Between the Wars, The Golden Age of Detective Fiction, 1920–1940
Between the two World Wars, the typical detective story was set in a world of wealthy rurality, which eventually gave way to a fantasy of the same. The Golden Age, for the most part, ignored not only sex but the Great Depression, fascists, trade unions, and the working class (unless, of course, they were servants). Agatha Christie’s first book, published in 1920, ushered in the era of detective fiction that solved a puzzle in an enclosed, artificial world.
Agatha Christie. The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Toronto/New York: The Ryerson Press/John Lane, 1920.
This is the first Canadian edition using the sheets of the first edition, published by John Lane of New York. This is also the first book by one of the most prolific, enduring, and beloved detective fiction writers, Agatha Christie. In her first book, she introduces her famous detective Hercule Poirot. Besides ushering in the “cozy school” of detective fiction, Christie’s book illustrates the close relationship between the American and British literary markets. Her novel was first published in New York and then Canada (likely for reasons of copyright), and only then in her native Great Britain. A Haycraft-Queen selection. Accompanied by Christie’s response to a fan letter.
Aldous Huxley. Mortal Coils. London: Chatto & Windus, 1922.
Aldous Huxley, a nine-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, authored this collection of short stories. The first one, “The Giaconda Smile,” was the basis for the 1948 film noir A Woman’s Vengeance. A womanizer is wrongly tried and convicted for the arsenic poisoning of his late wife. The true murderer has the “Mona Lisa” smile.
“On one hand, [detective fiction] is a work of imagination, demanding the creative, artistic faculty; on the other, it is a work of ratiocination, demanding the power of logical analysis and subtle and acute reasoning, . . . and a somewhat extensive outfit of special knowledge.” - R. Austin Freeman
Earl Derr Biggers. The House Without a Key. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers, 1925.
This is the first of six novels that featured the popular Chinese detective Charlie Chan. Biggers based his character on detective Chang Apana, a Chinese-Hawaiian member of the Honolulu Police Department. Biggers waited until page 76 to introduce Chan, who was quickly picked up by Hollywood (and in China) in a series of popular films. A Haycraft-Queen selection.
Franklin W. Dixon [likely Leslie McFarlane, based on characters conceived by Edward Stratemeyer]. The Tower Treasure. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1927.
Franklin W. Dixon [likely Leslie McFarlane, based on characters conceived by Edward Stratemeyer]. The House on the Cliff. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1927.
Although these copies are from the late 1940s or early 1950s, the texts of both books, numbers one and two in an original series of nearly forty, are the original. It is difficult to overstate the impact the Hardy Boys books had on America’s youth, with annual sales even today still approaching one million copies, a spin-off for girls with the Nancy Drew series, multiple television series, and a new book series. The books have also been translated into twenty-five languages.
David Frome [pseudonym of Zenith Jones Brown]. The Hammersmith Murders. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. for the Crime Club, Inc., 1930.
American novelist and war correspondent Zenith Jones Brown wrote under several pen names, including David Frome, Leslie Ford, and Brenda Conrad. This is the first mystery novel to feature her recurring sleuth Evan Pinkerton. The rear panel of the dust jacket is displayed here, showing the newly reduced pricing policy as the Great Depression takes hold in the United States and abroad. A Haycraft-Queen selection.
John Dickson Carr. It Walks by Night. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1930.
This first novel by twenty-four-year-old John Dickson Carr is the reader’s introduction to his French detective Henri Bencolin. Carr’s writing career spanned forty years. Although he was American, he lived in England for many years and wrote many of his detective novels in the English manner, with complex plots and landed gentry. Carr was “unique among crime writers in his unswerving devotion to one form or another of the locked-room mystery.” He wrote under several pen names including Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairburn.
Edgar Wallace. The Hand of Power. New York: The Mystery League, Inc., 1930.
The first American edition and the first selection of The Mystery League, whose pricing strategy, in response to the Great Depression, is extensively outlined on the back of the book. Wallace was popular in England and the United States and wrote over 170 novels, selling millions of copies. He moved from his native England to the US late in his career and died suddenly in Hollywood in 1932 while working on the screenplay for King Kong.
Maxwell Grant [likely Walter B. Gibson]. The Living Shadow (A Detective Novel from the Private Annals of the Shadow). New York: Street & Smith Publications, Inc., 1931.
Based on a character that originally appeared on the radio, The Living Shadow was the first appearance of “The Shadow” in book form. Older individuals may remember the catchphrase, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”
Harriette R. Campbell. The String Glove Mystery. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1936.
Following the typical pattern of the “cozy school,” The String Glove Mystery features the murder of a wealthy person, set on a large English estate. It is the first novel of American-born Harriette R. Campbell and introduces the sleuth Simon Brade.
Margaret Rau. The Band of the Red Hand. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1938.
Margaret Rau was born in China to American parents. This is her first mystery, written for adolescents and set in China. Her protagonist is a red-haired boy, also born in China to American parents.
George Dyer. The People Ask Death: A Catalyst Club Mystery. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940.
This novel predicts the use of faked photography by a criminal organization to attempt to prosecute an innocent man. The Catalyst Club, a crime-fighting association, is shaken when one of its most popular members is arrested for murder. Each chapter heading features front-page headlines and photographs. This copy is inscribed by the author.