Living the Dream

I'm back home, briefly, after an exhilarating Crimefest, superbly organised as usual by Adrian, Myles, Liz and Donna. It's always fun to go to Bristol, and the fact that this year saw a record attendance speaks for itself.

For me, it was an especially memorable week-end. On Thursday, as usual, we had the Forgotten Authors panel: Jessica Mann, Susan Moody, John Curran, Len  Tyler, and Guy Fraser-Sampson made the occasion engaging as well as informative. And in the evening came the pub quiz, now happily restored to an actual pub, in which I was part of a team that narrowly squeaked victory thanks to a tie-break.

Even better, on Friday, at the CWA Daggers reception (where one of the speakers was Peter Davision, not only a former Doctor Who, but also TV's Albert Campion) , The Golden Age of Murder was announced as one of the books on the longlist for the non-fiction Dagger. Given that, in the past, this category has really been the preserve of books dealing with real life crime, this was not necessarily to be foreseen, and naturally I am delighted.

And even more happily, at the gala banquet on Saturday evening (toastmaster Hugh Fraser, alias Poirot's chum Captain Hastings) Sheila Keating announced that the winner of the H.R.F. Keating award for best non-fiction crime-related book of the past year was...The Golden Age of Murder. Among many reasons why I was gratified was that Harry was very supportive of me in my early years as a writer - he was even good enough to give a lovely quote for the cover of The Devil in Disguise - and Sheila too has become a great friend. In fact, she and her delightful agent were my dinner companions the previous evening, but not a word was mentioned about the award. Sheila said to me afterwards that she is good at keeping a secret, and that's absolutely right.

My other panel for the week-end was themed around Brit Noir and moderated with his usual expertise by Barry Forshaw; fellow panellists were Howard Linskey, whom I was glad to meet for the first time, Alison Bruce and Laura Wilson. There was plenty of time for socialising as well as attending other panels and talks (for instance by the creator of Death in Paradise, the hugely impressive Robert Thorogood). The photo of Ali Karim with the book was actually taken at last year's Crimefest, but Ali has kindly offered to send me some of his shots from this year, which I shall upload here in due course. In the meantime, I can only say that Crimefest goes from strength to strength, and if you have never attended, it is definitely recommended, whether you are a reader or a writer or both..

Forgotten Book - The Case of the Late Pig

The Case of the Late Pig by Margery Allingham was first published in 1937, and I suppose there is room for debate as to whether it really qualifies as a Forgotten Book. After all, Allingham's reputation has survived much better than that of many Golden Age writers, and the Margery Allingham Society is a flourishing body, with an excellent journal and a range of activities for members. What I can say is that this is a short novel (it began life as a paperback original, and a UK hardback edition didn't appear for more than a quarter of a century) which definitely deserves to be remembered. It offers more entertainment than many much longer efforts.

An unusual feature of the book is that it's narrated by Albert Campion. An ambitious move on Allingham's part, I think, because Great Detectives aren't naturally suited to recounting their own cases - Sherlock Holmes seems to me to have been a noticeably less effective narrator than Dr Watson, for instance. It's maddening enough when a sleuth (Poirot, for example) declines to tell his sidekick whom he suspects and why. The risk of frustrating the reader is much greater when the detective is actually telling the story. Christie was wise, I think, not to have Poirot or Miss Marple act as narrators. Perhaps Allingham was experimenting -she did not repeat this particular experiment in another novel. And yet here, I think, she gets away with it, and does so rather stylishly.

A mysterious unsigned missive persuades Campion to attend the funeral of the late and unlamented "Pig" Peters, with whom he was at school. But the plot really starts to thicken five months later, when Campion returns to the splendidly named village of Kepesake. There has been another death - but this time, once again, the deceased is Pig Peters. What on earth is going on?

This is a splendid village mystery, neatly plotted and with plenty of twists. It's a very good example of Allingham's technical skill as a writer - she was able to vary her approach with much more flair and success than most Golden Age novelists, and this is, surely, one of the reasons why her work has lasted so well. I enjoyed The Case of the Late Pig - and the TV version, starring Peter Davison as Campion, which I saw some time ago, isn't at all bad, either.

Police at the Funeral

Quite some time ago I invested in the complete set of DVDs featuring Peter Davison as the legendary sleuth created by Margery Allingham, Albert Campion. I have to admit that I have only just opened the box, but this is not due to any particular lack of enthusiasm. I'm afraid that I have three other box sets still awaiting attention – too many shows, too little time!

I started by watching Police at the Funeral, simply because I had heard good things about the book on which the episode was based. What I did not know was that the plot bears a passing resemblance in some respects to a rather good Sherlock Holmes short story. But Allingham handled the material in her own distinctive style, and to good effect.

Peter Davison has always been a likeable actor and, although I do not claim to be any sort of expert in Allingham's work, it does seem to me that he is rather well cast as Campion. He is aided and abetted by the splendid Yorkshireman, the late Brian Glover, who plays the part of Lugg. I always relished the enthusiasm that Brian Glover seemed to bring to every role, and he was in his element here.

The supporting cast included Timothy West, who was as watchable as ever. The story moved at a brisk enough pace and I enjoyed the episode, possibly more than I expected to. I shall certainly not leave it too long before watching another instalment in a series