It happens every year. (Since 2019) Every January 1. New books fall into the public domain.
This year, any book published in 1930 is now in the public domain. The original idea of expiring copyrights was to promote the progress of science and useful arts. That’s how our founding fathers phrased it in the United States. And since they were thinking of the betterment of our country, they established that copyrights would last twenty-eight years.
But then big business entered and instead of promoting progress they wanted to promote profits. Today, a copyright lasts ninety-five years. By the way, what’s true for books is also true for music, television, movies and artwork. So, if you’re a writer and want to use some characters in your story from 1930, now you can. Hello, fan fiction.
There are legendary books by the likes of Franz Kafka, Langston Hughes, and William Faulkner that you can now read for free on the Internet. But I write crime fiction, so let’s take a look at some classic mysteries that are now part of the public domain.
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet
Classic noir featuring Sam Spade and the stunning femme fatale that has him eating out of the palm of her hand. Humphrey Bogart played Sam Spade in the movie version, but that wasn’t until 1941, so you’ll have to wait until 2037 for that to hit the public domain.
#4 in the Mystery Writers of America Top 100 Mysteries of all time
2. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
Ah, Dorothy Sayers is surely worth her own blog post. What a life. Suffice to say this is the novel that introduced the recurring character Harriet Vane, who may or may not have been modeled after Sayers herself.
#39 in the Mystery Writers of America Top 100 Mysteries of all time
3. The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
While (I feel like I should type “whilst”) Miss Marple had appeared in a short story years earlier, this is the first appearance of the homely sleuth in a novel.
4. The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
Recognize that title? It’s the first Nancy Drew mystery. I bet agents will start seeing a lot of Nancy Drew retellings in their slush piles in the coming months. This was a best seller that launched a whole lotta Nancy Drew mysteries—three more in 1930 alone that all join in the public domain. Interesting side note: This book, like other Nancy Drew mysteries of the era, was rewritten in 1959. Only the original is in the public domain.
A few other notables entering the public domain outside of the crime and mystery genre:
- The Little Engine That Could by Wally Piper
- Elson Gray readers featuring Dick and Jane by William S. Gray
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
- All Quiet on the Western Front, the third movie to win Best Picture honors
Celebrate the new year, 1930s style!
JD Frain 