By Claire Booth
After untold years of horrible
reading assignments – from tearing apart The Great Gatsby until there was nothing
left except the light at the end of that damn dock, to analyzing medieval texts
regarding the roles of women, to pouring over city council budgets while a newspaper
reporter – I have finally finally been
tasked with something enjoyable.
I am getting to read some of the best
mysteries from one of the best periods in the genre. The Golden Age. It’s the
subject of a panel I’ll be on at Bouchercon this coming week and it’s given me the
best homework assignment I’ve probably ever had.
The Golden Age is generally considered to be the 1920s and 1930s. And if you’re not necessarily familiar
with the time, you’ve probably heard of a few of the authors. Agatha Christie,
Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Anthony Berkeley. The list can go on and
on. I’ve gotten to revisit some of my absolute favorites, and I’ve discovered fantastic
writers I hadn’t heard of.
But what makes a writer a true
Golden Age author, and what makes the whole period so special? If you’re in New
Orleans next weekend, The Golden Age of Mystery panel would love for you to
stop by and join in the discussion.
And if you feel that the Golden
Age extends past those time borders or that there’s an author who should be
placed in its pantheon, let’s meet at the Bouchercon bar for a drink afterward and
a chance to extend my wonderful homework assignment.
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