Friday, April 22, 2016

Ask A Policeman: A review by Warren Bull




Ask A Policeman published in 1933 was a work by members of the Detection Club. The authors are Anthony Berkeley, Milward Kennedy, Glayds Mitchell, John Rhode, Dorothy L. Sayers and Helen Simpson.

John Rhode wrote the murder scene with an almost impossible crime and several suspects who had more than ample reason to wish the victim ill. Each author then wrote a possible solution detected by popular sleuths. Just to add interest each author wrote about another author’s character. Milward Kennedy wrote a final chapter offering yet another ending.

Once again I am reminded about how many really excellent mystery writers there were during the Golden Age of mystery writing.

I enjoyed the book very much. If I were a better student of mystery writers of the time, I would have enjoyed it even more. I could detect the fun Anthony Berkely had writing about Lord Peter Wimsey, but I did not know enough about other characters to get the “inside” jokes. Every author plays fair and each offers a credible but different take on the common information.

The few times I have been able to write about another author’s characters, always with permission, of course, I found the experience to be a hoot. 


If you were going to write about a popular sleuth today, which character would you choose and why?

4 comments:

  1. I would choose Rita Mae Brown's Miss Marple. I have always wanted to write a convincing cat!

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  2. I would choose Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, or one of her sidekicks, Lula or Grandma Mazur. Such fun, over the top characters.

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  3. Holmes. Absolutely Holmes. If only I could do him justice!

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  4. I would have fun with Lord Peter Wimsey.

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