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Malice Aforethought, episode 1
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Welcome to the Tea, Tonic & Toxin book club and podcast! Our focus is the history of mystery. We’re reading and discussing the best mysteries, detective stories, and thrillers ever written.
Malice Aforethought is considered one of the first examples of the “inverted detective story.” Both the murder AND murderer are revealed at the beginning. The intrigue builds as the reader sees how the murderer’s scheme starts to falls apart.
Published in 1931, the book ranks #16 in the Crime Writers’ Association Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.
Read: Buy it used or new on Amazon. (Read time: ~4 hours)
Reflect: Check out the conversation starters below.
Here are some questions about Malice Aforethought to get you started. Read, reflect, weigh in above, and listen to the podcast!
Detection Club
Anthony Berkeley Cox, author of Malice Aforethought, was one of the founding members of the Detection Club, formed in 1930. Members included Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Hugh Walpole, E. C. Bentley, and Baroness Emma Orczy. Berkeley Cox came up with the idea of fellow crime writers gathering for dinner. The first president was G. K. Chesterton. The club aimed to provide a social gathering for crime writers and use its influence to promote high standards.
Dorothy Sayers wrote the initiation 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?”
At first, the Detection Club restricted membership to respectable detective novelists. The club eventually relaxed the qualification criteria and now allows writers of spy thrillers, etc. Today, the Detection Club still holds regular meetings in London.
Inverted Mystery
Malice Aforethought is an inverted mystery, which is a mystery that reveals the murderer early in the story. The real mystery of the story is why the murder was committed or how the murderer is caught. Here are the opening lines: “It was not until several weeks after he had decided to murder his wife that Dr. Bickleigh took any active steps in the matter. Murder is a serious business. The slightest slip may be disastrous. Dr. Bickleigh had no intention of risking disaster.”
How did you feel about getting all this information right up front?
Deception
In Malice Aforethought, Teddy maintains the façade of a devoted husband while secretly planning his wife’s murder. Characters manipulate and betray others to achieve their desires.
Beyond external deception there is the deep self-deception that Teddy practices. I was often reminded of George Costanza: “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” Teddy sees his petty degradati
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