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Murder Mysteries in October
- The Little Bookshop
- Oct 3
- 7 min read
Yessss the season has come for all your ghost decorations, haunted house thrills, and scary books/movies. We don’t want to do the same themes every year so instead of a Halloween theme, we will focus on Murder Mysteries this year!
The secret societies have already been unraveled during our Dark Academia book club in September. This month we’ll take a closer look into the history of the Whodunnits.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The story ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ by Edgar Allan Poe is considered as the very first detective story. It was published in 1841 in Graham's Magazine. Of course, some might not agree with this because there were other detective stories before. Most do agree that Poe developed the path for the modern genre of detective/murder mystery. (source: The History of Murder Mysteries and Why the Fun is Just Getting Started)
Murder Mysteries -later - also known as Whodunnits.
whodunit(n.) "murder mystery," 1930, U.S. slang, originally a semi-facetious formation from who done it? Whydunit is from 1968. (source: Etymonline)
“The Golden Age of mystery fiction happened in the 1920s and 30s, and many of the authors of these Whodunits were British (or were inspired by British authors). Some of the most enduring mystery writers come out of this time period.” (source: Novel Suspects)
Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot
And thus we come to two of the most well-known detectives: Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle and Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie. Of course, in our shop we focus on books in English… but also we’re in France so here’s a special mention to Maurice Leblanc’s stories about Arsène Lupin. Did you know that the author created the story ‘Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late’ without Arthur Conan Doyle permission and when Conan Doyle expressed this, Leblanc wrote the character Herlock Sholmes? (source: That time Sherlock Holmes appeared in an Arsène Lupin story as "Herlock Sholmès")
Cozy Murder Mysteries
Since a few years, there have been more Cozy Murder Mysteries. These mysteries are always with “homemade” detectives (booksellers, retirement, etc), some cozy home, and not gruesome at all. Often there’s also humor in the books. One of my favorites is ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman. Just love the series and especially the characters. So happy the fifth one just came out!
Also on TV
When I was younger (not sooo long ago) I was also watching ‘Murder, she wrote’. This show can also be categorized in the Murder Mystery genre. Right now, a series that has a great success is ‘Only Murders in the Building’ - which I also love! The characters, the stories, the humor, it has everything in it !
Our selection at The Little Bookshop
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (of course!)
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings. But when a local property developer shows up dead, 'The Thursday Murder Club' find themselves in the middle of their first live case. The four friends, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron, might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate. I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it? Let’s get started.
The Appeal by Janice Hallett
Dear Reader, Enclosed are documents relating to the events surrounding the Fairway Players' staging of All My Sons, and the tragic death of one of its members. Another member is currently in prison for the crime. We have reason to suspect that they are innocent, and that there were far darker secrets that have yet to be revealed. We believe that the killer has given themselves away. It's there in writing, hidden in the emails, texts, and letters. In the events surrounding the charity appeal for little Poppy Reswick, and the question of whether that money was truly being used to fund her life-saving cancer treatment. Will you accept the challenge? Can you uncover the truth? Do you dare?
How to Solve your own Murder by Kristen Perrin
In 1965 a fortune teller warns 17-year-old Frances that one day she’ll be murdered. And one year later a girl is missing, but it’s not Frances. It’s her best friend Emily. Frances spends a lifetime compiling dirt on every person she meets, withdrawing deeper into her obsessive investigations as she tries to prevent her own murder and solve the case of Emily’s disappearance. In the present day, twenty-something Annie has just moved home to London when she is summoned to a mysterious meeting by her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint and charming village of Castle Knoll, Frances has been murdered, just like she always said she would be. When Annie discovers Frances’s diary from 1965, she finds herself tangled in her great-aunt’s investigations, seeking justice for Frances, and maybe Emily, too. Can Annie unravel the mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will digging up the past throw her into the path of the killer?
The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson
Having recently moved from London to a small Cornish seaside village, Nova Davies started a book club at the local community center, but so far it’s a disaster. The five members disagree on everything, and to make matters worse, a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk. Suspicion for the theft falls on book club member Michael, especially when he disappears and a dead body turns up at his house. But the book club has their own theories. Agatha Christie superfan Phyllis is determined to prove Michael’s been framed, while romance reader Arthur believes there’s a mystery woman involved, and teenage sci-fi fan Ash thinks dark forces are at play. While trying to locate Michael, solve the murder and recover the stolen money, each of them has their own secrets to protect. But despite the danger closing in, they won’t rest until they’ve cracked the case and gotten everyone safe at home with a book, where they belong.
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady--ah, lady of a certain age--who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing--a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero! Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there's no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper. One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don't believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club. When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
A widow's sudden suicide sparks rumors that she murdered her first husband, was being blackmailed, and was carrying on a secret affair with the wealthy Roger Ackroyd. The following evening, Ackroyd is murdered in his locked study, but not before receiving a letter identifying the widow's blackmailer. Kings Abbot is crawling with suspects and it's up to famous detective, Hercule Poirot, to solve the case.
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
A country doctor has come to 221B Baker Street, the lodgings of famed detective Sherlock Holmes, with the eerie tale of the Hound of the Baskervilles. The legend warns the descendants of the Baskerville family never to venture out on the moors that surround their ancestral home, for fear that they will meet the devil-beast that lurks there. Such a story sounds preposterous to any man of reason, but now Sir Charles Baskerville is dead—and the footprints of a giant hound have been found near his body. Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend Dr. John Watson agree to investigate the truth of the matter. They will soon learn that in this case, nothing is quite as it seems....
The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
Horror, madness, violence and the dark forces hidden in humanity abound in this collection of Poe's brilliant tales, including - among others - the bloody, brutal and baffling murder of a mother and daughter in Paris in 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', the creeping insanity of 'The Tell-Tale Heart', the Gothic nightmare of 'The Masque of the Red Death', and the terrible doom of 'The Fall of the House of Usher'.
We hope you enjoyed reading our latest blog post about our October theme Murder Mysteries! :) Looking to order one of the books from our list? Just follow the path! 👇
This blog post is written by The Little Bookshop, your bookshop for English books in Rennes.
