), subscribe to emails like these, and consider a site like Goodreads to follow people you trust. You deserve having a tailor-made list of books, not a list of books aggregated from a big set of voters.
That was the forty-eighth EELS! As always, send any and all questions, feedback, and shouted book recommendations by hitting reply.
📚 Susan