Scotland, 1930: Agatha Christie is getting married. She invites fellow members of the Detection Club to the windswept Isle of Skye for a quiet break while the banns are read. But tranquility proves elusive when the formidable Lord Blackwood, leader of a hunting party sharing their lodge, vanishes from the moors.Sharp-eyed assistant to the Detection Club secretary, Eliza Baker, suspects foul play as the strange occurrences pile up: a mysterious grave in the churchyard, a missing rifle, and late-night excursions across the rugged island. There may be no body—yet—but someone at Dunmara Lodge is hiding a deadly secret.
As a storm cuts them off from the mainland, Eliza and her friend Theo must navigate lies, half-truths, and a treacherous landscape... but can they uncover the killer in the stalking grounds… or will the moors keep their secrets forever?
Head to the remote Isle of Skye in this delightful and gripping golden-age mystery series, perfect for fans of Helena Dixon, Verity Bright and T. E. Kinsey.
Imagine being invited to dinner with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gilbert Chesterton, and some of the greatest mystery writers of the twentieth century. Now imagine that after dinner they challenge one another to solve puzzles, debate the rules of murder mysteries, and swear solemn oaths promising not to cheat their readers. It sounds like something out of a novel. In fact, it really happened.
One of the inspirations behind my Detection Club Mystery series is the real Detection Club, a society of mystery writers founded in Britain in 1930. While the murders in my novels are fictional, the club itself was very real and wonderfully eccentric.
What Was the Detection Club?
The Detection Club was created during the Golden Age of detective fiction, a period between the two World Wars when mystery novels exploded in popularity. Readers couldn't get enough of ingenious puzzles, impossible crimes, hidden clues, and brilliant detectives. Many of the era's most famous writers knew one another personally. They met at literary events, exchanged letters, reviewed each other's work, and shared readers. Eventually, a group of these authors decided to form a mystery writer’s supper club, spear-headed by Anthony Berkeley. Gilbert Chesterton served as the first president and Dorothy L. Sayers as the first secretary.
Among its members were some of the biggest names in crime fiction, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Anthony Berkeley, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Ronald Knox. If you're a mystery fan, it's the literary equivalent of assembling the Avengers.
The Oath
The Detection Club became famous for its initiation ceremony. New members were required to swear an oath on a skull named Eric, written largely by Dorothy L. Sayers, promising to play fair with readers. The oath was intentionally theatrical and tongue-in-cheek. Members pledged not to conceal vital clues from readers or rely on supernatural explanations that made the mystery impossible to solve. The ceremony reportedly involved candlelight, elaborate rituals, and the skull Eric.
Playing Fair
One of the most fun aspects of the Detection Club was its commitment to fair play. Modern mysteries often emphasize suspense and shocking twists. Golden Age mysteries emphasized puzzles. Readers weren't merely observing the investigation. They were participating. The clues appeared on the page. The suspects were introduced. The evidence was presented. The challenge was simple: Could you solve the mystery before the detective?
Writers like Christie and Sayers treated mystery writing almost like a game between author and reader. The rules mattered. That's one reason their books remain so satisfying nearly a century later.
And yet, Agatha Christie was almost expelled from the club for not playing fair with the readers after the publication of The Murder of Roger Ackyrod, one of the first of her unreliable narrators.
Friends, Rivals, and Collaborators
One thing I discovered while researching the Detection Club is that these writers were not isolated geniuses working alone in dusty studies. They formed a genuine community. They critiqued one another's work, exchanged ideas, and debated plot problems. They shared professional successes and disappointments. They even collaborated on several mysteries and radio shows.
Of course, they didn't always agree. Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie had very different approaches to detective fiction. Sayers was often more interested in character psychology and moral questions. Christie excelled at plotting and misdirection. Yet they respected one another enormously. I find the relationship between these two queens of crime particularly fascinating.
In an era when writers are often portrayed as solitary figures, these authors remind us that creativity frequently flourishes within friendships and communities. Some of my most cherished experiences are talking to other writers at conferences and in writers’ groups.
Why I Wanted to Write About Them
When I first learned about the Detection Club, I imagined what would happen if its members found themselves inside a mystery rather than writing one. It didn’t take me long to find out about disagreements in the club over Agatha’s The Murder of Roger Ackyrod. Those disagreements inspired the first book in my series, The Case of the Christie Conspiracy (which won this year’s Agatha Award for best Historical Mystery).
The second, The Case of the Body on the Orient Express, was inspired by a secret Dorothy L. Sayers took to her grave, along with Agatha’s first trip on the Orient Express. The third, and one of my favorites, The Case of the Christie Curse, was inspired by Agatha’s trip to the archeological dig where she met her second husband Max Mallowan.
The new installment out now, The Case of the Christie Wedding Affair, is inspired by Agatha’s secret wedding to Max in Scotland. Max was fourteen years her junior and she doctored the wedding documents to make them closer in age.
One of my favorite aspects of writing these books is bringing Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers together on the page. Today, they’re legends. But during their lifetimes, especially early in their careers, they were colleagues navigating deadlines, publishers, reviews, and all the ordinary challenges that writers face. I devoured everything I could about their lives tried to bring them to life on the page. That's why I find these writers so fascinating… and relatable. Long before they became literary legends, they were simply a group of friends gathered around the dinner table, arguing about murder.
For fun, I imagine them not just writing about crimes but investigating them too.
Agatha Christie’s latest book, The Seven Dials, has set the literary world alight. With a new marriage to Max Mallowan and a honeymoon cruise down the Nile ahead, she’s looking forward to the trip of a lifetime. But the publication has also drawn the attention of the Secret Service, who have spotted strange coincidences within its pages.When Eliza Baker, assistant to the secretary of the Detection Club, is asked to accompany Agatha Christie and her husband, she reluctantly agrees, determined to help clear her friend’s name. Yet her attention soon shifts to fellow passengers, the Hardwicke family, who are celebrating a daughter’s birthday aboard. And when a guest is found dead in his cabin, the idyllic voyage takes a deadly turn.
As the steamer drifts upriver, Eliza and Theo must sift through polite smiles and private grievances to find the truth. Can Eliza and Theo uncover the truth before the Nile claims its next victim?
Kelly Oliver is the Agatha award-winning and bestselling author of four mystery series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, The Fiona Figg Mysteries, and The Detection Club Mysteries.The Fiona Figg Mysteries have been on the most anticipated list of Mystery Magazine and won the Mystery and Mayhem Award and the Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical Mystery. And The Case of the Christie Conspiracy, Detection Club Mystery book one, is currently nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Historical Mystery.
Kelly is Past President of Sisters in Crime National, current Education Coordinator for SinC Guppies, and a Distinguished Emerita Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.
To learn more about Kelly and her books, go to www.kellyoliverbooks.com.
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