2025: People

I spent time with a great many lovely people in 2025. Too many to mention in this post, for sure. There have been lots of happy times, but I've also lost a number of especially dear friends and it wouldn't be right not to start by mentioning them. The top photo shows Peter Lovesey (and his beloved wife Jax) when I visited them back in 2023. I didn't say so then, but I knew at the time that Peter had been given a terminal cancer diagnosis. He was, however, in fine form and he continued to write until the end. I saw him this year, a few days before his death, and it was an emotional occasion for both of us. A great man and a terrific writer. What a marvellous legacy he has left.

Eileen Dewhurst, as I wrote the other day, died earlier this month. She played a big part in my life, in a totally different way from Peter, and I have many fond memories of her. Ann Granger, who also died this year, was another lovely person as well as a good writer. And I heard, just before writing this post, that David Roberts, whom I saw at a Detection Club dinner as recently as last month, has also died.

Eileen lived to the age of 95, a particularly good innings, but my old friend Elizabeth Roberts (above), who was an avid reader of crime fiction, died far too young due to a very aggressive form of breast cancer. Her death came as such a shock that I haven't felt ready to write about it, but I would like to write a tribute to her and this is a project for the new year.

This year, we celebrated 25 years of Murder Squad, before agreeing that it was time for us to call it a day as a collective. But we'll be getting together on an individual basis from time to time, you can be sure of that. And that quarter-century of collaboration has yielded many fantastic memories - and quite a few really good books under the Squad banner.

Special mention for some great holiday companions. Steve and Shelly Karol were great fun to be with at Alibis in the Archive and then at Castle Skibo - we're with them in the above photo (and it has to be said that the others were all better archers than me). Kate Ellis and Roger Bullock, by no means for the first time, were also great companions on our Viking cruise - the above photo shows us celebrating a victory in a shipboard quiz...

There were several performances of my murder mysteries this year, and two of the casts are seen above. It is always interesting to see how the same script can be interpreted differently and I never tire of enjoying these performances.

Two photos from Alibis in the Archive are above (and next year's event will take place from 5-7 June, so do book early!) Each year I programme a different line-up of speakers and each year I'm delighted by how entertaining they all are.

 

Photos from three more of the year's events are above - with Mike Craven at Sedbergh, with Victoria Dowd and Lucy Rowland in a quiz at the British Library, and on a panel at Bodies from the Library (the evening before, by the way, I'd been taken to a lovely dinner by Moira Redmond and Christine Poulson, which was very generous). And I haven't even mentioned the Detection Club's get-togethers at the Garrick Club, the Langham, and St Hilda's. All part of the whirl that was 2025. To everyone who has contributed to the the past twelve months, thank you. And I hope to see you next year!