IT'S A CRIME! (OR A MYSTERY...)

CWA National Crime Writing Week 13-19 June 2011

The CWA's National Crime Writing Week starts tomorrow.  There are lots of events up and down the country.  Go here to find out more and find out what's on near you.

Some London-based crime fiction & crime-related events coming up in June…

Fancy a break from the tennis?  Or the rain?  (The two so often arrive together here.)

London Review Bookshop World Literature Weekend, taking place 17-19 June, is the only UK festival to specialise in literature in translation.  On the crime front there are two events that may be of interest:

Crime Fiction: Reading Scars - Behind crime fiction's gripping narratives, there often lies a more incisive portrayal of a society than can be found in more obvious commentaries; and it offers a way to confront ideas of good and evil in a shades-of-grey world, where simple moral certainties aren't so easy to find. Karin Alvtegen's psychological crime thrillers include Missing, which in 2001 won the Glass Key, the premier Nordic crime writing award, and Shadow and Betrayal. Håkan Nesser is also a Glass Key winner; his latest book to be translated into English is The Inspector and Silence, starring his detective Van Veeteren. The event will be chaired by Jakob Stourgaard-Nielson, Lecturer in Scandinavian Literature at UCL.

For Catalonia: Place of a Language, three very different writers come together to talk about how a besieged language can offer refuge, and how place, history and identity are knitted into that language. One of the authors taking part in this event is Teresa Solana, the award-winning author of two comic noirs, Not So Perfect Crime and A Short Cut to Paradise. Solana writes in Catalan and translates them into Spanish, and her novels are a blend of humour, merciless satire and detective thriller. Joining Solana on the panel is Ramon Llull Prize-winning novelist Najat El Hatchmi and Carles Casajuana, author and Ambassador of Spain to the UK. Barcelona-based literary translator Peter Bush is chair. This event takes place Friday 17 June at 2pm in the Stevenson Room at the British Museum.

Here’s a link and here’s the programme to download. Download WLW 2011 Final Programme [email]

 
Moving on, after hours on Friday 24 June, you could join in with an investigation at the National History Museum at 1900 where a body has been found in the museum’s garden.  The NHM says:

Its identity is unknown and the killer remains at large.  We need your help.  Join us to put your detective skills to the test as a crime scene officer.  At this unique, immersive evening event, you'll meet 3 of the Museum's forensic experts.  Learn how they use their knowledge to assist the police and solve crimes.  Find out tricks of their trade so that you can comb the crime scene, collect the evidence and process the clues.  Then take your evidence to trial where real barristers, police officers and a judge will demonstrate just how important forensic evidence is to a verdict.

Highlights include:

• collecting insect evidence in the garden crime scene with scientists Martin Hall and Cameron Richards, and 100s of live maggots
• fingerprint collection and identification workshop
• victim identification masterclass in the Attenborough Studio with Heather Bonney - learn how to identify sex, age and height by studying skeletal remains
• a mock court case in the Museum's Flett theatre.

That is surely a most unusual way to unwind on a Friday evening.  What a cracker!  Follow the link for more details and booking.

John Lawton's A Lily of the Field reviewed in the UK media

There's an excellent review this weekend by Roz Kaveney in The Independent. (And it's a wonderfully written review too.)

I hear on the grapevine that the Daily Telegraph may be covering the novel shortly, possibly this weekend, and will update this post with a link if so.

Previous reviews from across the pond include The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Seattle Times, Canada's Globe and Mail.

 

[Update: not online yet, but I have a pic of the Jeremy Jehu review in today's Daily Telegraph, see left.  He's thinking as I am thinking (below).  Let's hope we are both right for this is a wonderful series.]

I have been picking up on a bit of a buzz about Lawton recently and one of those reviews notes 'the work of a writer at the peak of his powers'.  He was shortlisted for the CWA Short Story Dagger the other week.  I wonder if 2011 will be the year when he reaps more than his usual crops of potatoes, onions, leeks and garlic?

 Find this, his latest novel and current availablity of his work on Amazon here. Like collecting? Go to Goldsboro Books.

 

The author will be at Goldsboro Books's Crime in the Court event on 21 June (18:30 to 20:30).

A mere stone's throw away is Goodwin's Court, home of Freddie Troy in Lawton's novels, pictured left as it is today.

Crime in the Court, Cecil Court, London, June 21, 2011 – Major UK Crime Fiction Event

Some of you may have noticed that after CrimeFest I tweeted that the next major crime fiction event will take place in June as noted above.  This event is hosted by Goldsboro Books, an independent bookseller that I am more than happy to support.  I mentioned them here for good reason: in a time when we have lost so many independent booksellers Goldsboro has expanded because they know their customers and meet their needs.  And now, in their new premises following expansion, they are hosts to Crime in the Court.

There’s a little bit of history behind this.  When they moved earlier this year I did a bit of research wondering if they were taking on the premises of one antiquarian bookseller that had sadly closed down last year.  A search on the history of 23 Cecil Court highlighted this:

In March 1961 Elsie Batten, a 59 year old assistant in Louis Meier’s antique shop at 23 Cecil Court, was stabbed to death. Her murderer, Edwin Bush, was identified and caught within days following the circulation of Identikit pictures - the first case to be solved in the UK using the Identikit System, a significant advance in crime detection.

So, when you turn up on 21 June at Goldsboro Books – as I hope you will – remember that in the number 23 part of their premises a murder took place, and one that led to major developments in investigation techniques no less.  And do raise your glass to Elsie, a victim whose life we should honour.

But what of today’s times and this event? Well, Goldsboro, who specialise in signed first editions, have a troupe of successful contemporary crime & thriller fiction authors awaiting you on the evening of Tuesday 21 June.  At the time of writing these include:

S. J. Bolton, Mary Andrea Clarke, Ann Cleeves, Rory Clements, Lesley Cookman, Julia Crouch, Lindsey Davis, Paul Doherty, Patrick Easter, Gordon Ferris, Elena Forbes, James Forrester, Christopher Fowler, Meg Gardiner, M R Hall, Sam Hayes, David Hewson, Matt Hilton, Chris Morgan Jones, Erin Kelly, Philip Kerr, John Lawton, Adrian Magson, Colin Murray, S J Parris, Linda Reagan, Mike Ripley, William Ryan, Michael Ridpath, Imogen Robertson, C J Sansom, Simon Toyne, L C Tyler, Martin Walker, Laura Wilson.

It’s a wonderful chance to meet the authors, buy signed copies and HAVE IMMENSE FUN!  Don’t miss it.  You can book your ticket here.  It’s only £5 and you will be refreshed, so what more could you ask for?

See you there!

And to confirm the friendliness of the establishment, here are two recent photos to prove it.

 

Proprietor David Headley and author Brian McGilloway at his recent book launch.

 

Author L C Tyler getting down but not dirty with young Toby Headley at the same event.

CrimeFest 2011

There is always a warm welcome at a gathering of crime fiction writers and devotees, and CrimeFest in Bristol is no exception.  In its fourth year in 2011, to say CrimeFest is in full swing is not to do it justice, for it runs as you’d expect a piece of precision engineering to run.  I hadn’t been for a couple of years and this year’s weekend had to be curtailed due to last minute work commitments, but I am so glad I went.  Many congratulations to everyone who participated, those who organised and those who supported from Heffers/Blackwell’s with their dedicated bookselling, to the various sponsors of the event.

Surveying the programme alone, one thing is clear: CrimeFest has a commitment to presenting you with a broader range of authors than the Harrogate Theakstons Crime Writing Festival for which I am a regular and devoted attendee.  There were author names with which I was not familiar; familiar names I had not read; and new names that both you and I will find beeping on our personal radars in years to come.  So, let’s start with the new, and the point at which I joined proceedings, at Saturday morning’s first panel of the day for debut authors.  This is a grouping close to my heart as one of the judges for the CWA’s John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger award and I was familiar with the work of the majority of the authors on this panel.

M R Hall Event at Newport Libraries, Gwent

She may be ‘… a bit obsessed and a bit difficult, but she doesn’t give in…’ – so who is she?

It’s great to see authors out and about doing events at our public libraries, isn’t it?  The libraries of Newport, Gwent have been organising some great events during the past year or so, attracting some big names, and last week was no exception.  Matthew Hall, who writes his legal thrillers under the name of M R Hall has a new book out, the third in his Jenny Cooper series, The Redeemed.  He gave a splendidly informative talk about this engaging series and the background to it, to a gathering of interested readers at the Malpas Library.

Crime & Thriller Fiction Authors at the Hay Festival 2011 – Programme Information

The following is a copy of the various entries from the programme for this year, identifying the crime and thriller fiction authors.  It’s a pretty impressive line up and Friday 3 June appears to be a very good day to be visiting.  Some other events of interest follow at the bottom of this post.

Go to the Hay site to book tickets and you can also download the programme from here. Download Hay-Programme-2011

London Book Fair Day Two - Best Tweet

I can't find the original tweet, but this story is doing the rounds even now (from a tweet):

"It’s not often the London Fire Brigade turns up to a book launch party. Last night it was called out to bash a door down at Conville & Walsh offices in Soho as a guest had locked themself in the loo. The party was to launch S J Watson’s debut novel, Before I Go to Sleep..."

With thanks to the Evening Standard's Londoner's Diary for the quote.

The bad use of English & grammar in that quote are not mine.  (Offers for edit & proofreading gratefully accepted.)

Further John Lawton News: A Lily of the Field - UK Publication

I wrote about this novel in August last year as Amazon in the UK was not accurate with its entry for the latest Troy story from John Lawton.  Now much closer to publication date, Amazon's entry can be credited with more accuracy.

However, if you love to collect, my favourite bookseller, Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court, London, has signed first editions to order.

The author will be at CrimeFest on Friday, 20 May.  And I hear on the grapevine that there may be an event at Topping's in Bath the day before, so do keep an eye on this page.  On 21 June, Lawton will be at Crime in the Court at Goldsboro Books (ticket link).  (More on that specific event later.)  I will update with news of any further events when received.

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Frestival 2011

The programme for 2011 was announced at last week's launch party and you can download it from their site, or here.  [Download 2011-TOPCWF-Programme]

For more on the party and the programme, including pics, see the blog of Keith B Walters here.  Keith is one of two 'official bloggers' this year, organised by The Culture Vulture site in association with the festival.  You can also keep up with Keith's commentary on twitter @keithbwalters.