The Dagger in the Library

Thursday evening proved to be one of the most enjoyable of my whole writing career. It was the occasion of the CWA Daggers Awards, a glitzy black tie event at the Grange City Hotel in London, and I'll remember it forever because I was fortunate enough to be awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library.

The Dagger in the Library is awarded for a writer's body of work that has brought pleasure to library users, and nominations are submitted by librarians up and down the country. I was delighted to feature on first the longlist, announced in May, and then the shortlist, announced in July. The other authors nominated included such prominent and popular bestsellers as Sophie Hannah, Nicci French, and Peter May. Formidable competition, to put it mildly.

The judging panel is composed exclusively of librarians, and so it was a very special moment when the chair of the panel, Sue Wilkinson, opened the envelope and read out my name. During the past three years, I've been nominated for three other Daggers, and to win on this occasion was a real joy. Exactly ten years have passed since the wonderful night when I won my first Dagger, for best short story, and this was if anything an even more cherishable moment.

There were many other happy moments during the evening, not least the chance to present the Diamond Dagger to Michael Connelly, and Red Herring awards to Ali Karim, Ayo Onatade, David Stuart Davies, and Mike Stotter. It was also grand to spend time with my editors at Head of Zeus and Harper Collins, and with my agent, as well as friends such as Mick Herron and Matthew Booth, and to chat over dinner with the guest speaker, tv scriptwriter Jude Tindall. It was all truly memorable. I've still not quite come down to earth, and I'm certainly feeling very, very fortunate.

Alibis in the Archive

I'm back from an exhilarating week-end at one of my favourite places, Gladstone's Library in Hawarden. We had the Alibis in the Archive weekend event to celebrate the official launch of the British Crime Writing Archives - that is, the archives of both the Crime Writers' Association and the Detection Club.

We organised a packed programme, and the aim was to give delegates plenty of value for money Even so, we were delighted when the week-end sold out back in March -  only a few weeks after being announced. Capacity is limited, and delegates who couldn't be accommodated in the lovely rooms at the Library were able to stay at a nearby hotel.

After dinner on Friday, the first event was an interactive murder mystery evening hosted by Ann Cleeves. This proved enormously popular. On Saturday, we kicked off with David Stuart Davies (who had acted in the murder mystery) giving a rousing talk about Sherlock Holmes. David Brawn of Harper Collins then talked about working with Agatha Christie's estate. I talked about the CWA and the Detection Club, and also their archives. And then Ann talked about Vera and Shetland. TV scripts that she has donated will in due course form part of the archives.

On Saturday afternoon, Rob Davies talked about the British Library, Linda Stratmann about poison, Kate Charles about clerical crime, and Kate Ellis about digging up the past. After dinner we had - yes! - a second murder mystery evening, this time hosted by Kate Ellis. Then on Sunday, Stella Duffy talked about Ngaio Marsh, Rob and I about the British Library's Crime Classics, and there was a panel discussion about Golden Age detective fiction.

We were delighted with the convivial atmosphere, and the enthusiasm of the delegates. A new group of people previously unfamiliar with Gladstone's Library fell in love with it. I had the pleasure of meeting many nice people - including John Bude's daughter, Jennifer.- and also of seeing a project that I've been involved with for a long time finally achieve a very significant milestone. The Archives will develop in the years to come, and I am optimistic that they will become an increasingly important resource for people who are interested in the heritage of crime fiction. The photos illustrating this post were taken by CWA Secretary Dea Parkin, to whom many thanks.

Festival Time

It's a sign of just how good a time I had at the Harrogate Crime Festival this past week-end that on Friday I completely forgot to post the Forgotten Book piece that I'd written in advance of my trip. Ooops. It will now appear this coming Friday instead! But I really did have a good time at Harrogate, which was looking at its best in the sun. It's a lovely setting for a festival.

I very much enjoyed catching up at length with James, my agent, and discussing with him a wide variety of projects that are in the pipeline for the next twelve months. We also had the chance to reflect on all that has happened in my writing career over the past year - it's been the most exciting time of my writing life. I was also able to give him an update on my latest novel-in-progress. My fiction writing has inevitably taken a back seat lately, but I'm totally committed to it, and although the new novel won't be ready for publication in 2017, it is at least moving forward. Next year will, though, see the publication of The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books and several anthologies that I've edited.

I had the pleasure of meeting Karen Robinson of the Sunday Times Crime Club for the first time, and of attending parties held by Harper Collins and Bonnier. For the annual quiz masterminded by Val McDermid and Mark Billingham, I was invited to join the Little, Brown team, which also included Stav Sherez, and we came second - not quite top of the pile, but still a good result and a very enjoyable evening.

There was also the chance to have dinner with the likes of Barry Forshaw and David Stuart Davies, as well as catching up with a whole host of old friends, such as Ali Karim Alison Joseph and Leigh Russell, all of whom are pictured above outside the Old Swan Hotel, Ricki Thomas, Felix Francis, and many more. The fact the hotel was the place to which Agatha Christie retreated during her notorious disappearance does give the festival an added piquancy. Harrogate's a different sort of event from those wonderful week-ends Crimefest and St Hilda's (I'm very much looking forward to the latter, in mid-August) but has a distinctive atmosphere.  And the fantastic weather was a bonus..

All the Fun of the Book Fair

At present, I'm hard at work on the final stages of my latest Lake District Mystery, but a welcome digression on Saturday involved my annual pilgrimage to the national crime and detection book fair in Harrogate. Fog across the Pennines delayed my journey, but I thought two hours at the fair would still be plenty. It proved to be far from long enough. This may, however, have been a good thing in one sense. Book fairs as impressive as this one can seriously damage your financial health.

As well as specialist crime fiction dealers (plus several who were selling children's books), I was delighted to bump into David Stuart Davies, the Sherlock Holmes expert, who was marketing a selection of his own books. David kindly wrote an introduction to The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and is a good friend of Leslie Klinger, whose work on the Free Sherlock project we both agreed was truly admirable.

One totally unexpected, and quite heartwarming, encounter was with a very pleasant teacher who had brought a group of Year 8 schoolgirls along. She told me that the class has been studying detective fiction - lucky things. That's educational progress for you! She'd had the very good idea of bringing the girls along to the fair, and they seemed to be having a fun time. In fact one had bought a copy of John Bude's The Lake District Murder, and one of the dealers had suggested she asked me to sign it. It would be nice to think that some of those girls will retain a fondness for detective fiction throughout their lives. The teacher was doing a really great job. Very enlightened.

I enjoyed chatting to the specialist crime dealers, and admiring their stock (including a signed book in pristine dust jacket by Patricia Wentworth, for instance, and hard-to-find copies of classics by Henry Wade, John Rhode, and the Coles), as well as soliciting feedback on the proposed cover artwork for The Golden Age of Murder. One dealer told me that he'd brought along a large quantity of titles by E.C.R. Lorac, and nearly all of them had been snapped up by the end of the afternoon. Lorac's work is a good example of what one might call "late Golden Age" writing, and I have quite a few of her books, which originally I bought for my parents, both of whom were Lorac fans. Some other titles, though, are very hard to find; hence the demand for them on Saturday.

Another dealer told me that the British Library Crime Classics series is fuelling interest in the first editions of the writers chosen. Price inflation is occurring as a result, it seems, because the originals are so rare. I was also invited to consider a possible new writing project with Golden Age connections, which will be unique and fascinating to undertake if we can get it off the ground. I saw a number of wonderful first editions in dust jackets that I'll probably never see again, such is their scarcity. Did I make any purchases? Only seven, which I regard as very restrained when surrounded by so many temptations. I'll say more about them in the future, but in the meantime, I'll just mention that one of them was a cheap paperback in the Collins White Circle series with the splendid title Detectives in Gum Boots. The author was Roger East, some of whose other novels I've enjoyed. But I've never seen a copy of this one before, and I simply couldn't resist....

The New Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes - publication day!

A sentimental tobacconist. An eccentric testatrix. A musical butler. A suicidal lawyer. An absent-minded landlady. A persecuted accountant.

Question - What do all these extraordinary characters have in common?

Answer - they all take leading roles in stories included in The New Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, my colleciton of Holmesian pastiches, which is available on Amazon as an ebook as from today. As well as the stories, there are a variety of extras, and I'm especially pleased that these include a lovely intro from that great guru concerning all things Sherlockian, David Stuart Davies.

You can "look inside" the book on Amazon to read the first few pages. Among other things, David was kind enough to say: "Martin Edwards has not only caught the style and quality of the originals, but the characters speak with Doylean voices.   In short, Martin Edwards knows his Holmes and he puts that knowledge to great effect in this set of cases...It is interesting to note that while some of Conan Doyle’s stories have weak plots – ‘The Mazarin Stone’ and ‘The Veiled Lodger for example -  all the tales presented here are finely constructed mysteries in which Holmes is able to demonstrate his brilliance as a detective."

I'm really gratified by these comments, especially as no brown envelope stuffed with cash passed between me and David (though next time we meet up in a bar, I'll be glad to buy him a pint or two!)  Until now, almost all of these stories have been very difficult for readers to find. Now that they are readily obtainable (and, I'm tempted to add, for a bargain price...) I hope that Sherlock fans will take the same view as David. Fingers crossed!

The New Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

Over the years, I've loved writing Sherlock Holmes pastiches, and the response to them has been truly gratifying. Due to pressure of work, I've had to turn down a number of commissions to return to Sherlock lately, but I hope to get back to him before too long. In the meantime, the fact that some readers have been keen to read the Sherlockiana that I have written has stirred me into action.

The result is The New Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, an ebook that gathers together the stories and also a variety of additional items. I'm especially thrilled that David Stuart Davies, one of the country's leading experts on Holmes, and himself a crime writer of note, has contributed a wonderful introduction to the book. I'm delighted by David's reaction to the stories - one or two of which he originally commissioned when he was editor of that much-missed magazine Sherlock.

The ebook also contains several articles, and whilst nobody will ever do it better (or as well as) Conan Doyle, nevertheless I hope that it will keep Sherlock fans entertained. At the moment, it looks like publication day will be 10 April.

CWA Northern Chapter - Silver Jubilee Week-end

I had a memorable week-end attending the Silver Jubilee celebration of the Northern Chapter of the Crime Writers' Association in Pickering, North Yorkshire. Our convenor, recently retired former DI Roger Forsdyke, didn't allow a torn achilles tendon to interrupt his arrangements for what began as a celebratory lunch and turned into a rather longer and thoroughly enjoyable celebration that was blessed with excellent weather.

I attended the first meeting of the Northern Chapter back in 1987 - along with my then fiancee, now my long-suffering wife. That meeting was set up by our first convenor, another ex-cop, Peter Walker, who is most famous as author of the books on which the enormously successful TV series Heartbeat was based. And it was great to see Peter, along with his wife Rhoda, this week-end. The idea that partners of writers should be made welcome was Peter's original concept, and a very good one too. It has helped to enhance the social aspect of the Chapter, and has generated many long-lasting friendships.

Peter and Margaret Lewis, two authors and also publishers, were also at that first meeting and not only did they become great friends, a few years ago they actually published one of my books - Dancing for the Hangman. Meg Elizabeth Atkins and her husband Percy Moss were also founder members of the chapter, and it was lovely to see Peter, Margaret, Meg and Percy once again. Sadly, Robert and Louise Barnard, whom again I met that first time 25 years ago were unable to attend due to Bob's poor health, but Bob did write to Roger.to wish all his friends well - sentiments that were very warmly reciprocated. We also remembered the great Reginald Hill, who with his wife Pat was another founder member.

A highlight of the week-end (in addition to the excellent hospitality of the White Swan Inn) was a superb talk about an extraordinary double murder case by Detective Superintendent Steve Smith from North Yorkshire Police, who is pictured at the top of this post along with Roger. Special thanks to Roger and his wife Penny, as well as their son Toby, another police officer, for arranging such a tremendously enjoyable event. Amongst many others, it was great to catch up with Stuart Pawson, Lesley Horton and Sherlock expert David Stuart Davies. We look forward to the next 25 years!

Disappearing Magazines

We’ve become sadly familiar with the experience of first-rate print magazines vanishing from the shelves, because of declining circulation. The biggest loss in recent years was probably that of Sherlock, a splendid magazine, which under the editorship of David Stuart Davies covered the whole world of crime fiction, not just Sherlockiana. But after several successful years, the owner lost heart. Unfortunately, the trend of disappearance isn’t confined to print publications. A couple of worthwhile ezine projects have faltered in the last year or so.

One was Cobwebby Bottles, produced by fellow author and blogger Rafe McGregor. This had a Sherlockian emphasis, and was really very promising. Now comes the news that Crime Fiction Gazette, the brainchild of rare book specialist and new novelist Paul Moy is also coming to an end after only two issues. A pity.

The snag is that producing print magazines takes a considerable financial investment, and even with ezines, there has to be a significant input of time and effort if the publication is to be sustained. It’s hard work, and I can well understand why those involved give up.

On a happier note, there are still various magazines available which do a terrific job of discussing the genre, and they deserve the support of crime fans everywhere. In the US, I can think of Mystery Scene, Deadly Pleasures, Give Me That Old-Time Detection and The Strand. In the UK, we have CADS, which I think is quite brilliant, and also excellent online resources such as Shots and Crime Time. I like all of them, and admire all the editors who do such a good job with them – but I’m sure there is room for fresh publications too.

In the Chair

As a postscript to Crimefest, a few people have asked me how it felt to compete in the Mastermind quiz, in that leather chair made famous by the TV programme, with lights dimmed, except for one very bright one, shone right into the contestant’s face. The short answer is that it is a bit like doing an exam, with the added frisson of making a fool of yourself in front of various friends and readers. The consolation was that Simon Brett, Meg Gardiner and David Stuart Davies were in the same boat, and very good-natured fellow sufferers they were.

The setting was certainly intimidating, as with the TV show. The Crimefest organisers did a good job of replicating the menacing atmosphere, and Maxim Jakubowski is a seasoned - and both authoritative and fair-minded - interrogator. In fact, the very first time I met him was as long ago as 1990, when he organised a similar event for the London Bouchercon, in which I participated (and thereby met some fascinating people, including Geoff Bradley, editor of that great fanzine CADS.) Maxim repeated the quiz at the 1995 Bouchercon in Nottingham, with panellists including the late Edward D. Hoch and US crime expert Marv Lachman, and me.

So I did have some past experience of what it feels like to expose my ignorance, as well as my fund of criminal trivia, to a crowd of curious onlookers. As one friend said to me: ‘How could you possibly have forgotten the first name of Marcus Didius Falco’s beloved? It’s the same as your wife’s….’