Alibis in the Archive 2019

Over the past weekend, I've been at Gladstone's Library, hosting the third Alibis in the Archive conference. As before, this was a celebration of crime fiction, and its heritage, in a gorgeous setting made all the better by good weather. The Library is home to the British Crime Writing Archives, the collections of the Crime Writers' Association and the Detection Club, and the Library's head archivist had arranged a marvellous display of some of the items from the collection.

The programme began on Friday with dinner and a library-based version of a "pub quiz". I was question master, the first time I've done such a thing. It was a lot of fun, with book prizes generously donated by HarperCollins. And it was a good way for attendees to get to know the writers who had come along for the weekend. There's a lot of mingling at Gladstone's. It's such a friendly place and that's the ethos of the Alibis conference.

On Saturday morning, David Whittle kicked off the series of talks with a lovely discussion about Edmund Crispin, interspersed with recordings of some of the music Crispin wrote, under his real name Bruce Montgomery. Then Alison Joseph gave a thought-provoking talk about the books Agatha Christie wrote as Mary Westmacott.

Many people had come along specially to hear Peter Robinson, and he did not disappoint, with a frank and fascinating talk about his crime writing career and the experience of seeing his DCI Banks series televised. It was quite riveting, and so was Frances Fyfield's personal and moving account of a literary friendship, between her and P.D. James.

After lunch came Aline Templeton (whose husband Ian took some of these photos), with a wide-ranging survey of Scotland's contribution to the crime genre, from James Hogg onwards, and Michael Ridpath, talking about the settings of his books. I finished off the day's formal programme, with a talk about Julian Symons and Michael Gilbert, and brought along a collection of books by both men to illustrate it. Several people were intrigued by Julian's particularly modest way of inscribing his work.  The evening was also memorable - many of us sat outside, talking over a glass of wine or two, enjoying the long hours of daylight.

Sunday saw a talk by Janet Laurence about women and crime writing, a conversation between Peter and me, and then a panel discussion involving the whole group of writers to round things off. It was all over too soon, and feedback was extremely positive. And the good news is - Alibis will be back next June! It's a great event and I do hope you'll think about coming along. 

Alibis in the Archive 2019

I'm delighted to announce that this year's Alibis in the Archive will take place at Gladstone's Library from 21-23 June. Booking details are here. If you'd like to attend, you can choose between a residential place (either in the Library itself or a nearby guest house or hotel) or a non-residential place, making your own arrangements as regards accommodation or travelling in each day if you live in the area. There's plenty of accommodation in the vicinity and some excellent guest houses and hotels.

So what's it all about, Alibis? Well, it's a weekend devoted to crime writing and its heritage, given that Gladstone's Library, one of the most stunning libraries in Britain or indeed anywhere else, is home to the British Crime Writing Archives. These bring together in one place the archives of the Crime Writers' Association and the Detection Club.

We've assembled a great line-up of speakers and subject to one or two possible tweaks, the programme is already more or less complete. The speakers include Peter Robinson, author of the brilliant DCI Banks series, which has given rise to a highly successful TV series. Peter will talk about the series and his TV experiences, and will also be in conversation with me about other crime writing subjects. There will be a talk by another of our leading crime novelists, the fantastic Frances Fyfield. She'll be discussing P.D. James, and since she was a very good friend of Phyllis James, I am sure there will be some fascinating insights into the person as well as the books.
Other speakers include Aline Templeton, Janet Laurence, David Whittle, Alison Joseph, and subject to confirmation Ragnar Jonasson, a translator of Agatha Christie as well as a highly successful novelist of the new generation. And me. So it's a varied line-up, and I know that each of my colleagues on the programme is a highly accomplished and interesting speaker on the subject of crime writing.

So there you have it. A week-end not to be missed if you're a crime fan, and in particular of classic crime. Among other things, there will be a pub quiz (but not in a pub!). There will be a chance to see some rare Golden Age books which I've gathered together over the years. And there will also be a chance to look at selected items from the British Crime Writing Archives. Those archives are fast-growing, so much so that we're on the look-out for suitable additional places to house some of the material that is coming in. All suggestions welcome...

The Sinking Admiral

Tomorrow sees the official publication of the Detection Club's first collaborative novel for more than half a century. The Sinking Admiral was masterminded by Simon Brett, and is the work of fourteen members of the Club, including me. There's a launch, incidentally, this evening at Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court, London. Do come along if you are in the area; the launch is from 6 pm for an hour or so.

The book is, as its title implies, to some extent a homage to The Floating Admiral, the classic round robin mystery which the Club's founder members produced in 1931. But it's very much a contemporary mystery, with plenty of touches of humour (you'd expect nothing less from a gang of contributors that includes Simon, Ruth Dudley Edwards, and Len Tyler).

I contributed one chapter, and found it fun to write. Equally entertaining were the sessions we had - usually in pubs, it has to be said, when we were planning the storyline (you can see that some of the plot complications caused Janet Laurence momentary despair, but needless to say, she sorted them out).. However, we did reach a point, with a couple of chapters to go, where we still had not decided on the solution. Simon duly organised an unforgettable dinner at the Groucho Club where we worked it all out, and elected two brave souls to do the necessary writing.

Harper Collins are the publishers, and I think they've done a lovely production job: I really like the cover artwork, and the reality of publishing is that such things do make a difference to the way in which a book is perceived in the trade, and by readers. More than that, this is an unusual and innovative novel. Whilst it's not to be taken too seriously, of course, I'm very optimistic that it will supply lovers of twisty, light-hearted mysteries with a great deal of entertainment. .

Bodies from the Library

I'm back home - briefly -after an exhilarating trip to London for the second Bodies from the Library conference at the British Library. This was a highly successful event, one in which I was delighted to take part, and during the afternoon coffee break one of the attendees made things even more memorable by kindly telling me that she'd just heard that The Golden Age of Murder has been shortlisted for the Macavity award from Mystery Readers International. Not so long ago, if you'd told me that a book of mine would win three awards and be listed for three more, I'd have thought you were pulling my leg in a rather cruel way. But yes, it has actually happened...

Less of a surprise were two announcements about personal projects of mine which I'm very excited about. For one day only, copies of the new edition of Anthony Berkeley's The Poisoned Chocolates Case, a title in the British Library's Crime Classics series, were on sale - official publication is in October. And this edition contains not only an intro that I've written, but more importantly, a seventh solution (in addition to the six solutions Berkeley came up with) by Christianna Brand, first published in the US in the 70s. And there is a brand new solution written by me. This is a project that was, for me, enormous fun, and a large number of copies of the book were sold on the day. More about this one in October...

During my conversation with Rob Davies of the British Library, we also announced that next year will see the publication of my new non-fiction book The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books. This book has occupied a good deal of my time over the past 18 months, and I recently finished work on the manuscript. It's very different from The Golden Age of Murder, even though there is an element of overlap in terms of the period covered, and I hope that crime fans will find it full of interesting - and often unexpected - material.

The first session of the day featured another book with which I'm very happy to be associated. This is The Sinking Admiral, by the Detection Club. Simon Brett, who masterminded the book, discussed it with me, and two other contributors, Janet Laurence and Stella Duffy. It was also announced that Stella has been awarded an OBE, and that she has been engaged to write a completion of an unfinished Ngaio Marsh novel: something to look forward to. As for The Sinking Admiral, it sold out by mid-morning.

Tony Medawar talked about Anthony Berkeley, while Len Tyler and Susan Moody championed Philip MacDonald and Georgette Heyer, and Barry Pike discussed the work of H.C. Bailey. Dolores Gordon-Smith focused on G.K. Chesterton, while Jennifer Henderson, biographer of Josephiine Tey, talked about Tey as a Scottish writer. John Curran discussed the Collins Crime Club - and his book on the subject is another that will be eagerly anticipated. Finally there was a group panel in which we picked favourite screen adaptations of Golden Age novels.

Dinners on the Friday and Saturday evenings provided plenty of opportunities for socialising, and I was delighted to meet Taku Ashibe, from the Honkaku Mystery Writers' Club of Japan, (modelled on the Detection Club) who presented me with several books, including one of his own. Saturday itself was extremely hectic, and although I had the chance to chat to a number of attendees, there simply wasn't time for as many conversations as I'd have liked. But you can't have everything, and overall this was a wonderful day, full of good things, and pleasant people. What more could you want?

The photo at the top of this post appears on an account of the day on Puzzle Doctor's splendid blog, In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel. Further perspectives on the day may be found on the similaly enjoyable Past Offences blog and Cross Examining Crime.
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Guests from Germany

I'm fascinated by the global reach of crime fiction, and in recent years I've found it a real joy to get to know a host of fellow writers and enthusiasts from different parts of the world. It's a little over a year since I took part in the AEIP international crime writers' conference held in Oxford, and I've just received a very pleasing reminder of that terrific event. It takes the form of my copy of a nicely produced German language anthology, Mit Schirm, Charme and Pistole, to which I was invited to contribute after the conference, along with three British writers whom I much admire. My story, "Consuming Passion", was set in Oxford itself, and translated by the editors, Hughes Schlueter and Eva Lirot. They are pictured above, and I invited them to contribute a guest blog about the book. Here it is:

"With Umbrella, Charme and Coke

Sounds odd? Well, it really does. Those of you familiar with classic British shows on telly and their foreign titles might recognize mid sixties “The Avengers” starring Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. “Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone”, so the German title, where “Melone” (yep, the fruit) refers to Steed’s bowler hat.

By the slight variant and allusion “Mit Schirm, Chame und Pistole” runs a new anthology of 26 crime short stories, we, Eva Lirot & Hughes Schlueter, had the definite and indefinite pleasure to edit. To capture and to render original soundtrack and flavour, we asked beneath our German colleagues four born and bred brits to contribute: Janet Laurence, Susan Moody, Peter Lovesey and the operator of your favourite blog, Martin Edwards.

In order not to miss anything our fellow countrymen might expect from Albion shores and cockney corners we set up a matrix of topics/settings and writers in which we co-ordinated feathers and ink in order not to have a plethora of witty little old ladies poisoning handsome but not-so-witty marriage impostors and a shortcoming of Cotswolds beauty. Finally we came out with gorgeous and very unhealthy arrangements that we hope will entertain the audience at its best: among others we feature stylish and weird dinners in Oxford, Scottish ghosts, the prime minister’s dog, a guideline to distinguished contract assassination, a fashion shoot, a witty little old lady NOT poisoning her environment, a Victorian Christmas affair, a butler from Ivor Spencer, a Loch Ness mystery and a killer exercising murder with wax figures at London’s Madame Tussauds.

Introduced at Frankfurt bookfair just some hours ago, we have received a very warm welcome and can’t wait to present book and texts in readings. You see, we Germans love British attitude and appreciate your “stiff upper lip” even in case of utmost danger. Like the society lady we met over tea, telling us that she and her husband actually “help police with enquiries” and we instantly took for granted that their cottage has been washed inside out and poor hubby remands in custody.

Like in Last night of the proms, we save the best for last: Patrick Macnee himself has sent his personal greetings to all readers and such a nice photograph of himself to print in the book! We couldn’t get a better foreword."

It's an enterprising project, and there is even a video trailer for the book on Youtube, although so far my attempts to link to it via this post have failed. Worth seeking out, though. When, as a boy, I watched The Avengers avidly during the Sixties, I never imagined that one day I'd contribute to a book inspired by the show. But I'm really glad it's happened - thanks to Hughes, Eva and Ralf of the publishers KBV. 

The Oxford Literary Tour

Some months ago, Janet Laurence told me that she was organising a conference for AIEP, the international crime writers' association, to take place in Oxford, and asked if I'd be willing to conduct a guided literary tour of Oxford. Now I have no experience whatsoever as a tour guide, so I felt I was a rather unlikely choice. But Janet is a very persuasive person, so I said yes.

I didn't know what to expect. Not just whether the weather would be kind, which of course was impossible to predict, but how many people would want to go on such a tour, how good their English would be, how energetic they would feel - or anything, really. So preparing was a bit tricky. I realised that I'd have to be flexible and see how things went on the day.

The AIEP conference went on throughout last week, but because of work commitments, I was only able to turn up for the latter stages. However, I found everyone very welcoming and it was fascinating to meet the international contingent, as well as locals such as Susan Moody, Bob Cornwell, Christine Poulson, and Barry Forshaw.I also had an enjoyable evening after dinner in a pub with Michael Ridpath and a number of foreign writers.

To my relief, the tour proved to be great fun. About 35 people came along, and I took them around the city, talking about some of the books set there as we went along. We toured the quadrangles of Balliol, and had a drink in the Eagle and Child, where once the Inklings met, drank and talked. Myfanwy Cook kindly acted as tour photographer!

The last major event of the conference was an after dinner speech by a former top cop, Dame Elizabeth Neville. Janet was given a standing ovations, which she richly deserved. A sign of the esteem in which she is held by the international crime writing community, and a sign too of how much they appreciated their time in Britain. I made a number of delightful new friends, and despite my initial misgivings, in the end I was very glad that Janet asked me to be a tour guide - at least for one afternoon in my life!

Bank Holiday Books

I’ve mentioned The Mystery Press (an imprint of The History Press) before, and this Bank Holiday Monday, I’d like to highlight a couple of the crime novelists on their list, as well as mentioning a true crime book published by Quercus.

Janet Laurence, who chaired the CWA a few years back, is one of the most charming of crime writers, and her Darina Lisle culinary mysteries won her a considerable following some time ago. She later wrote an excellent book about the craft of mystery writing, but there haven’t been any crime novels from her for a while. Happily, that has now changed, with the appearance of Deadly Inheritance, a book set in that fascinating period, the Edwardian era. The protagonist is Ursula Grandison, an American who comes to Britain and finds herself embroiled in a mystery surrounding the death of a nursemaid.  Janet is a stylish writer, and I’m sure this novel will find favour not only with existing fans but also historical mystery lovers who may not be familiar with her work.

Linda Stratmann, a more recent arrival on the scene, is an expert on true crime who wrote an excellent book about chloroform and has turned with success to fiction. A follow-up to The Poisonous Seed, in which young Frances Doughty turned detective to solve her father’s murder, has now appeared. In The Daughters of Gentlemen, Frances has turned her detective work into an embryonic career – she contemplates advertising: “Lady detective. Discretion assured.” An enquiry about the distribution of feminist pamphlets duly turns into a lively murder mystery. Both books contain a note at the end, explaining the factual elements of the story , and I always find these interesting. History-mysteries have an enduring appeal, I think.

Very different, yet almost a slice of modern history in itself, is The Curse of Brink’s-Mat, by veteran true crime writer Wensley Clarkson. The sub-title is “25 years of murder and mayhem”, and I must say I was fascinated to learn what unpleasant fates have befallen so many people who were involved in this celebrated heist. But one of the gang members who survived is, of course, the notorious Kenneth Noye. At present, however, Noye remains in prison, having failed in an appeal against his conviction for killing the motorist Stephen Cameron. All in all, it’s a remarkable story which Clarkson tells in a lively, journalistic way.