A Novel Pairing: Agatha Christie & An Homage to Golden-Age Mystery Writers

I’ve been re-reading the Miss Marple stories* over the past few months, and that happened to coincide with finally having a chance to read The Bodies in the Library* by Marty Wingate. The book’s description of a body found in a library of first edition women’s writers from the Golden Age of Crime sounded just right for my taste, and it was a delight to discover each book in the series contains little nods to a particular book and author while still telling an original mystery story in modern-day Bath. These books are a lot of fun and have me wanting to do a deep-dive into so many writers, which to me is the best thing books with an homage to a classic can do! I’ve read most of Christie’s catalog at some point in my life, but I’ve only dipped my toes into Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey, and Daphne du Maurier (who Wingate includes for her suspense even though she’s not technically a writer of detective fiction). I think if you enjoy Agatha Christie and her ilk, you’ll enjoy The First Edition Library Mystery series.

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