Three Queens of Detective Fiction

Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham

I’M NOT convinced that detective fiction is always given enough respect in terms of literary merit, and I think that’s unfair. The ability to write a page-turner of a thriller with well-drawn characters, clever plot twists and a surprise at the end is a significant skill practised by many successful crime writers. Even J.K. Rowling had a stab at it (oops!) with her Cormoran Strike novels, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, so with due deference to the fictional sleuth, it gives me great pleasure to take a look at three British writers from the so-called Golden Age of Detective Fiction who became acknowledged queens of the genre.