Monday, 19 June 2017

Bodies from the Library

I'm back from a brief but exhilarating trip to London, the highlight of which was the third Bodies from the Library event at the British Library on Saturday. The speakers and organisers had met the previous evening for a convivial meal, and I was also delighted to meet Professor Elinor Shaffer, sister-in-law of Peter and Antony Shaffer. This followed a catch-up with my former agent, Mandy Little, now retired, who had faith in  my writing before I published a single novel. It was Mandy who sold All the Lonely People, my first book, and I'll always be grateful to her.

I was asked to open and close Bodies, and between 10 am and 5.15 there was a lot happening. Jake Kerridge moderated a panel featuring Len Tyler, Seona Ford of the Dorothy L. Sayers Society and me, and we talked about aspects of the Golden Age. Tony Medawar spoke about John Rhode, Kirsten Saxton talked enthusiastically about The Incredible Crime, and John Curran about crossword puzzles and classic crime. Then Rob Davies interviewed me about The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books.

The book was on sale at the event, and upwards of 80 copies were sold. I've never sold anything like as many hardbacks on a single occasion. Plenty of copies of Taking Detective Stories Seriously were also sold - very gratifying. The afternoon events included a Sayers radio play, talks on Elizabeth Daly, Ethel Lina White, Ronald Knox and Edmund Crispin, and a panel in which the speakers talked about their favourite classic crime novels.

For me the day was something of a whirl, just as Alibis in the Archive was the previous week, I was delighted to have the chance to say hello to a lot of nice people, and even send a recorded message to fans of the Detection Club in Brazil (didn't expect that!) but of course there's never enough time during such concentrated events. The main thing was that several people expressed the view that this was the best Bodies yet, and we are all hoping that it will happen again next year. The atmosphere was hugely positive.

There being no rest for the wicked, I then hosted a CWA reception immediately afterwards, announcing that the winner of the 2017 CWA Dagger in the Library is Mari Hannah. The shortlist was very strong and so it was a particular pleasure to congratulate Mari. After dinner with a few friends,,I  must admit that I was quite exhausted. But it was worth it. A grand day.



8 comments:

  1. It sure was a great day, and I'm glad for you Martin, I look forward to be able to attend on a next occasion

    ReplyDelete
  2. It would be great to see you again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kate Callaghan19 June 2017 at 13:57

    Lovely to hear that Mandy Little is still on good form! The event sounded amazing - most entertaining.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kate, good to hear from you. And it would be catch up with you in person too on a future visit to London!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Martin, thanks for the update, and it sounds like the conference went really well. :) I'm looking forward to the release of 'The Story of Classic Crime', which i intend to purchase via my local Kindle store. I gather from other blogs that it was mentioned during the conference that some titles by John Rhode and ECR Lorac will be re-published by the British Library Crime Classics series. Just wondering what these titles are - or if that's still 'classified information' for now?

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's Harper Collins who are publishing Rhode, Jonathan. Don't know the titles. Lorac - Bats in the Belfry and Fire in the Thatch.

    ReplyDelete
  7. According to Harper Collins website, they will publish Rhode's "Death at Breakfast" in October.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It was such a great day! Thanks for all your input, and very much looking forward to reading '100 Books'.

    ReplyDelete