200 years ago today...

...Edgar Allan Poe was born. To all intents and purposes, he created the detective story, and in his short life he did much else besides. Needless to say, the anniversary of his birth is being widely celebrated, and I enjoyed - among other tributes - Xavier Lechard's on At The Villa Rose, which links to a few of the best features on Poe, including a good, concise essay by Andrew Taylor for the BBC.

When in Baltimore for Bouchercon last year, I made my own pilgrimage to the small graveyard where Poe is buried. It's a quiet oasis in the middle of the city streets and buildings. Here are a few of the photos I took.

I must say that I find graveyards fascinating, if sometimes melancholy spots, and some have a very special atmosphere. Highgate Cemetery is justly celebrated, and absolutely worth a visit if, like me, you find burial grounds irresistibly intriguing.

Baltimore events

In addition to participating in Bouchercon, I had the chance to become involved with a couple of other crime-related events whilst in Baltimore, both thanks to invitations from Ann Cleeves, who was coming towards the end of a long but very successful tour of the States.

Ann has close links with the tour organisation Elderhostel, and last year I too spent some time with Elderhostel clients who are fans of crime fiction in both Oxford and Harrogate. Elderhostel is rooted in the US, but with a UK offshoot, and their staff always seem impressively committed to making sure that their clients have a great time.

Ann gave their clients a talk about her Shetland books, and played a DVD of the islands which made them (and me) very keen to pay it a visit one day. I gave a talk on the evolution of the detective story, with an emphasis on Golden Age mysteries – and fittingly enough, my visit to Poe’s grave had taken place earlier that day and proved rather inspirational.

I also attended the city’s Enoch Pratt Library for a performance of Ann’s ‘Body in the Library’ murder mystery event. The Library is impressive, and the event took place in the Poe room - oddly enough, one of the first books I spotted in the glass cases was a biography of the great man written in the 1930s by a relative of my wife's, the poet and writer Edward Shanks.

I’ve seen 'The Body in the Library' before, but enjoy it every time, not least because it is to her example and encouragement that I owe the development of my own Victorian murder mystery event, ‘Who Killed George Hargrave?’

Reflections

Before I leave the subject of the Baltimore Bouchercon, I thought I would mention something that crossed my mind during the convention. It is simply this – that there are so many hundreds of writers at such an event that I found it quite a sobering reminder that I am a very small fish in a very large pool. A humbling reflection, though it in no way diminishes the fun and enjoyment of the event.

Various other writers seem to have had much the same impression. For instance, one highly successful crime novelist who recently concluded a major television deal expressed the view, based on discussions with one or two angst-ridden superstars, that it’s inevitable, and simple human nature, to feel that one is under-achieving compared to others – however many awards one wins, however many times one appears in the best-seller lists.

I like to feel that my own writing career is on an upward trajectory (very slowly upward, I must admit, but upward nonetheless!) but there were several reminders of what a precarious business writing is. I talked, for example, to two very good writers from America who have recently had their contracts cancelled by their major US publishers. Given the quality of their work, it’s hard to understand and must be very hard for them to swallow.

But enough of this introspection. I haven’t been able to mention all the highlights of Baltimore for me, by any means. But a random selection, additional to those I’ve spoken of before, would include lunch with the delightful Caroline Upcher (aka Hope McIntyre), a sunny sight-seeing water taxi trip to historic Fell’s Point with Ann Cleeves, dinner with Steve Steinbock, late nights in the hotel bar drinking and chatting with the likes of Jason Goodwin and, on my last night in town, Stephen Booth, meeting Australian lawyer and crime enthusiast Sarah Byrne for the first time in a decade, and encountering a good many people for the first time, not least Mary Saums, Julie Compton (I’ve added her blog to the blogroll), and Deborah Crombie (whose books I’ve admired for years), as well as a host of fellow bloggers, booksellers and the most important people of all – the readers and fans.