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Travel with Insight, Explore with Passion
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with Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman
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Great British Mysteries: Conan Doyle, Christie, and More
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Tower of London
Chavenage House
Elberry Cove
Agatha Christie's Home
London at Christmas
Starting at $7,295 per person
Join The Great Courses Journeys for a captivating winter adventure through the world of British mystery writing, set against the festive charm of Christmastime in England. Begin in Oxford, where twinkling lights and historic colleges evoke the intrigue of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Gaudy Night and Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse. Continue through South Oxfordshire, where frosted villages and intimate pubs recall the charm of cozy mysteries and Charles Dickens’s holiday classic A Christmas Carol, before venturing to Dartmoor, a windswept landscape whose haunting beauty inspired some of Britain’s most chilling tales.
Step into the Golden Age of British mysteries as you visit stately manors and charming hamlets reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s beloved settings. Between literary discoveries, embrace the spirit of the season as you wander through traditional Christmas markets, savor mulled wine, and enjoy the timeless warmth of an English holiday. Conclude in London, where the legacy of two World Wars lingers in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series and the city glows with holiday lights from Covent Garden to Trafalgar Square. This enchanting tour is your passport to the storied landscapes and festive magic that inspired some of Britian’s greatest mystery writers.
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Great British Mysteries: A Holiday Tour of Literary London
with Pamela Bedore
DEPARTURE DATE AND PRICING
Highlights
Enjoy a walking tour through Sherlock Holmes’s London, visiting iconic locations like the Lyceum Theatre, the Langham Hotel, and Baker Street, home to one of the most famous addresses in literature.
Discuss the effects of war on literary characters and the authors who created them during guided tours to the Imperial War Museum and the Churchill War Rooms, and learn how real-life medical technologies invented in wartime were expertly woven into the plotlines of beloved suspense and spy thrillers.
Explore Oxford through the eyes of Dorothy Sayers and discover how the collegiate town’s timeless beauty and intellectual rigor provided the perfect setting for her masterful storytelling.
Spend a day in Devon delving into the life and work of Agatha Christie, exploring the landscapes that inspired her most famous mysteries, and embracing the festive spirit with a stop at the Exeter Christmas Market.
Visit Greys Court and Chavenage House, two stately British manor houses that have served as filming locations for many popular television mystery series.
Enjoy a walking tour through Sherlock Holmes’s London, visiting iconic locations like the Lyceum Theatre, the Langham Hotel, and Baker Street, home to one of the most famous addresses in literature.
Discuss the effects of war on literary characters and the authors who created them during guided tours to the Imperial War Museum and the Churchill War Rooms, and learn how real-life medical technologies invented in wartime were expertly woven into the plotlines of beloved suspense and spy thrillers.
Explore Oxford through the eyes of Dorothy Sayers and discover how the collegiate town’s timeless beauty and intellectual rigor provided the perfect setting for her masterful storytelling.
Spend a day in Devon delving into the life and work of Agatha Christie, exploring the landscapes that inspired her most famous mysteries, and embracing the festive spirit with a stop at the Exeter Christmas Market.
Visit Greys Court and Chavenage House, two stately British manor houses that have served as filming locations for many popular television mystery series.
Highlights
Pamela Bedore
December 6-13, 2025
Pamela Bedore is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut. She has taught courses in Sherlock Holmes, American Detective Fiction, The Monster in Literature and Culture, Stephen King, and much more. Professor Bedore was the winner of AAUP (American Association of University Professors) Excellence Awards in Teaching Promise and then in Teaching Innovation. She has published widely on science fiction, detective fiction, and writing administration in such journals as Foundations: The International Review of Science Fiction, Studies in Popular Culture, and Writing Program Administrator, and is the book review editor for Clues: A Journal of Detection. Her first book, Dime Novels and the Roots of American Detective Fiction, was published in 2013. Professor Bedore earned her PhD from the University of Rochester. For The Great Courses, she created Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature.
Journey Experts
December 5-12, 2026
Pamela Bedore
December 6-13, 2025
Pamela Bedore is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut. She has taught courses in Sherlock Holmes, American Detective Fiction, The Monster in Literature and Culture, Stephen King, and much more. Professor Bedore was the winner of AAUP (American Association of University Professors) Excellence Awards in Teaching Promise and then in Teaching Innovation. She has published widely on science fiction, detective fiction, and writing administration in such journals as Foundations: The International Review of Science Fiction, Studies in Popular Culture, and Writing Program Administrator, and is the book review editor for Clues: A Journal of Detection. Her first book, Dime Novels and the Roots of American Detective Fiction, was published in 2013. Professor Bedore earned her PhD from the University of Rochester. For The Great Courses, she created Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature.
Maureen Corrigan
Maureen Corrigan is the Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. She received her PhD in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the book critic for the NPR program Fresh Air and has received multiple awards for her literary criticism. She also regularly writes for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal and is the author of the literary memoir Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading and So We Read On: How “The Great Gatsby” Came to Be and Why It Endures.
Journey Experts
Maureen Corrigan
University Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Arrive on individual flights into London and travel as a group to Oxford. Embark on an Oxford Literary Tour, which showcases notable sites connected to Dorothy Sayers’ Gaudy Night and Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse, including Christ Church College, the Sheldonian Theatre, and the Ashmolean Museum. Gather at Morse Bar at the Randolph Hotel for a welcome beverage and opening remarks by your expert followed by dinner in a local restaurant.
Included Meal: Dinner
Accommodations: Mercure Eastgate Hotel
Mapledurham House
Today, enjoy a full day excursion through the picturesque villages of South Oxfordshire to see film locations, fictional towns, and historic inspirations behind beloved mystery novels and television shows. In between stops, your expert will offer insights into the history of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, an era of classic murder mystery novels that reached its height in the 1920s and 1930s. Take a guided tour of Greys Court, a charming Tudor country house beautifully decorated for Christmas, and tour its elegant rooms and gardens that have appeared in popular British television mysteries such as Midsomer Murders. Return to Oxford, where dinner will be in a local restaurant.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Mercure Eastgate Hotel
Chavenage House
Begin with a visit to Chavenage House, an historic Elizabethan manor house famously used as Styles Court in the Poirot episode, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles.” As you travel deeper into the misty moors of Dartmoor that inspired Agatha Christie, enjoy a talk by your expert on why Christie is considered one of the most popular and successful novelists (and playwrights) of all time. Check in to your hotel and after time to freshen up, gather for dinner in the hotel.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: The Moorland Hotel Haytor
Torquay
Spend today exploring Devon and the surrounding countryside, focusing on the life and work of Agatha Christie and engaging in lively discussions with your expert that illuminate how the circumstances of Christie’s life shaped her writing. Together, ponder fascinating questions like, would her literary career have been different if she had not been a part of well-to-do British society? And why did Christie disappear at the height of her fame—and will we even know the whole truth about that fateful event? Begin in Torquay, Christie’s birthplace, then visit Elberry Cove, the picturesque beach where she swam during her early years. Continue to Exeter, where holiday spirit fills the air. Stroll through the Exeter Christmas Market, taking in the festive music and local crafts, and enjoy a beverage at the Turk’s Head, the historic pub where Charles Dickens once gave a reading of A Christmas Carol. Dinner this evening will be at your hotel.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: The Moorland Hotel Haytor
St. Andrews Church
Depart Dartmoor for London, pausing midway in Nether Wallop, the charming village used as the fictional town of St. Mary Mead in the BBC’s Miss Marple series. Continue to London and, after checking in to your hotel, gather for dinner in a traditional English pub.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Leonardo Royal London City
© Bill Nicholls/CC BY-SA 2.0
Baker Street Station
In the morning, delve into the historical intrigue of Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time during a guided tour of the Tower of London. Continue with a guided walking tour of Sherlock Holmes’s London, exploring iconic locations such as The Strand, the Lyceum Theatre, the Langham Hotel, and of course, Baker Street. Explore the elegant streets of Bloomsbury, celebrated in Dorothy Sayers’ Harriet Vane novels, and pause in Mecklenburg Square, where Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs began her career. Dinner and the rest of the evening will be yours to enjoy London, where you may choose to explore a traditional holiday market such as Winter by the River or Christmas in Covent Garden.
Included Meal: Breakfast
Accommodations: Leonardo Royal London City
Imperial War Museum
Fast-forward to the modern era at the Imperial War Museum and learn about the impact of war on literary figures and the authors who created them, from Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, to Agatha Christie who gained an in depth knowledge of poisons while working at a dispensary during World War I. Discuss Lindsay Fitzharris’ The Facemaker and hear the story of Harold Gillies, considered the father of plastic surgery for his novel use of facial reconstruction techniques on thousands of soldiers. Embrace your inner spy and learn about the secretive world of the Special Operations Executive, the organization that conducted espionage in enemy-held territories during World War II. Continue to the Churchill War Rooms, the underground nerve center where WWII movements were directed by the British government. Afterward, raise a toast to your fellow bibliophiles during a farewell dinner in a local restaurant.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Leonardo Royal London City
Bid farewell to London as you depart the hotel for individual flights home.
Included Meals: Breakfast
The Leonardo Royal London Hotel
The Leonardo Royal London Hotel offers a stylish and comfortable stay in the heart of the city, blending modern amenities with a welcoming atmosphere. Its prime location is within walking distance to major attractions such as the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, just across the bridge from Shakespeare’s Globe and Borough Market and surrounded by myriad dining choices from casual eateries to upscale options
Mercure Oxford Eastgate Hotel – Oxford England
Located in the heart of the historic university city of Oxford and in a former 17th-century coaching inn, novelist J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to visit this hotel during their fellowships at Oxford University. The 64 charming rooms offer flat-screen televisions, high-speed Wi-Fi, rainfall showers, hari dryers, and tea and coffeemaking equipment. The onsite Eastgate Brasserie serves traditional British cuisine in a contemporary setting.
The Moorland Hotel Haytor – Dartmoor, England
Set on 11 acres of private grounds at the foot of Haytor in Dartmoor National Park, the stunning view of the moors and the famous Haytor Rocks here inspired Agatha Christie to finish her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Stylish rooms are outfitted with flat-screen televisions, luxury toiletries, and tea and coffeemaking facilities. Onsite amenities include a comfortable lounge, an outdoor terrace, and the Tin Pickle and Rhum brasserie, which serves traditional food alongside seasonal and locally sourced ales.
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December 5–12, 2026
Questions? Call
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Great British Mysteries: A Holiday Tour of Literary London
Sign up to receive the latest trip updates and instant access to a digital version of our full-color 2025–2027 travel catalog. You will also have the option to share your mailing address and we’ll send a printed copy of our next catalog to your door.
Stay Updated and Receive a FREE Catalog
Request your copy of our full color travel catalog
Highlights
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