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Sergio Angelini joins Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss Green for Danger (1944) by Christianna Brand.

Sergio was born and bred in Rome, Italy, moving to Singapore for 5 years in the 1980s before settling in the UK. He studied Law at London School of Economics and got a joint MA in Film Studies and Film Archiving from the University of East Anglia. He hosts a podcast focused on crime and film noir called Tipping My Fedora.

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Sergio has worked in film and education for over thirty years. He edited the educational media quarterly Viewfinder for a decade and for over eight years was the reviewer of TV home video releases for Sight & Sound magazine. For 15 years he was involved in the development and running of the educational streaming resource, BoB (Box of Broadcasts). He has provided video essays, audio commentaries and booklet notes for various DVD and Blu-ray releases for such labels as Arrow, BFI, Eureka (Masters of Cinema), Hammer Films, Imprint and Indicator.

Previous print publications include contributions to Gilbert Adair (Verbivoracious Festschrift, 2014), Mysteries Unlocked (McFarland, 2014), The Cult TV Book (IB Tauris 2010) and Directors in British and Irish Cinema (BFI, 2006).

Special guest Sergio Angelini joined Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss Christianna Brand’s Green for Danger, published in 1943.

Green for Danger is a Golden Age masterclass of red herrings and twists. The story, set during World War II, features a tense and claustrophobic investigation with a close-knit circle of suspects.

It’s 1942, and struggling up the hill to the new Kent military hospital, Heron’s Park, postman Joseph Higgins is soon to deliver seven acceptance letters for roles at the infirmary. He has no idea that the sender of one of the letters will be the cause of his death in just one year’s time.

When Higgins returns to Heron’s Park with injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his death by asphyxiation in the operating theatre casts four nurses and three doctors under suspicion. When a second death occurs in quick succession, the moody, yet shrewd, Inspector Cockrill arrives on the scene. The stage is set for a tense and claustrophobic investigation. One of the doct

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GREEN FOR DANGER by Christianna Brand is a masterful wartime mystery set in a British hospital during the Blitz. When a patient dies under suspicious circumstances, Inspector Cockrill investigates a web of secrets among the medical staff. It’s a standout in Golden Age detective fiction.

Get your copy of all of our History of Mystery book selections here! (including even some 2027 selections)

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Or if you happen to be in lovely Roanoke, Virginia, stop in person at the BiblioPub to get your copy.

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For bonus episodes and to get all episodes first, join our Patreon community.

Characters & Relationships in Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

1. The characters are intensely intertwined—romantically, professionally, emotionally. Did that closeness heighten the tension for you, or did the story veer into melodrama?
2. Several characters fall hard and fast in love. Marion loves Gervase, who toys with her affections. Barney loves less-than-steady Freddi, who has a thing for Gervase. Barney tells Freddi, “I’d rather have cruelty than dishonesty. I’d rather be hurt than deceived.” If given the choice, which would you prefer? And is this type of emotional intensity convincing given the historical moment—or did it feel exaggerated?
3. Gervase “looked at his ugly face and greying hair, at his thin, angular body and restless hands—and wondered what on earth women saw in him, and wished they wouldn’t” (2). He’s also married: “Once, long ago, one of the lovely ladies had been importunate, and he had not then acquired his skill in evading desperate situations. He had not seen her for several years, but she formed a shield against similar assaults upon his liberty” (32). Esther is the “only female in the hospital who can see Gervase Eden without swooning at his feet” (35). What exactly do the female characters see in “Don Juan” Gervase?
4. Some characters are haunted by loss. Esther left her mother behind to volunteer. After her mother’s building was hit, and “For two days and two nights she had waited in anguish while men toiled unceasingly at the mountain of rubble” (20). Major Moon mourns his dead son. Did you feel more for some characters than others?

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We are so excited to expand our discussion of the transcendant The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene with special guest Dr. Robert Willingham.

Rob Willingham is a history professor at Roanoke College. After receiving his doctorate from UT-Austin (where he shared office space with future Heritage Foundation head, Kevin Roberts, oddly), he’s gone on to write and teach about 20th century Europe, specializing in the era of War and Holocaust. He is the author of Jews in Leipzig and has won the distinguished teaching award at Roanoke and served two terms as chair of the history department. He lives in Salem with his wife, twin daughters and cats. He thinks Graham Greene is a great writer and also just found out there’s a movie of the book; as a teacher, he would never watch it before reading the novel.

Get your copy of all of our History of Mystery book selections here! (including even some 2027 selections)

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For a long time Sarah & Carolyn have wanted to do more of an in depth conversation with someone who really knows the history of the times these books are being written in and about, and we are delighted that Rob is just that guy.

Published in 1943, THE MINISTRY OF FEAR by Graham Greene blends espionage and psychological mystery set in wartime London. The story follows Arthur Rowe, an ordinary man caught up in Nazi intrigue, navigating a world where nothing is as it seems. The story’s moral complexity redefined the boundaries of the mystery genre.

The title reflects the pervasive atmosphere of dread and paranoia in wartime Britain, where fear itself becomes a tool of control. The ministry of fear represents an institution or force that spreads fear to undermine trust and stability, both on a personal and societal level.

We also touch on the Fritz Lang film, Ministry of Fear, to be discussed futher in upcoming bonus content! Wikipedia summarizes:

Ministry of Fear is a 1944 American spy thriller film noir directed by Fritz Lang, and starring Ray Milland and Marjorie Reynolds. Based on the 1943 novel by Graham Greene, the film tells the story of a man just released from a mental asylum who finds himself caught up in an international spy ring and pursued by Nazi agents after inadvertently receiving something they want. The original music for the film was composed by Victor Young.

We can't wait to hear your take on this discussion.

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