Short commercial break: GAD mystery.

I keep thinking I've written a post about the Golden Age of Detection.  Apparently not, or I just didn't tag it properly.  Alas!

Some of these will remind you of Sherlock Holmes in more ways than one, and some will feel like they've gone in very different directions.  Which is right and proper, since not all detectives are Sherlock Holmes -- and wouldn't the world be boring if they were!

If you happen to be desperate for more to read, and you enjoy books and short stories offline as well as on... try these GAD authors.

For British detectives:

• Agatha Christie -- who needs no introduction, eh?
• Ngaio Marsh -- whose Inspector Alleyn is great fun, and often solves murders in theatres, which are some of my very favorites of his cases.
• Margery Allingham -- who invented the lovely Mr. Campion, who was played by Peter Davison (yes, the Fifth Doctor!) in the BBC series.
• Josephine Tey -- whose Alan Grant solves mysteries... even when in hospital (in traction!) as well as on the job.  
• John Dickson Carr -- if you want peculiar puzzles, particularly locked-room mysteries, then JDC is your man.

Also, Georgette Heyer mixes her mysteries with romance, but her banter is fantastic and well worth the read; and one of her stories clearly suggested the murder in Sherlock s3.  Really.  

For American detectives:

Ellery Queen -- whose character is a huge SH fanboy, and who solves one of SH's unsolved mysteries.  (Don't let that put you off.)  He's also famous for dying clue murders...  Ellery is sometimes described as "Ellery in Wonderland" -- and if you start reading EQ, you might want to read my primer on EQ first.  He's snarky like SH btw.  8)

Rex Stout -- invented the genius Nero Wolfe; whose biographer and Man Friday is a wisecracking flirt.  Who is lots of fun.  You read Nero Wolfe for the banter and the word porn.  And the dictionary burning...  FYI:  A&E did an amazing Nero Wolfe series lasting only two seasons.

Raymond Chandler -- invented Philip Marlowe.  The writing style that makes you feel like you see everything, but of course you don't observe entirely all that Marlowe does.

These are all favorites of mine:  see these quotes.  A few specific starter titles are here.