Prepare yourself for what might just be the most jam-packed episode of In GAD We Trust to date — when you sit down with Tony Medawar, there’s always going to be a lot to talk about.
With the podcast coming to an end after episode 30, I was hardly going to let Tony get away without one last discussion about all the great work he’s doing for fans of classic era detective fiction. Firstly there’s the fourth Bodies from the Library collection coming out in September, then the small matter of the fifth and sixth collections due out in succeeding years and the first entry in what might just be a new parallel series of uncollected short fiction that will see the light of day in 2022.
Deep breath now…
We also discuss the forthcoming republication this September of Anthony Berkeley’s novel The Wintringham Mystery (1927), originally serialised in the Daily Mirror in 1926 before being slightly rewritten and published in novel form as Cicely Disappears (1927) under the nom de plume A. Monmouth Platts. Tony has written the introduction for this new edition, which includes the story of how the puzzle was apparently too tough even for Agatha Christie. Then there’s the not insignificant matter of Tony’s role as producer of the International Agatha Christie Festival, also in September, where, alongside the great and the good of Agatha Christie research and discussion, I have a small part to play about which I am very excited.
Then we look at forthcoming projects Tony has brewing, including some very interesting Anthony Berkeley news, and…oh, hell, plenty of other things, too — as I say, it’s a jam-packed episode. And I ask the stupidest question I think I’ve ever recorded, which is now preserved here for posterity.
You can listen to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here, or by using the player below.
Thanks of course go to Tony for giving his time to record this and the efforts he continues to go to on all our behalfs, to Jonny Berliner for my theme tune, and to you all for listening at home. The talk given by Mark Aldridge that Tony mentions in the above can be found here and the episode of In GAD We Trust in which Mark talked about his frankly superb book Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World (2020) can be found here. Go and buy it. Go and buy it now.
More podcast in two weeks, hope you’re all keeping safe and well in the meantime.
~
All episodes of In GAD We Trust can be found on the blog here.
The Invisible Event 
I’m just wondering why the podcast will end after episode 30? This is the only podcast I’ve found that really discusses all of the Golden Age mysteries, which are my favorites to read. I discovered you recently and have been slowly making my way thorough the older episodes. I’d hate to see you go. I’ve also really enjoyed the “Bodies From the Library” collections. I get them on audio, but I’ve been thinking I’d like them in hard copy as well.
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Thank-you for the kind words. The idea of this podcast having actually found an audience still amazes and amuses me.
IGWT is ending after (at most) thiry episodes purely for time reasons. It was started in the first UK lockdown as a means of keeping me busy and distracted, when I had time to devote to such things. I’ve been unemployed for the last year, in part on account of COVID, and will be retuning to work as a teacher full time in September. Scheduling the recording and editing around the demands of teaching is, alas, going to be unworkable, since both demand a lot of time and only one of them pays!
Let’s not rule out the possibility of occasional episodes when the spirit takes me, but as a regular, fornightly thing its days are certainly numbered.
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An unpublished brand impossible crime story,now aren’t these good days
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Indeed! Could this be preparation for raising her profile ahead of reprint of her novels? That might surely be on the cards maybe perhaps…
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Lots to look forward to! Good luck with all that judging Jim 😁
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Creative minds applyig themselves to the writing of a mystery story? What’s not to love?!
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Fabulous as always! Sad there won’t be more episodes. Will have to go back and relisten to some. Always brilliant. I hope you do come back. Best wishes, Victoria
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There will be more episodes, just not very many of them. And the podcast may still crop up from time to time, who lnows? But as a regular thing, its days a numbered.
However, thanks for the kind words. As I’ve said before, the idea that this has found an audience is both wonderful and hilarious. I’ll give it up with genuine regret, but it doesn’t pay the bills and so can’t be a priority 🙂
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Perfect listening on a Saturday morning alerting me to a number of future treasures. As stated above, a Christianna Brand novella of circa 140 pages is one of them. Simply brilliant.
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Formats vary of course, but when I’m dealing with a vintage 40s-60s paperback edition, I really like the ones that cap out at 180 pages. 220 always feels a bit overly long So in my mind, it looks like we’re getting a nicely compact full novel from Brand. And honestly, could anything be better?
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We just need everyone to rave about it now, so that Harper Collins get the clever idea to reprint her other criminous works…
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Yeah, we’re all extremely excited about that Brand!
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Thanks for another terrific episode! It’s always such a pleasure to listen to Tony Medawar and the conversation was so good I kept wanting to join in! It’s a shame – although totally understandable- why In GAD we Trust is ending (😭) but the library of episodes you’ve built up is really excellent. It’s one of the few podcasts where I’ll go back and re-listen to episodes, simply because they’re so good. The Mark Aldridge episode is one I’ve recently revisited, for example – and yes, of course I bought the book!
I do hope – really, really hope – that you can carry on the spoiler-rich agatha Christie episodes though. They are totally mint!
Thanks for everything you’ve done, Jim – it’s very much appreciated.
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Thanks, Dolores — Tony’s work is phenomenal, and the opportunity to highlight what he and others are doing behind the scenes has been one of the, er, highlights of this podcast. Maybe IGWT can become In Tony We Trust: one episode a year in which we just chat about what he’s got coming up 😄
The Spoiler Wanrsing will probably run for a while yet, if only to give Brad something to do with his time; I worry what that man will get up to if left unsupervised for too long…
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I listen to all the writings Mr. Medawar has discovered and published, the festival he runs, and the circle he hangs with, and I wonder . . . . “What have i accomplished in my dreary life?” Seriously, I am both jealous of his job and extremely grateful for Tony’s efforts on our behalf. One of these days, I will make it to Torquay and join in the festivities. (Instead, today I had to schedule a COVID test. What a world, what a world.)
The most disturbing thing that I have read so far in the world of classic detective fiction has to be the solution to the second murder (an impossible crime) in Nigel Morland’s Death When She Wakes. I trust nobody will be reprinting this one anytime soon!
As ever, a great listen. I understand that work precludes IGWT moving forward, but I’m with Dolores: keep the “Spoiler Alerts” going. The little guy is adorable . . .
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“Spoiler Alerts”?!? Do…do you not know the name of the series you contribute to?
Spoiler Alerts. Honestly.
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“Spoilers Alert?”
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Well, at least everyone now sees what a wonderful editing job I do every time to make you come across as charming, I suppose.
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I’m with Tony on James Corbett. I heard Peter Lovesey wax lyrical about his work in a “so bad he’s brilliant” way, so bought a bundle of his books second hand (luckily for not much money). After a chapter that took me several goes to finish, I’d say he’s so bad that he’s unreadable…
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Allow me to chime in with the previous commenter and say how sorry I’ll be to see the podcast go – I only just discovered it through Shedunnit and am thoroughly enjoying it. I was listening to this episode on the bus today. Thank you and Tony Medawar for all your work! For what it’s worth you should have brazened out the stupid question and claimed it was clarification for ignorant podcast listeners 😉
Agree that it’s surprising that Ngaio Marsh hasn’t been picked up for endless tv series?
I am baffled by the love for Gladys Mitchell (sadly not until I bought a stack of her books thinking I’d love them based on all the praise she gets). However it might be Mrs Bradley who is terrible, so a story without her can only be a good thing!
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Thanks for the kind words; IGWT was always a hobby to help keep myself (and others) sane through lockdowns, but there’s nothing to say it won’t make an occasional comeback. Part of the lovely thing about doing this for free is the freedome to do it only when I find it interesting.
I wonder, had the proposed Inspector French TV series gone ahead — I don’t know it’s definitely cancelled, but things have gone very quiet on that front — whether more GAD stuff might have found itself mined for TV. The British Library Crime Classics kicked off something of a reprint frenzy, so who’s to say? And Marsh might work better on TV for those who find her interviews tiresome…
As to Mitchell, I am a kindred soul in your feelings: Speedy Death was great, and the other six or seven I tried did not work for me at all. The story in Bodies 4 will be interesting, though, because she wrote so little short fiction as Tony says…so either it’ll find her on great form, not having to drag something out for 60,000 words, or it’ll be awful and make us appreciate her novels even more 🙂
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Besides the always interesting and sometimes even fascinating content, there is another element contributing to my great enjoyment of IGWT and especially the episodes with Tony Medawar: You and Tony happen to have great radio / podcast voices, to my ear at least.
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Tony in particular has a wonderful radio voice, I agree. My own…well, I’m rather too close to it to say, but I thank you for the kind words. Were it like listening to nails on a chalkboard I’m sure even the best content would be difficult to enjoy 😄
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