The Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers, including

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...

, Dorothy L. Sayers,

Ronald Knox Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an English Catholic priest, theologian, author, and radio broadcaster. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a high reputation as a classicist, Knox wa ...

Freeman Wills Crofts Freeman Wills Crofts FRSA (1 June 1879 – 11 April 1957) was an Irish mystery author, best remembered for the character of Inspector Joseph French. A railway engineer by training, Crofts introduced railway themes into many of his stories, ...

, Arthur Morrison,

Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among th ...

John Rhode Cecil John Charles Street (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street, began his military career as an artillery officer in the British Army. During the course of World War I, he became a ...

, Jessie Rickard,

Baroness Emma Orczy Baroness Emma Orczy (full name: Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci) (; 23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947), usually known as Baroness Orczy (the name under which she was published) or to her family and friends as Em ...

, R. Austin Freeman, G. D. H. Cole,

Margaret Cole Dame Margaret Isabel Cole (née Postgate; 6 May 1893 – 7 May 1980) was an English socialist politician, writer and poet. She wrote several detective stories jointly with her husband, G. D. H. Cole. She went on to hold important posts in Lo ...

E. C. Bentley Edmund Clerihew Bentley (10 July 1875 – 30 March 1956), who generally published under the names E. C. Bentley or E. Clerihew Bentley, was a popular English novelist and humorist, and inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse ...

Henry Wade Henry Menasco Wade (November 11, 1914 – March 1, 2001) was an American lawyer who served as district attorney of Dallas County from 1951 to 1987. He participated in two notable U.S. court cases of the 20th century: the prosecution of Jack Ru ...

Constance Lindsay Taylor Constance Lindsay Taylor (10 January 1907 – 15 January 2000) was a British writer, playwright and screenwriter who wrote under the pseudonym Guy Cullingford. Her novels and short stories were written in the style of Golden Age detective fiction ...

and

H. C. Bailey Henry Christopher Bailey (1 February 1878 – 24 March 1961) was an English author of detective fiction. Life Bailey was born in London. He studied Classics at Oxford University, earning a B.A. in 1901.William L. DeAndrea, ''Encyclopedia Myster ...

. Anthony Berkeley was instrumental in setting up the club, and the first president was G. K. Chesterton. There was a fanciful initiation ritual with an oath written by Sayers, and the club held regular dinner meetings in London.

Guidelines

In addition to meeting for dinners and helping each other with technical aspects in their individual writings, the members of the club agreed to adhere to Knox's Commandments in their writing to give the reader a fair chance at guessing the guilty party. These fair-play "rules" were summarised by one of the members,

, in an introduction to an anthology of detective stories. They were never intended as more than guidelines, and not all the members took them seriously. The first American member (though then living in the UK) was John Dickson Carr, elected in 1936. The club continues to exist, although the fair-play rules have been considerably relaxed. A number of works were published under the club's sponsorship; most of these were written by multiple members of the club, each contributing one or more chapters in turn. In the case of '' The Floating Admiral'', each author also provided a sealed "solution" to the mystery as he or she had written it, including the previous chapters. This was done to prevent a writer from adding impossible complications with no reasonable solution in mind. The various partial solutions were published as part of the final book.

The oath

Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them and not placing reliance on nor making use of Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence, or Act of God?

Presidents

* G. K. Chesterton (1930–1936) *

(1936–1949) * Dorothy L. Sayers (1949–1957) *

(1957–1976) * Lord Gorell (1957–1963) * Julian Symons (1976–1985) *

H. R. F. Keating Henry Reymond Fitzwalter Keating (31 October 1926 – 27 March 2011) was an English crime fiction writer most notable for his series of novels featuring Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID. Life Keating, known as "Harry" to friends and family, ...

(1985–2000) * Simon Brett (2000–2015) *

Martin Edwards Charles Martin Edwards (born 24 July 1945) is the former chairman of Manchester United, a position he held from 1980 until 2002. He now holds the position of honorary life president at the club and Director of Inview Technology Ltd. Biography ...

(2015–) Lord Gorell shared the presidency with Agatha Christie, who only agreed to accept the role if a co-president was appointed to conduct the club's proceedings.

Publications

*'' The Scoop and Behind the Screen'' (1931, round-robin novellas) *'' The Floating Admiral'' (1931,1932, round-robin novel) *''Ask a Policeman'' (1933) *''

The Anatomy of a Murder ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1936) (US title ''The Anatomy of Murder'' (New York, Macmillan, 1937) True crime essays *''

Detection Medley {{Unreferenced, date=March 2018 In general, detection is the action of accessing information without specific cooperation from with the sender. In the history of radio communications, the term "detector" was first used for a device that detected t ...

'' (1939; US title, ''Line-Up,'' 1940; short stories, some original, some reprints; edited by John Rhode) *''

Mystery Playhouse presents The Detection Club Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

'' (January 1948); six 30 minute radio plays by club members on

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

written in aid of club funds *''

No Flowers By Request No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles: English language * ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses) * A determiner in noun phrases Alphanumeric symbols * No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script * No symbol, displayed � ...

'' (round-robin novella, 1953) *''

Verdict of Thirteen In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales, ...

'' (1978; original short stories, edited by Julian Symons, published by Faber and by Harper & Row) *'' The Man Who...'' (1992); original short stories in honor of Julian Symons's 80th birthday, edited by

, published by Macmillan]) *'' The Detection Collection'' (2005; original short stories in recognition of the Club's 75th anniversary, edited by Simon Brett, published by Orion and by St. Martin;'s (2006)) *'' The Verdict of Us All'' (2006; original short stories in honor of

's 80th birthday, edited by

Peter Lovesey Peter (Harmer) Lovesey (born 1936), also known by his pen name Peter Lear, is a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detec ...

, published by Crippen & Landru and

Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in Ma ...

) *'' The Sinking Admiral'' (2016, round-robin novel, published by

Collins Crime Club Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,012in "The Hooded Gunman -- An Illustrated History of Collins Crim ...

) *'' Motives for Murder'' (2016; original short stories in honor of

's 80th birthday, edited by

, published by Crippen & Landru and by Sphere (

Little, Brown Book Group Little, Brown Book Group is a UK publishing company created in 1992, with multiple predecessors. Since 2006 Little, Brown Book Group has been owned by Hachette UK, a subsidiary of Hachette Livre. It was acquired in 2006 from Time Warner of ...

). *'' Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club'' (2020; edited by

, published by

). * '' Eric the Skull'' (2020; a 45-minute

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

play, being a fictionalised account of the setting up of the club, written by Simon Brett and produced by Liz Anstee).

References

External links