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The vintage Penguin Crime Classic Series are recognisable to crime fiction readers with their iconic green covers.
Of the first 1000 Penguin books in the main series – the green crime fiction titles make up about 280! In this post we’ll check out the first 15 detective and crime fiction titles – first published between 1935 and 1937!
The Penguin Crime Classics feature works from legendary authors such as Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle – all presented in distinctive green covers.
Join us as we step back into the world of classic whodunits, gripping mysteries, and cunning sleuths! It doesn’t matter if you’re a longtime fiction fan or a newcomer to the Penguin Crime Classics – there’ll be something in this list for everyone to enjoy!
As an added treat, see if you can pick fact from fiction in the list of penguin trivia listed below!
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As we work our way through the Penguin Crime Classics, some titles are easier to find than others. We encourage you to always source books from your local independent or secondhand bookshop if you can find them!
However, we understand this is sometimes not practical based on location or budget. Therefore, this post contains Amazon affiliate links.
This means, if you click on the link and purchase the book from that link, I get a few dollars at no extra cost to you! This way we can both stock up on more classic reads! 😀
Happy Reading, Friends!
Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins can drink saltwater because they have a special gland that filters out the salt from their bloodstream.
"The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club" Book Blurb:
Lord Peter Wimsey is asked to investigate the seemingly unsuspicious death of ninety-year-old General Fentiman, found in full rigor mortis in an armchair at the Bellona Club on Armistice Day. Wimsey, a fellow Bellona Club member, is tasked with determining the precise time of death-pivotal information that determines who will receive a substantial fortune. Teaming up with his trusted ally, Detective-Inspector Charles Parker, Wimsey unravels a tangled plot that involves those interested in the inheritance, accidental witnesses, and a delightful array of Bellona Club characters. With astute intellectual powers and keen powers of deduction, Wimsey navigates through the complexities to unearth a surprising truth.
This is Book 5 in the ‘Lord Peter Wimsey’ series. Check out Book One – ‘Whose Body?‘
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‘The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club’ by Dorothy L Sayers
Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins have a secret language composed of dance moves that they use to communicate elaborate stories about their ancestors.
"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" Book Blurb:
One morning at Styles Court, an Essex country manor, the elderly owner is found dead of strychnine poisoning. Arthur Hastings, a soldier staying there on sick leave from the Western Front, ventures out to the nearby village of Styles St. Mary to ask help from his friend Hercule Poirot, an eccentric Belgian inspector. Thus, in this classic whodunit, one of the most famous characters in detective fiction makes his debut on the world stage. With a half dozen suspects who all harbour secrets, it takes all of Poirot’s prodigious sleuthing skills to untangle the mystery—but not before the inquiry undergoes scores of spellbinding twists and surprises.
This is Book One in the ‘Hercule Poirot’ series.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Emperor Penguins can dive to depths of over 500 meters and stay underwater for more than 20 minutes.
"The Murder on the Links" Book Blurb:
Stabbed in the back A piece of lead piping nearby. It should be a simple case. Poirot is summoned to France, but arrives too late to save his client, whose body now lies face down in a shallow grave on a golf course. Why is the dead man wearing his son’s overcoat? And who was the intended recipient of the love-letter in the pocket? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse.
This is Book 2 in the ‘Hercule Poirot’ series. Check out Book One – ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles“.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins have been known to play a version of ice hockey with pebbles, using their flippers to pass the “puck” and score goals.
"The Thin Man" Book Blurb:
Ex-detective Nick Charles attracts trouble like a magnet. He thinks his sleuthing days are over, but when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, is found dead, her body riddled with bullets, Nick – along with his glamorous wife, Nora – can’t resist making a few enquiries. Clyde Miller Wynant, Julia’s lover and boss, has disappeared. Everyone is after him, but Nick is not convinced Wynant is the murderer – and when he finds a junked-up hoodlum with a careless attitude to guns in his bedroom, it’s only the beginning of his troubles.
This is a stand-alone novel.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin, which stands just over 30 cm tall.
"Mr Fortune, Please" Book Blurb:
As successors to Sherlock Holmes there are no more than a handful of detectives in the great tradition. Mr Reginald Fortune is certainly one of them. Mr Fortune, attached in a loose sort of way to the Home Office and Scotland Yard, is utterly independent, utterly fearless, and with a cold astuteness belied by his cherubic appearance. His speciality is medicine, although he does not practice, but for expert opinions on such matters as recently deceased bodies, the more difficult poisons and the like, the Yard would be hard pressed to do without him. Mr Fortune, Please includes 6 ingenious, bizarre and murderous crimes which Reggie investigates through minute and forensic, scientific detection.
This is Book 4 in the ‘Reggie Fortune’ series. Check out Book One – ‘Call Mr Fortune’.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Some penguins can change the colour of their feathers to camouflage with different environments, similar to a chameleon.
"The Poisoned Chocolates Case" Book Blurb:
Graham and Joan Bendix have apparently succeeded in making that eighth wonder of the modern world, a happy marriage. And into the middle of it there drops, like a clap of thunder, a box of chocolates. Joan Bendix is killed by a poisoned box of liqueur chocolates that cannot have been intended for her to eat. The police investigation rapidly reaches a dead end. Chief Inspector Moresby calls on Roger Sheringham and his Crimes Circle – 6 amateur but intrepid detectives – to consider the case. The evidence is laid before the Circle and the members take it in turn to offer a solution. Each is more convincing than the last, slowly filling in the pieces of the puzzle, until the dazzling conclusion.
This is Book 5 in the ‘Roger Sheringham Case’ series. Check out Book One – ‘The Layton Court Mystery’.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins spend about half their lives on land and the other half in the water.
"Raffles" Book Blurb:
Raffles is a gentleman thief who supports himself by carrying out ingenious robberies through safecracking, lock-picking, masterful disguises, and unbelievable escapades. Well-dressed and well-spoken, Raffles is accompanied by his sidekick “Bunny” Manders; the two gentlemen cut a swathe of theft and adventure through the fashionable areas of London.
‘Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman’ is Book One in the A.J. Raffles, The Gentleman Thief’ series.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
There is a legend of a rare “flying penguin” species that migrates south every summer, but no one has ever photographed it.
"The Four Just Men" Book Blurb:
Four vigilantes are The Four Just Men who have sworn to fight injustice wherever they find it. The four men are George Manfred, Leon Gonsalez, Raymond Poiccart, and Thery, they met during the Spanish-American War and formed a bond of friendship and justice. They operate from different countries and use their skills and resources to execute criminals who evade the law. Their first target is Sir Philip Ramon, a British politician who plans to pass a bill that would allow the extradition of political refugees to oppressive regimes. The Four Just Men send him a letter warning him that he will die on the day the bill is passed unless he withdraws it. Ramon refuses to give in to their threat and calls for police protection.
This is Book One in ‘The Four Just Men’ series.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins are incredibly social birds, often living in colonies that can number in the tens of thousands.
"The Man in the Dark" Book Blurb:
A pea-souper’s not the only fog facing London’s detectives! A prominent Londoner is dead, coldly stabbed in front of his warm, crackling fire. There are clues though, and, most importantly, evidence of a witness. But, if innocent, why on earth won’t they come forward? As the days pass, the police, along with private detective Francis McNab and journalist Godfrey Chance, are all left with little to go on. Sandy Kinloch, blind and embittered from the war, visits an old friend on that dreadful evening. A petty disagreement propels him into the grimmest danger as an unwitting witness to murder. Although already ‘in the dark’, he is knocked out, kidnapped, bundled off in a car and held captive in the heart of the sleepy English countryside.Things look bleak for Kinloch as McNab and Chance race to sort out the whys and wherefores of this deadly puzzle. Alone and desperate, fingered for a crime of which he’s innocent, in love with someone he can’t have, and in mortal danger…Which dire fate awaits young Kinloch?
This is Book One in the Francis McNab series.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins have a tradition of building elaborate ice sculptures during the winter solstice as part of a centuries-old festival.
"Trent's Last Case" Book Blurb:
Trent’s Last Case is actually the first novel in which gentleman sleuth Philip Trent appears. The novel is a whodunit with a place in detective fiction history because it is the first major sendup of that genre: Not only does Trent fall in love with one of the primary suspects—usually considered a no-no—he also, after painstakingly collecting all the evidence, draws all the wrong conclusions. Convinced that he has tracked down the murderer of a business tycoon who was shot in his mansion, he is told by the real perpetrator over dinner what mistakes in logical deduction he has made in trying to solve the case. On hearing what really happened, Trent vows that he will never again attempt to dabble in crime detection.
This is Book One in the ‘Philip Trent’ series.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
During the breeding season, male penguins often present female penguins with pebbles as part of their courtship rituals.
"The Rasp" Book Blurb:
The Rasp introduces the world to the amazing Anthony Gethryn, an ex-secret service agent, and occasional newspaper correspondent. He is assigned to cover the story of a cabinet minister, John Hoode, who was found murdered in the library of his country house, battered to death with a wood-rasp. Scotland yard has only one suspect Hoode’s secretary Alan Deacon. But Gethryn is convinced that Deacon did not do it. To prove that he’ll have to investigate himself and find the real killer. But everyone else who might have had a motive has a cast-iron alibi. Can he crack the case and bring the killer to justice?
This is Book One in the ‘Colonel Gethryn’ series.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins possess a unique musical ability, and researchers have recorded them singing harmonious melodies during the full moon.
"The Documents in the Case" Book Blurb:
The grotesquely grinning corpse in the Devonshire shack was a man who died horribly — with a dish of mushrooms at his side. His body contained enough death-dealing muscarine to kill 30 people. Why would an expert on fungi feast on a large quantity of this particularly poisonous species. A clue to the brilliant murderer, who had baffled the best minds in London, was hidden in a series of letters and documents that no one seemed to care about, except the dead man’s son.
This is a stand-alone novel.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
The distinctive black and white colouring of penguins is a form of camouflage called counter-shading, which helps protect them from predators.
"The Sanfield Scandal" Book Blurb:
During the first world war, at a house party given at the Tower House, the estate of Sir Jeremy Sanfield, a diamond necklace worth twenty thousand pounds was stolen from one of the guests. Sir Jeremy knew the identity of the culprit, but decided to pay for the necklace himself in order to avoid a public scandal. Shortly afterwards, Sir Jeremy shut up the Tower House and left for America, never to return. Before departing, he deposited papers containing the secret of the Sanfield scandal with the firm of Gilbert, Trigg and Carew, together with instructions that the Tower House was not to be let. Twenty years later, Sir Jeremy is dead. But when the Sanfield papers are stolen, the whole affair is in danger of being made public. Worse still, when Sir Jeremy’s son relents and allows the Tower House to be rented, its new tenant meets with a mysterious accident whilst investigating the ruined castle that stands in the house’s grounds. Thrilled by these strange events, Faith Stanhope, the local doctor’s sister, decides to investigate. But with deception lurking behind every corner, Faith must choose her allies carefully if she is to unravel the mystery of the Sanfield scandal once and for all.
This is a stand-alone novel.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Penguins can telepathically communicate with each other over long distances, which helps them coordinate group movements and avoid danger.
"The Murders in Praed Street" Book Blurb:
With a strange and mysterious regularity, murder had come to the squalid, uninviting London neighbourhood of Praed Street. Not one murder, which might have caused a temporary excitement, but a succession of murders – each different from the others, yet all alike in that they seemed without cause. Scotland Yard were alert, but what clues were to be found succeeded in proving false. As a last resort, Dr Lancelot Priestley, whose unusual methods of investigation had solved other baffling problems, was persuaded to lend his assistance. At the very outset, Dr Priestley found that he himself was a marked man – his own life was at stake regardless of his part in the investigation of the serial killer.
This is Book 4 in the ‘Dr. Priestley’ series. Check out Book One – ‘The Paddington Mystery’.
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Penguin Fact or Fiction? :
Gentoo Penguins can reach swimming speeds of up to 36 km per hour, making them the fastest underwater swimming birds.
"The Hound of the Baskervilles" Book Blurb:
The most famous of the Sherlock Holmes stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles features the phantom dog of Dartmoor, which, according to an ancient legend, has haunted the Baskervilles for generations. When Sir Charles Baskerville dies suddenly of a heart attack on the grounds of the family’s estate, the locals are convinced that the spectral hound is responsible, and Holmes is called in.
This is Book 5 in the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ series. Check out Book One – ‘A Study in Scarlet’.
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