The First Television Murder (1940) by Val Gielgud and Eric Maschwitz

Val Gielgud, an actor, director and broadcaster, was a pioneer of radio-and television drama at the BBC and served as head for both their drama departments – even directing the first ever drama for British television. Gielgud had a side hustle, writing detective and thriller novels, producing a respectable body of work from 1931 to 1975. I suppose his best known work today are his two collaborations with John Dickson Carr, collected in 13 to the Gallows (2008), but used to be better known for collaborating with another friend on a series of detective novels. Between 1933 and 1940, Gielgud worked on five Inspector Simon Spears novels with close friend and then former deputy editor of the Radio Times, Eric Maschwitz, who also wrote under the name "Holt Marvell." Three of the novels, Death at Broadcasting House (1934), Death as an Extra (1935) and The First Television Murder (1940), draw on their firsthand experience working behind the scenes of early radio and television. They have been…