How did a beautiful Georgian house inspire Agatha Christie's Dead Man's Folly? Or a stretch of the East Anglian coast become the place in which a murder victim is discovered in P. D. James's Devices and Desires?
Novel Crime Scenes explores the landscapes of twenty crime novels in forensic detail. Beginning with the Devon moorland of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1899) and ending with London's Brick Lane as described in Ajay Chowdhury's The Waiter (2021), it ranges from John Buchan's Galloway Hills and Gwen Moffat's Cape Wrath to Ellis Peters's Shropshire, Margery Allingham's Essex, Colin Dexter's Oxford and Sam Llewellyn's Isles of Scilly. Each chapter also delves into the author's background and discovers what the setting of the book meant to them, often by following in the footsteps of Britain's best-known crime writers.
Whether you are an armchair detective or an intrepid investigator, this book will inspire you to appreciate old favourites with deeper insights and discover thrilling new literary destinations.
By:
Christina Hardyment
Imprint: Bodleian Library
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781851246410
ISBN 10: 185124641X
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 16 April 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
INTRODUCTION 1 THE MELANCHOLY MOOR Arthur Conan Doyle & The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902 2 THE SUNSET SIDE OF LONDON G.K. Chesterton & The Man Who Was Thursday, 1908 3 HIGH HEATHERY MOUNTAINS John Buchan & The Thirty-Nine Steps, 1915 4 THE STRIPLING THAMES Ronald Knox & The Footsteps at the Lock, 1928 5 MUD, MIST AND TIDE Margery Allingham & Mystery Mile, 1930 6 BRAZEN TONGUES CLAMOURING Dorothy L. Sayers & The Nine Tailors, 1934 7 SUNKEN LABYRINTH Geoffrey Household & Rogue Male, 1939 8 THE WORLD’S WHOPPER Arthur Ransome & The Big Six, 1940 9 A STORY WHOSE VERY ROOTS GROW IN THE PLACE E.C.R. Lorac & Crook O’Lune, 1953 10 DREAM HOUSE Agatha Christie & Dead Man’s Folly, 1956 11 EERIE EMPTINESS Gwen Moffat & Miss Pink at the Edge of the World, 1975 12 A HEAVING FLEECE OF WOODLAND Ellis Peters & The Hermit of Eyton Forest, 1987 13 FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME P.D. James & Devices and Desires, 1989 14 THE VERY SPIRIT OF THE CITY Colin Dexter & The Way Through the Woods, 1992 15 TWENTY-ONE ACRES OF PARADISE Sam Llewellyn & The Sea Garden, 1999 16 PARALLEL UNIVERSE Malcolm Pryce & Aberystwyth Mon Amour, 2001 17 GENII LOCORUM Ben Aaronovitch & Rivers of London, 2011 18 A COLD AND EERIE BLANKET Martin Edwards & The Frozen Shroud, 2013 19 MAELSTROM Peter May & The Coffin Road, 2016 20 A SEA OF PARKAS, BURQAS, DASHIKIS Ajay Chowdhury & The Waiter, 2021
Christina Hardyment is a writer and journalist with particular interests in literary, geography and medieval history mysteries. She is the author of Novel Houses (Bodleian Library Publishing, 2019).
Reviews for Novel Crime Scenes: Twenty Deadly Landscapes
Hardyment walks appreciatively through dark imaginings, paying enjoyably grateful, sometimes quizzical tribute to the spirit of landscape in classic crime fiction. -- Libby Purves Novel Crime Scenes is as enjoyably readable as it is informative. I'll keep referring to it for years to come. -- Martin Edwards Aimed at both armchair detectives and literary travellers, [this] book offers new perspectives on familiar tales and spotlights lesser-known crime fiction destinations. -- Matt Drake
