I don’t read a lot of non-fiction but I was attracted to this because it came up as a book club choice just after I had enjoyed several Lucy Worsley documentaries. Then investigates how after the First World War, the murder mystery novel reached a peak of popularity in the hands of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers.

I am a fan of detective stories from the Golden Age, and I was disappointed that there are several examples where Ms Worsley took quotes totally out of context. This book was first published in 2013 and it would be interesting to see what the author thinks of the recent explosion in availability of true crime podcasts and "tik tok detectives". Now and then Worsley will wander into spoiler-y territory regarding particular books, but I’m not pointing this out as a complaint.

This multiple murder saw the beginning of the gruesome correlation between lurid reporting of a crime that sparked a massive increase in the sales of newspapers and thus engendered the interest of the public. Both the police and the private detective became more professional as the nineteenth century unfolded, and both made their mark inmagazine stories and novels.

While the information presented wasn't new to me, I appreciated the excellent organization and thoroughness of Worsley's investigation.

Baroness James I think is carrying on the great tradition of D LSayers with her Dalgliesh novels which have well rounded believable characters whose actions remain consistant from book to book Such is the following for this kind of novel that my local Waterstones had a section labelled cosy crime!