The Golden Age of Detective Fiction is the moniker given to a period of time in the 1920s and 1930s, which is considered to be, as the name suggests, an era of great creative prosperity for mystery and crime fiction. Notably the Golden Age gave birth to the Whodunnit and to Hardboiled Crime Fiction, with adaptations of works from this period helping to establish Film Noir.
Several of the crime genre’s most noted and important writers (i.e. Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr, Raymond Chandler etc.) rose to fame during this era, as well as establishing or popularising many narrative aspects of the genre that remain prevalent to this day, such as the Great Detective, the Private Detective, the Hardboiled Detective, the Amateur Sleuth, Little Old Lady Investigates, the Fair-Play Whodunnit, the Police Procedural, the Femme Fatale, the Closed Circle, the Summation Gathering etc. Expect Genteel Interbellum Setting and Chandler American Time.
Fictional detectives introduced during this period include Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Perry Mason, Philip Marlowe, Nero Wolfe, Maigret, and many more.
Adaptations of works from this period also helped establish Film Noir.
Golden Age authors:
- The Queens of Crime: A moniker given to the four most dominant female authors of the period.
- Agatha Christie
- Dorothy L. Sayers
- Margery Allingham, creator of Albert Campion
- Ngaio Marsh
- John Dickson Carr
- S.S. Van Dine, creator of Philo Vance
- Erle Stanley Gardner
- Ellery Queen
- Dashiell Hammett
- Raymond Chandler
- Georges Simenon
- Rex Stout
- Nicholas Blake (pen-name of Cecil Day-Lewis), wrote the Nigel Strangeways books
- Anthony Berkeley Cox (aka Anthony Berkeley, Frances Iles), wrote the Roger Sheringham series
- John Creasey (aka J.J. Merric, Anthony Morton), created numerous detectives including George "G.G." Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Hon. Richard Rollinson aka "the Toff", John Mannering, alias "the Baron" and Inspector Roger "Handsome" West,
- Edmund Crispin, wrote the Gervase Fen books
- Freeman Wills Crofts
- R. Austin Freeman, wrote the Dr. Thorndyke mysteries
- Gladys Mitchell, wrote the Mrs Bradley series
- Josephine Tey
- Patricia Wentworth, wrote mysteries featuring Miss Maud Silver
- Earl Derr Biggers, created Charlie Chan
- James M. Cain
- Brett Halliday, wrote the Michael Shayne series
- Michael Innes
