Sophie Gee

I'm actually going to go appropriately rated.

I think Naio Marsh, of the four women of the Queens of Crime, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Marjorie Allingham, Naio Marsh, Marsh is probably the least well-known and the least rated.

And so I want to bring her back into the spotlight to

finish the theatrical metaphor and say that she's an absolutely crucial presence in this quartet.

We kind of can't look at these books in any serious way without understanding her presence, particularly because she's from New Zealand.

She's from one of the Commonwealth countries, and she is rounding out the picture of women's sort of global Anglophone writing in this period.

I think she's a really important voice.

I think she's doing something really significant.

So I'm going to sort of, actually, you know what?

I'm pulling her into the spotlight.

I'm giving her a big round of applause.

I'm saying that we need to pay close attention to Naio Marsh.

You're so right to capture footage of this historic occasion.

Can you believe that the comet came around today?

In our lifetime, Jonty, in the lifetime of The Secret Life of Books, almost, I mean, this is where things get really cosmic, almost exactly coinciding with the first birthday of The Secret Life of Books, which we've just celebrated.

It's as though there is intelligent design, surely.

Nice.

And I'm Sophie Gee.

I'm an academic.

I'm a writer.