Five to Try: Classic Crime Writers Beginning with ‘C’

Published on: 28th January 2025

It is the start of a new year and January is sometimes a month in which people try different things and set themselves challenging goals. This can entail eating more healthy foods or signing up to extra gym classes. But we all know how those kinds of new year resolutions often end…

So why not choose a new author to read instead?

For this recommendation post I decided to pick 5 vintage mystery authors whose surnames all began with the letter ‘C’. My selections cover quite a few decades and also a range of mystery styles, so hopefully there will be one which catches your eye! Without further ado, let’s take a look at author no. 1…

Crime Writer No. 1: Alice Campbell

Total No. of Detective Novels: 19

Title in the Spotlight: Travelling Butcher (1944)

It is WW2 and bombing has left the property of a harassed antiques dealer in such a dilapidated state, it is starting to disintegrate around him. This situation leads to him dying of a stroke. Yet his wife, Lady Hyacinth, is far from the grieving widow and she is much more concerned that the business staff and her household pack up as many antiques as possible, to take to a home in the countryside. This might mean safety from the bombs, but not from a murderer’s schemes, nor from those keen to make some easy (and probably not very legal) money from the stashed antiques.

I would say this story was a thriller, similar in style to Ethel Lina White. Plenty of corpses crop up (with four occurring in the first 40 pages) and I liked how the clues are used to shock the reader. The police think an unhinged soldier might be involved, but the reader knows the deadliness lies closer to home. In addition, Campbell presents a strong set of characters, and I enjoyed how their differing personalities interact (and often clash) with each other.

Dean Street Press have reprinted 10 of her mysteries, two of which I have on my to-be-read pile, The Murder of Caroline Bundy and Desire to Kill.

 

Crime Writer No. 2: Bernice Carey

Total No. of Detective Novels: 9

Title in the Spotlight: The Reluctant Murderer (1949)

Vivian Haines is off to spend the weekend with her aunt. Her intention is to commit a murder. Yet who is her victim going to be? Told from Vivian’s perspective, we see her engage with the other guests and we are witnesses to her attempts to kill. But her plans keep backfiring, and she has a growing concern that she is not the only one with murder in their heart…

I absolutely love the premise to this story, and it is one of my favourite inverted mysteries. Just because we know who the killer is supposed to be, does not mean that the novel lacks sufficient twists and turns. Given the nature of the plot, the tale is very character driven and it has lashings of dark humour.

 

Crime Writer No. 3: Henrietta Clandon

Total No. of Detective Novels: 7 (Clandon was one of several pennames for very prolific John George Haslette Vahey, so this figure only refers to mysteries published under this name.)

Title in the Spotlight: Good by Stealth (1936)

Good by Stealth is a first-hand account written by Edna Alice, a woman who was released from prison 10 months earlier. This manuscript is her side of the story, refuting the assertions made against her at her trial. Slowly over the first few pages we piece together that letter writing was behind Edna’s custodial sentence, yet Clandon rewrites the poison pen letter narrative. Other novels have moulded us to view such writers in a conclusively negative light, as despicable people who cause a great deal of harm. But what unfolds in this story is a challenge, of sorts, against this stereotype. Clandon avoids whitewashing such a character, a choice which he also applies to the supposedly “good guys” in this scenario. Hypocrisy certainly rears its ugly head in this tale.

This is a narrative with a great deal of moral complexity, as the reader is invited to consider how they would respond to the increasingly desperate situation Edna finds herself in, with no outside source of support or justice. Yet the reader is not left entirely certain how much they can rely on the narrator’s version of events. All in all, a very interesting psychological crime novel.

Dean Street Press have reprinted the following Clandon novels: Inquest, Good by Stealth, The Delicate Murder and Power on the Scent.

 

Crime Writer No. 4: Joan A. Cowdroy

Total No. of Detective Novels: 12

Title in the Spotlight: Murder of Lydia (1933)

One of Cowdroy’s series detectives is Li Moh (possibly the earliest creation of a Chinese sleuth by a British author) and in this novel he is holidaying with his family and in-laws at the seaside. Yet everyone knows that an amateur sleuth cannot go on a vacation without a corpse popping up. The case concerns two nieces. The first is Lydia, who is popular and wealthy from a family inheritance, whilst the other, Rosalind, is disliked for her temper, which is not improved by Lydia’s tendency to steal her love interests. So, when Lydia is discovered on a buoy one morning, drowned, Rosalind soon finds herself a prime suspect, a position bolstered by circumstantial evidence. But is she the real killer?

Moh is a promising sleuthing character, (with an intriguing backstory) and whilst it is a shame that we don’t see as much of him as I would have liked, the appearances he does make are enjoyable. There is something to be said for leaving your readers wanting more after all. The author gives the readers a mystery they can really get their teeth into, and a good level of tension is created through the trial by media that Rosalind faces.

Dean Street Press have reprinted two of the Mr Moh mysteries: Death Has No Tongue and Murder of Lydia.

 

Crime Writer No. 5: Joan Coggin

Total No. of Detective Novels: 4

Title in the Spotlight: Dancing with Death (1947)

This is the final entry in the Lady Lupin mystery quartet, but I think it is a series you can dive into, and for me it is the best book. The story is set during the Christmas period and is centred on a postwar festive party. Nostalgia can have quite a sting in its tail, when the present cannot live up to the past. Inevitability the guests irritate each other and even drive a wedge between the host and hostess, and it is at this stage that one of the group seemingly commits suicide. But not everyone agrees with this conclusion.

Lady Lupin is a vicar’s wife, and a lot of the humour derives from her unsuitability for this role, as well as her muddleheaded trains of thought. However, maturity and experience (which culminate in this last book) help Lady Lupin hone her chaotic style of amateur sleuthing, which is a lot of fun to read. Dancing with Death has the strongest mystery puzzle of the four tales and I liked how the plot has a comedy of manners vein to it.

 

Kate Jackson

 

Kate Jackson blogs at  www.crossexaminingcrime.com and she is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association. Her latest publication with the British Library is How to Survive a Classic Crime Novel (2023). This work was shortlisted for the H. R. F. Keating award for Best 2023 Biographical or Critical Book Related to Crime Fiction. Kate compiled the puzzles in The Pocket Detective (2018) and The Pocket Detective 2 (2019) and she also contributed to the publication: The 100 Greatest Literary Detectives (2018), ed. by Eric Sandberg, writing on Juanita Sheridan’s Lily Wu.