First organised in June 2008, CrimeFest is a convention for people who like to read an occasional crime novel as well as for die-hard fanatics. It has not only become one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, but is also one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar. The annual convention draws top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers, agents and reviewers from around the world and gives delegates the opportunity to celebrate the genre in the friendly and informal atmosphere of the grand Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel.
Held over four days (14-17 May), the eighth annual international crime fiction convention featured some forty author panels with more than a hundred participating authors – including guest authors Maj Sjöwall, Lee Child, Sophie Hannah and Mathew Prichard – a crime-writing workshop, and a pitch-an-agent strand. Attendees included our very own Mystery Press authors Linda Stratmann (author of the Frances Doughty mystery series) and Janet Laurence (former CWA Chair and author of the Ursula Grandison mysteries), speaking together in a morning panel on ‘The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Writing Historical Crime’ alongside Piu Eatwell, L.C. Tyler and Rhys Bowen.
The panel naturally concentrated on the authors’ obsessive checking of facts and details to obtain historical accuracy (to avoid future complaints from eagle-eyed readers), as it is all too easy for mistakes to slip in. Rhys said, ‘You can get anything wrong in your books apart from guns and trains!’ And all the panellists agreed on the importance of a series editor, to ensure that plotlines remain tight, as well as having someone to discuss characterisation, consistency and future titles with.
Linda later gave in insightful talk on ‘Where I Get My Ideas From’ and Matilda was delighted to hear that one of her suggestions is now part of the next plotline in Linda’s thrilling Lady Detective series (sorry – no spoilers!). She is fortunate enough to never suffer from writers block, and enjoys spending time in archives, being immersed in the Victorian era.
John Bayliss, Alan Carter, Leigh Russell and M.P. Wright delivered an informative panel entitled ‘Crafting Crime: The Art of Writing Crime Fiction’, while Nev Fountain, Peter Guttridge, Antonia Hodgson, Simon Toyne and Barry Forshaw discussed sex in crime fiction in an innuendo-fuelled and standing-room-only panel, ‘Strange Bedfellows’, in the afternoon.
2015 highlights included the Gala Awards Dinner, the famous CrimeFest Pub Quiz (with crime writer and critic Peter Guttridge as quiz inquisitor), the eDunnit, Goldsboro Last Laugh and Sounds of Crime Award presentations, and an interview with the 2015 Diamond Dagger Award-winner recipient Catherine Aird. Friday was Crime Writing Day, designed to help aspiring crime authors to write a manuscript, find an agent and, hopefully, get published, while the Saturday saw Sophie Hannah in discussion with Mathew Prichard on ‘125 Years of Agatha Christie’.
We were thrilled to mingle in the hotel’s elegant foyer with some of today’s most prestigious and successful crime authors (including Frances Brody speaking on ‘The Chief Constable Who Became Director-General of MI5’, and Manda Scott discussing Cyber Crime), and we highly recommend the convention to all fans of crime writing, be it noir, cosy mysteries, thrillers, true crime or, of course, historical crime fiction.
With so many panels and spotlight talks to choose from and a fine selection of titles available to buy from Goldsboro Books we found that the day flew by, and all too soon it was time to leave with our goody bags and newly purchased T-shirts, but not before a meeting with Martin Edwards, editor of the new CWA anthology Truly Criminal, coffee with lovely literary agent Jane Conway-Gordon, and lunch with the delightful Kim Fleet, author of the Cheltenham-based time-slip novel Paternoster, having persuaded them all to send us more super submissions!
Linda Stratmann described the convention as a saucepan of bubbling soup – nourishing – and she was right. We look forward to CrimeFest 2016: where the pen is bloodier than the sword!
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