Editing Detection Club (section)

==Initial membership==
The founding members of the club in 1930 were [[H. C. Bailey]], [[Edmund Clerihew Bentley|E. C. Bentley]], [[Anthony Berkeley Cox|Anthony Berkeley]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Agatha Christie]], [[G. D. H. Cole]], [[Margaret Cole]], [[Alfred Walter Stewart|J.J. Connington]] [[Freeman Wills Crofts]], [[Clemence Dane]], [[Robert Eustace]], [[R. Austin Freeman]], [[Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell|Lord Gorell]], [[Edgar Jepson]], [[Ianthe Jerrold]], [[Milward Kennedy]], [[Ronald Knox]], [[A. E. W. Mason]], [[A. A. Milne]], [[Arthur Morrison]], [[Baroness Orczy]], [[Cecil Street|John Rhode]], [[Jessie Rickard]], [[Dorothy L. Sayers]], [[Helen de Guerry Simpson|Helen Simpson]], [[Constance Lindsay Taylor]], [[Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet|Henry Wade]], [[Victor Whitechurch]] and [[Hugh Walpole]].<ref>Edwards, Martin. ''The Golden Age of Murder''. HarperCollins, 2015.</ref>

Over the following two decades further members were elected to the club: [[Anthony Gilbert (writer)|Anthony Gilbert]] (1933), [[E. R. Punshon]] (1933), [[Gladys Mitchell]] (1933), [[Margery Allingham]] (1934), [[Norman Kendal]] (1935), [[R.C. Woodthorpe]] (1935), [[John Dickson Carr]] (1936), [[Cecil Day-Lewis]] (1937), [[Muna Lee (writer)|Muna Lee]] (1937), [[Maurice Guinness]] (1937), [[E.C.R. Lorac]] (1937), [[Christopher Bush (novelist)|Christopher Bush]] (1937), [[Cyril Hare]] (1946), [[Christianna Brand]] (1946), [[Richard Hull (writer)|Richard Hull]] (1946), [[Alice Campbell]] (1946), [[Val Gielgud]] (1947), [[Edmund Crispin]] (1947), [[Dorothy Bowers]] (1948), [[Douglas G. Browne]] (1949), [[J. I. M. Stewart|Michael Innes]] (1949), [[Michael Gilbert]] (1949)<ref>Edwards, Martin. ''The Golden Age of Murder''. HarperCollins, 2015.</ref> and [[Mary Fitt]] (1950).<ref>Hallett, Judith P.  & Stray, Christopher. ''British Classics Outside England: The Academy and Beyond''. Baylor University Press, 2009. p.50 </ref>

Membership was initially limited to those considered to be writing [[Golden Age of Detective Fiction|pure detective novels]], rather than mystery thrillers. This began to change when [[Eric Ambler]], known for his thrillers and spy novels, was elected in 1952.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/30/archives/the-detection-club-detection.html#:~:text=The%20full%20break%20with%20tradition,should%20not%20have%20been%20eligible | title=The Detection Club | work=The New York Times | date=30 September 1979 | last1=Symons | first1=Julian }}</ref> Several notable detective writers including [[Philip MacDonald]] and [[Josephine Tey]] were never invited to join the club, while [[Georgette Heyer]] who wrote detective stories alongside her better-known [[regency novel]]s turned down an invitation. ''[[Daily Express]]'' columnist [[Nancy Spain]] was considered for membership but was rejected.<ref>Edwards p.408</ref> Future president [[Julian Symons]] was initially rejected before eventually being admitted in 1951. [[Ngaio Marsh]], a major figure in detective writing, only joined later in life.<ref>Edwards p.256-67</ref>

Subsequent members of the Club included [[Andrew Garve]], [[H. R. F. Keating]] and [[John Bingham, 7th Baron Clanmorris|John Bingham]]. [[Martin Edwards (author)|Martin Edwards]] charted the early history of the Club in his 2015 book ''[[The Golden Age of Murder]]''.