Elisa Shoenberger has been building a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all aspects of books from author interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and everything in between. She also writes regularly for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She's also written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and many other publications. When she's not writing about reading, she's reading and adventuring to find cool new art. She also plays alto saxophone and occasionally stiltwalks. Find out more on her website or follow her on Twitter @vogontroubadour.
Over 100 years later, we’re still obsessed with the Golden Age of Mystery. It’s that period between World War I and World War II when murder mysteries really came into their own. Most people think of Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime, as well as her compatriots Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham, and other members of the Detection Club. Their works are considered traditional mysteries; not quite cozy, but definitely not hard-boiled detective novels either.
Hard-boiled detective novels were in their heyday with authors like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Much of the standards of mystery and detective novels found their footing in that period. It was the time when Ronald Knox developed his “10 Commandments of Detective Fiction,” which were meant to keep mysteries fair. It was a good time to be a mystery writer and mystery fan.
While people still are reading and enjoying books from the Golden Age of Mystery, not all of them are equal. Many retain some of the harmful prejudicial feelings of the day, from racism, antisemitism, and homophobia. There are aspects in these books that might be shocking and unpalatable for a reader in the 21st century. Some elements may be an automatic DNF (Did Not Finish) for some readers.
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Elisa Shoenberger has been building a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all aspects of books from author interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and everything in between. She also writes regularly for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She’s also written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and many other publications. When she’s not writing about reading, she’s reading and adventuring to find cool new art. She also plays alto saxophone and occasionally stiltwalks. Find out more on her website or follow her on Twitter @vogontroubadour.
It’s also worth noting that there were not many published authors of color writing mysteries at this time. I am excited to have discovered Harlem Renaissance writer Rudolph Fisher’s The Conjure-Man Dies, but his works are few and far between.
Let’s look at six mysteries from the Golden Age that are quite problematic in today’s world (and frankly were probably problematic and definitely hurtful when they were written), as well as three books in the bunch that are still worth reading.
The Mystery of Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer
I think the title might be a good indicator of why Sax Rohmer’s works are a problem. Technically, the first Fu Manchu novel was written in 1913, which is before World War I, but Rohmer kept writing through the 1910s all the way to the 1970s. The books and the movies helped perpetuate stereotypes against Asians, especially the Chinese. In fact, there was so much anti-Chinese sentiment in US popular culture that Joseph Knox included as the fifth commandment: “No Chinaman must figure in the story.” (The use of Chinaman is also quite horrific and harmful as well).
The Wychford Poisoning Case by Anthony Berkeley Cox
While I have loved books by Berkeley before, this one is very hard to swallow due to its misogyny. The sleuth Roger Sheringham constantly belittles women, claiming they are less intelligent and lack common sense. And there’s spanking in it, which is so infantilizing. Check out The Poisoned Chocolates Case instead.
The Benson Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine
Generally, I love locked room mysteries. I love reading about an impossible crime, like a person found dead in a room with only one locked door, and watching the detective figure out howdunnit. But some have accused the sub-genre of getting too into the weeds; there’s too much of a focus on how the crime was committed that the rest of the story is kinda sterile.
This work, unfortunately, is an example of that. The characters fall flat for the most part; the main detective Philo Vance is the kind of irritable and pretentious that just puts you off. If you are a really, really big fan of locked room mysteries, this might be for you, but it didn’t work for me. I’d recommend reading Gigi Pandian’s Under Lock & Skeleton Key for a well-written and fun locked room mystery.
Problematic Books Still Worth Reading
So why read any Golden Age books if these mysteries are chock-full of sexism, racism, homophobia, etc? The three mentioned here have more to offer than typical Golden Age mystery books. Each is the origin of mystery tropes, from the hard-boiled detective to the closed circle mystery. But we can’t just ignore the problematic aspects in the books; we just need to read them critically.
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Yes, it’s that Maltese Falcon. It’s the quintessential hard-boiled detective novel (and movie with the legendary Humphrey Bogart), but the book (and movie) have big problems. Sam Spade is incredibly homophobic, constantly insulting various characters who resort to violence at times with homophobic insults. So yeah, it’s hard to read and watch. There’s also fatphobia directed towards one particular character, so that’s not great.
But despite these big issues, I think it is still worth reading and watching. Hammett really made the genre of hard-boiled detective novels. Sam Spade is the quintessential tough-talking, hard-hitting detective. He finds the truth, but he’s no angel. The mystery itself is also the paradigm of the Macguffin story, where every action in the book is towards the acquisition of this statue. On top of that, the movie version is quite good (despite the same problems with the book) with an incredible cast of Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and so many others.
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
Yes, this one is at the edge of the Golden Age, but I think it’s worth including. Philip Marlowe is the other quintessential hard-boiled detective. But unlike Sam Spade, he’s kinda funny and seems to have a sense of right and wrong, even if it doesn’t always align with the law. But goodness, this book has a lot of racist names and characterizations of Black people, Native Americans, and other non-white peoples. Sigh.
Like The Maltese Falcon, this is one of the key books of the hard-boiled detective genre, but very different in tone and writing. It’s beautifully written, which is remarkable for what is supposed to be pulpy fiction. Marlowe is more of a white knight in comparison to Sam Spade, who is really out for himself. Sometimes Marlowe’s sense of morality is not always aligned with the law, but with what he thinks should be justice (another trope that mystery readers may be familiar with). And unlike Spade, Marlowe is funny, which often causes him to get beat up in the books. So it’s twofold why the book is worth reading: the tropes of a detective have their roots here, and Marlowe is a fun character (except when he’s being racist or sexist).
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
So we’ve come to the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie herself. Even after 100 years, she’s still the number one crime writer that people think of. Unfortunately, her books are rife with racism across the board. It was a bit challenging to decide which book was the most problematic since there are scenes where a character dons Blackface; others were people expressing dislike for entire ethnic groups without any objection.
Back in 2023, when people were getting angry about changes to some of Roald Dahl’s language, apparently there were changes to Agatha Christie’s works to make them less racist. Rolling Stone reported, “Among the edits were those that described characters as Black, Jewish, or Gypsy. Derogatory descriptions of characters have been cut, along with racist language, including the O-word and the N-word. The term “natives” has been replaced with ‘local.’”
I decided to go for a book that had not one, but two titles so offensive that they had to be changed. No, And Then There Were None was not the original name. The first title used the N-word slur; the second used the word “Indian.” And since it’s tied to a nursery school rhyme, those words are repeated throughout the book.
But like the two other books on this list, this work really made the subgenre into what we know today. This novel is the closed circle mystery, which is basically when people are trapped in a limited area, like an island or a house, and then the murderer kills one of them. It’s so classic that there are several books published this year that are based on Christie’s flawed work, including Ande Pliego’s You Are Fatally Invited and Carol Goodman’s Writers and Liars. The rest of the plot is fairly ingenious as well, and the solution serves as its own genre-defining moment. Just remain critical of the book in all of its expressions of prejudice.
So that’s my two cents on Golden Age Mystery books that didn’t age well. It’ll be interesting to see how readers will find books in the recent past that did not age well, such as blatant transphobia and fatphobia.
If you want to learn more about locked room mysteries, check out this primer or read this list of mysteries set in the 1920s.
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