Archive: 2022 Newsletters

[See Updates under PAST CRIMEFEST WEBSITES for older newsletters.]

Tuesday, 3 May.

Hi all,

Yes, it’s NEXT WEEK! CRIMEFEST is back, and whatever the weather, it promises to be one of the hottest events on the literary calendar.

FOMO? It’s not too late to still register for CRIMEFEST (although like a good thriller novel, time is ticking!) and, if you do so by tomorrow, there are even one or two tickets left for the Gala Awards Dinner.

So, read on…

In this newsletter:

– CRIMEFEST TICKETS
– THALIA PROCTOR
– BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA AWARD
– THE MO SIEWCHARRAN PRIZE

CRIMEFEST TICKETS
Do we really need to persuade you? Okay, okay – here goes:

Close to 150 participating authors over some 50 events, two receptions and two quizzes (with prizes to be won)! There will be books, old friends, new friends, chit-chat, entertainment, inspiration, laughter…! In short, all the things we desperately need after a long two years away!

What more do you need to know? The itinerary is up on the PROGRAMME page, and the lovely Lizzie Sirett of Mystery People has been highlighting the panels on Promoting Crime Fiction.

And then there is the delegate bag for all those who have registered for the full pass: it will contain a book or two, a 50-page programme and, possibly, some other treats. For those attending the closing event – Maxim Jakubowski’s Criminal Mastermind Quiz – there is the scintillating chance of winning a pair of passes (and gala dinner tickets) to CRIMEFEST 2023.

Discounted tickets are still available for some too, so, before that clock ticks down to deadline, buy your TICKETS now!

THALIA PROCTOR
Many of you will already know of the sad news of the passing of another CRIMEFEST team member. The lovely Thalia Proctor died at the beginning of April. She was involved with crime fiction for most of her life – reading it from a young age; working at Murder One, Crime in Store, and Goldsboro Books before moving on to work at several publishing houses. She built firm friendships throughout the global crime fiction community, and she was like family to the Mullers. An Americanophile, her visits with them included many a 4th of July and Thanksgiving celebrations. Her stays would be accompanied by watching favourite crime dramas. Travelling to conventions and festivals around the world, she attended most CRIMEFESTs, and was one of our main proof-readers of the programme book and nearly all newsletters. (Any mistakes were not hers.) Those who knew her will miss her – and her own particular vocabulary – greatly. As organisers of CRIMEFEST, we wanted to do something in her honour. Therefore, we are immensely grateful to her family for allowing us to name our new prize the Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama. The inaugural award will be presented at the upcoming Gala Awards Dinner.

BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA AWARD
At CRIMEFEST, we know how TV can bring people together, just as much as books can. For many, it has been a lifeline during lockdowns (if not throughout our lives!). TV can also introduce viewers to books and authors. So, we want to celebrate that.

This award is for the best television crime drama based on a book, and first screened in the UK in 2021.

The nominees for the first Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama are:
– Agatha Raisin (season 4), based on the books by M.C. Beaton. Produced by Free@Last TV. Shown on Sky.
– Alex Rider (season 2), based on the book by Anthony Horowitz. Produced by Eleventh Hour Films in association with Sony Pictures Television. Shown on Amazon Prime.
– Dalgliesh, based on the books by P.D. James. Produced by New Pictures. Shown on Channel 5.
– Grantchester (season 6), based on the books by James Runcie. Produced by Kudos. Shown on ITV.
– Shetland (season 6), based on the books by Ann Cleeves. Produced by Silverprint Pictures, part of ITV Studios. Shown on BBC1.
– Stieg Larsson’s Millennium, based on the books by Stieg Larsson. Produced by Yellow Bird. Shown on BBC4.
– The Flight Attendant, based on the book by Chris Bohjalian. Produced by Berlanti Productions and Yes, Norman Productions. Shown on Sky.
– Vera (season 11 – episodes 1&2/3&4), based on the books by Ann Cleeves. Produced by ITV Studios. Shown on ITV.

Eligible titles were collated from the Radio Times, and CRIMEFEST newsletter readers established the shortlist and the winning title.

The winning author and production company each receive a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

THE MO SIEWCHARRAN PRIZE
And finally, publisher Quercus Books are hosting the Mo Siewcharran Prize. The initiative, named in memory of Nielsen Books’ former director of marketing and communications, aims to nurture talent from under-represented backgrounds writing in English. This year the organisers are looking for fiction writing in the crime and thriller genre specifically. The deadline for submissions is 31 May. For more information visit the Mo Siewcharran Prize website.

That’s it for now. We’ll be in touch to announce this year’s winners in ten days or so (or visit the AWARDS page on 15 May).

Be well and, if you are attending CRIMEFEST, travel safely, and we look forward to giving you a warm welcome!

Cheers,

Donna Moore and Adrian Muller,
CRIMEFEST co-hosts.

P.S. If you’re coming next week and are on social media, why not post your pics and tag @CrimeFest #CrimeFest2022

 

17 March 2022

Hi all,

With less than two months to go, the excitement here at CRIMEFEST headquarters is rising as the convention’s May return draws near.

We have lots of news, so here is what is in this newsletter:

– CRIMEFEST PROGRAMME REVEALED
– CRIMEFEST AWARD SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED
– CRIMEFEST DISTRIBUTES £5k WORTH OF BOOKS TO SCHOOLS
– NEW CRIMEFEST AWARD (WIN A CRIMEFEST 2023 PASS)
– CRIMEFEST BURSARY FOR CRIME AUTHOR OF COLOUR
– CWA DIAMOND DAGGER RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED
– CONGRATULATIONS TO MYSTERY PEOPLE
– TV CRIME DRAMA NEWS (WIN THE BAY S3 BOXSET)

CRIMEFEST PROGRAMME REVEALED
Donna Moore, CRIMEFEST’s programmer and co-host, has done it again! Just short of 150 authors, and she has woven her usual magic to tailor 44 panels, and three interviews over a criminally-good filled four days. As always, there is something for everyone. From cosy to (too much?) violence; police procedurals to amateur sleuths.

True to CRIMEFEST’s American convention roots, with daily multiple strands, there are going to be times where it will be hard to choose which panel to go to. Some of the most popular panels return, such as a ‘Fresh Blood’ debut author panel and ‘Authors Remembered’. What’s more, after a standing-room-only event a few years ago, Steve Cavanagh returns to put on trial a true crime highlighted in a Netflix documentary. Joined by Imran Mahmood (acting as the prosecutor), overseeing The Staircase case is the one and only Ayo Onatade. (Order! Order in the court room!) And the jury? The attending CRIMEFEST delegates.

This year’s interviewees are our Featured Guests Ann Cleeves, Andrew Child (in his first UK appearance) and Gala Dinner Toastrix, Zoë Sharp. With the pandemic prohibiting past Diamond Dagger winners from attending, it means we’re treated to a double bill, with recipients Martin Edwards and Robert Goddard being interviewed together. We even have our first Ghost of Honour: Dick Francis. First scheduled for his centenary in 2020, we welcome continuation author Felix Francis to talk about his father with Andrew Hewson, Dick’s agent for many years. Participating interviewer is long-time friend and colleague, Simon Brett.

There are so many more panels we can talk about, but why not just look at the itinerary! It is up on the CRIMEFEST PROGRAMME page.

And once you have checked that out, don’t resist the temptation to buy TICKETS to attend. (Please note that the CRIMEFEST pass goes up to its full price on 1 April.)

We can’t wait to welcome you in May!

CRIMEFEST AWARD SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED
Another returning highlight is  the CRIMEFEST Awards, which will be announced at the Gala Awards Dinner (TICKETS available). We are indebted to our headline sponsor Specsavers, who also provide the £1,000 prize for best crime novel by a debut author; and Audible who sponsor the £1,000 prize for the winners of the award for best unabridged crime audio book. All winners receive a Bristol Blue Glass award.

The shortlists are:

Specsavers Crime Fiction Debut Award nominees:
– Abigail Dean for Girl A (HarperCollins)
– Janice Hallett for The Appeal (Viper)
– Saima Mir for The Khan (Point Blank)
– Rahul Raina for How to Kidnap the Rich (Abacus)
– Lara Thompson for One Night, New York (Virago)
– David Heska Wanbli Weiden for Winter Counts (Simon & Schuster)

Audible Sounds of Crime Award nominees:
– Lee and Andrew Child for Better Off Dead, reader Jeff Harding (Penguin Random House Audio)
– Abigail Dean for Girl A, reader Holliday Grainger (HarperFiction)
– Paula Hawkins for Slow Fire Burning, reader Rosamund Pike (Penguin Random House Audio)
– Lisa Jewell for The Night She Disappeared, reader Joanna Froggatt (Penguin Random House Audio)
– Liane Moriarty  for Apples Never Fall, reader Caroline Lee (Penguin Random House Audio)
– Richard Osman for The Man Who Died Twice, reader Lesley Manville (Penguin Random House Audio)
– K.L. Slater for The Marriage, reader Lucy Price-Lewis (Audible Studios / Bookouture)
– Karin Slaughter for False Witness, reader Kathleen Early (HarperCollins)

eDunnit Award nominees:
– Megan Abbott for The Turnout (Virago)
– Gianrico Carofiglio for The Measure of Time (Bitter Lemon Press)
– Michael Connelly for The Dark Hours (Orion Fiction)
– Abigail Dean for Girl A (HarperCollins)
– Cath Staincliffe for Running Out of Road (Constable)
– Andrew Taylor for The Royal Secret (HarperCollins)

H.R.F. Keating Award nominees:
– Lucy Andrews & Samuel Saunders (editors) for The Detective’s Companion in Crime Fiction: A Study in Sidekicks (Palgrave Macmillan)
– Richard Bradford for Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith (Bloomsbury Caravel)
– James Fleming for Bond Behind the Iron Curtain (The Book Collector)
– Patricia Highsmith (edited by Anna von Planta) for Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
– Carla Valentine for Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie (Little, Brown Book Group)
– Stephen James Walker for Hank Janson Under Cover (Telos Publishing Ltd)

Last Laugh Award nominees:
– Simon Brett for An Untidy Death (Severn House)
– Andrea Camilleri for Riccardino (Mantle)
– Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May: London Bridge is Falling Down (Doubleday)
– Janice Hallett for The Appeal (Viper)
– Mick Herron for Slough House (Baskerville)
– Antti Tuomainen for The Rabbit Factor (Orenda Books)

Nominees for the CRIMEFEST Award for Best Crime Novel for Children (ages 8-12):
– Frank Cottrell-Boyce for Noah’s Gold (Macmillan Children’s Books)
– Maz Evans for Vi Spy: Licence to Chill (Chicken House)
– Anthony Horowitz for Nightshade (Walker Books)
– Anthony Kessel for The Five Clues (Crown House Publishing)
– Jennifer Killick for Crater Lake Evolution (Firefly Press)
– M.G. Leonard for Twitch (Walker Books)
– Alexandra Page (illustrator: Penny Neville-Lee) for Wishyouwas (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc)
– Ella Risbridger for The Secret Detectives (Nosy Crow)

Nominees for the CRIMEFEST Award for Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (ages 12-16):
– Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé for Ace of Spades (Usborne Publishing)
– Angeline Boulley for Firekeeper’s Daughter (Rock the Boat)
– Andreina Cordani for The Girl Who… (Atom)
– William Hussey for The Outrage (Usborne Publishing)
– Holly Jackson for As Good As Dead (Electric Monkey)
– Patrice Lawrence for Splinters of Sunshine (Hodder Children’s Books)
– Jonathan Stroud for The Outlaws of Scarlett & Browne (Walker Books)
– C.L. Taylor for The Island (HQ)

Congratulations to all the nominees!

CRIMEFEST DISTRIBUTES £5k WORTH OF BOOKS TO SCHOOLS
Following on from the latter two awards, CRIMEFEST is giving away more than £5k worth of books. Shortlisted titles from its award categories for Best Crime Novel for Children (aged 8-12) and Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (aged 12-16) were donated by participating publishers and, with the help of Bristol independent bookshop Max Minerva’s Marvellous Books, will be distributed to inner city schools across Bristol.

Plans are also afoot for CRIMEFEST and Max Minerva to host a series of school events in May, featuring four shortlisted authors from the awards. This initiative is supported with funds from headline sponsor Specsavers.

NEW CRIMEFEST AWARD (WIN A CRIMEFEST 2023 PASS)
It is not just books that helped us through the pandemic. How many of us binged on crime drama in our jimjams in front of the telly! So, to highlight some of the programmes that entertained us, CRIMEFEST is inaugurating its award for Best TV Crime Drama.

Eligible are crime dramas based on a book, shown on British television for the first time in 2021. (Excluded are spinoff shows such as Endeavour, etc.) The winners receive a Bristol Blue Glass Award, which goes to both the author of the book behind the TV adaptation, and the production company of the drama. However, you can win too, because the general public are invited to vote and, in doing so, are able to enter a draw for a 2023 CRIMEFEST Pass. A second prize will be a selection of DVD crime dramas. To make it easy, we have scoured the Radio Times to come up with a list of eligible titles. All you need to do is go to the CRIMEFEST TV Crime Drama voting page and select up to three of your favourite 2021 views. The deadline to do so is – no joke – 1 April.

CRIMEFEST BURSARY FOR CRIME AUTHOR OF COLOUR
You may recall that CRIMEFEST announced a bursary for a crime author of colour in a past newsletter. From all the entries we came up with a shortlist of four nominees: Elizabeth Chakrabarty, Saima Mir, Amita Murray and Stella Oni.

The bursary includes a weekend pass to CRIMEFEST in May, a night’s accommodation at the convention hotel, and a guaranteed panel appearance. The winning entry was chosen by CRIMEFEST organisers and judges Vaseem Khan and critic Ayo Onatade, and went to (drumroll): …Saima Mir. However, so impressed were the judges by the other nominees that they were offered a complimentary pass. And we are pleased to say that all accepted. We look forward to welcoming them to the convention in May. For press coverage visit our In the Media page.)

CWA DIAMOND DAGGER RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED
It is a tradition that CRIMEFEST invites the recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association’s prestigious Diamond Dagger, awarded for a lifetime contribution to crime writing in the English language. Unfortunately, due to poor health, this year’s winner, C.J. Sansom, will be unable to attend. Of course, as huge fans of his historical crime novels featuring sixteenth-century lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake (as well as two standalones), we congratulate him and wish him well.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MYSTERY PEOPLE
Also, congratulations to Mystery People on their ten-year anniversary, and its driving force – Lizzie Hayes. Tirelessly promoting crime fiction, Lizzie publishes a regular newsletter and updates the website on an almost daily basis. For more info visit mysterypeople.co.uk

TV CRIME DRAMA NEWS (WIN THE BAY S3 BOXSET)
And here is news on some possible candidates for next year’s CRIMEFEST TV Crime Drama Award!

Formerly Endeavour
With Endeavour (UK DVD) away from our screens, is anyone missing co-star Roger Allam? If so, you’ll be glad to hear he will be featuring in Murder in Provence, a new crime series on Britbox. Based on the Verlaque and Bonnet Mystery series by M.L. Longworth; the books have been adapted by Downton Abbey writer Shelagh Stephenson. Playing Bonnet opposite Allam’s Verlauque is Nancy Carroll. For more – and a trailer – visit Hello magazine’s website.

Stark Warning
What do Lee Marvin, Robert Duvall, Mel Gibson and Jason Statham all have in common? They have all played Richard Stark’s Parker (the pseudonym for Donald E. Westlake). Apparently, Robert Downey Jr is about to rocket in to take on the part next. Uproxx has more info.

Edgar Allan Poe comes to Netflix
No, not in a new adaptation of his work, but as a character in Louis Bayard’s Gothic Thriller The Pale Blue Eye. Harry ‘Dudley Dursley’ Melling features as Poe and his role in a series of murders that took place at Military Academy, West Point, in 1830. With an impressive cast including Christian Bale, Gillian Anderson, Robert Duvall, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Timothy Spall and many more, it is something to look forward to. Deadline has the details.

Massacring Marple?
Are you one of those who thinks Miss Marple has been massacred in portrayals over the years? If Margaret Rutherford was to Marple as Peter Ustinov was to Poirot (fun, but …), then the actors who perfected those portrayals surely were Joan Hickson (UK / US) and David Suchet (UK / US). Now, Jane is about to be brought back not so much as a ‘Ms’, but as a sprightly 60-ish sleuth. Apparently, the previous recent incarnations were considered too old by Big Little Lies (UK / US) producer Bruna Papandrea. The latter is working on a new series with Agatha Christie Ltd. Does the phrase, “inspired by Christie’s 12 Miss Marple books and 20 short stories” inspire hope for something better? For more: Variety.

In closing, you can enter a draw to win crime drama that you will be able to watch a lot sooner. Courtesy of ITV and DnA PR, you have the chance to win a boxset of series 3 of The Bay (UK DVD). Send an email with 3TB in the subject line, and your postal address in the body of the message to competition@crimefest.com by 1 April.

Happy viewing and reading until we meet in person soon.

Be well and stay safe!

Cheers,

Adrian & Donna,
CRIMEFEST organisers.

 

20 December 2021

Hi all,

Welcome to our festive newsletter.

Still looking for stocking fillers? It’s no mystery most readers of our newsletter would love to unwrap a crime novel. Our trusted friends and reviewers have hand-picked their top reads for Christmas. Read on to find out their picks…

But what to do if you want to go that extra mile to blow Santa’s socks off? Well, there can be no better gift to a loved one (or yourself) than a TICKET to next year’s CRIMEFEST of course!

In this newsletter:
– ANDREW CHILD HEADLINES
– CRIMEFEST BURSARY FOR CRIME AUTHOR OF COLOUR
– CRIMEFEST AWARDS
– RECOMMENDED CHRISTMAS READS
– HEATHER CRESSY
– CRIME DRAMA COMING YOUR WAY

ANDREW CHILD HEADLINES
Pack your disposable toothbrush and heat up the coffee…We are incredibly excited to welcome Andrew Child for his first English appearance at CRIMEFEST.

An author in his own right as Andrew Grant, the younger brother of Lee has been hugely successful as the continuation author of the Jack Reacher novels. With the latest book, Better Off Dead (another) number one, and the Amazon series due February, this will be a hot ticket!

CRIMEFEST BURSARY FOR CRIME AUTHOR OF COLOUR
As one of the most inclusive crime writing conventions around, CRIMEFEST is offering a bursary for a crime fiction writer of colour to attend next May’s convention.

The bursary will cover the cost of a full Weekend Pass and a night’s accommodation at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, and a guaranteed panel appearance.

Eligible authors must have published at least one English language book in traditional print by a British commercial publisher.

Donna Moore, Co-host of CRIMEFEST, said: “At CRIMEFEST, we pride ourselves as being one of the most democratic events in our genre. As a convention, published authors don’t have to be invited to take part – there are no gatekeepers or committees dictating who is in and who isn’t. As such, CRIMEFEST is a really exciting event for the genre and a natural hotbed for diverse talent. We’re aware however that more needs to be done to ensure festivals and conventions actively support writers of colour.”

One applicant for the bursary will be chosen by the CRIMEFEST organisers in collaboration with author Vaseem Khan and Ayo Onatade. Vaseem is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India: the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. Ayo Onatade works with Justices at the Supreme Court, and is a well-known blogger and CWA Red Herring award-winning freelance crime fiction critic.

The deadline to apply is 30 January 2022. Go to www.crimefest.com/bursary for more details and how to apply.

CRIMEFEST AWARDS
Tis that time of year where CRIMEFEST has invited UK publishers to submit eligible entries for its seven award categories. Authors, if you had a title out this year, see if you have been entered on the ENTRIES page. If not, then the deadlines have been extended until 21 January, 2022 so that you can get your publisher to do so. There is no cost to publishers to enter titles, though six copies of crime books for children and young adults are required as part of the submission process. These are donated to inner city schools in Bristol.

The categories are:
– Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award
for best 2021 crime novel by a previously unpublished author

– Audible Sounds of Crime Award
for best 2021 unabridged crime audiobook

– eDunnit Award
for best 2021 crime ebook

– The H.R.F. Keating Award
for best 2021 biography or critical book related to crime fiction

– Last Laugh Award
for best 2021 humorous crime novel

– Best Crime Novel for Children
for best 2021 crime novel for children, ages 8-12

– Best Crime Novel for Young Adults
for best 2021 crime novel for young adults, ages 12-16

The winners will be announced at the CRIMEFEST Gala Awards Dinner. TICKETS now available. Please note that prices go up in January!

RECOMMENDED CHRISTMAS READS
The annual tradition of asking reviewers of crime fiction for their picks of the best books of 2021 continues. We hope it gives you some ideas for what to buy your nearest and dearest (or yourself).

Barry Forshaw
New: True Crime Story by Joseph Knox
Proving that much-acclaimed first novels (such as Joseph Knox’s Sirens) can be followed up with equally impressive successors, this fourth novel from the quirkily talented Knox is a provocative mix of real and fictional crime in which the author himself investigates the disappearance of a student named Zoë. But is she a real or fictional character? With a fascinatingly fragmentary narrative style (interspersing interviews with people somehow involved in Zoë’s disappearance), this is something new in the overcrowded crime genre.

Classic: The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald
One of Macdonald’s most popular novels, this is a quintessential outing for his private eye Lew Archer, with an ambitiously large dramatis personae, all impeccably characterised. Archer is hired to look into the possible kidnapping of millionaire Ralph Sampson, and at the same time a great many people are going to a great deal of trouble to get their hands on a hundred grand in small notes. Archer finds himself running up against Elaine Sampson, Ralph’s disenchanted wife, ex-DA Albert Graves (not a man noted for philanthropy), and the violent chorus boy Dwight Troy. All of this is vintage Macdonald and one of the best post-Chandler private eye novels, with a palpable sense of evil.

Barry Forshaw, an expert on crime fiction, writes for the Financial Times and the i. Books include Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide, the Keating Award-winning Brit Noir (plus Nordic, American, Euro & Historical Noir) & British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia (also a Keating winner). He provides booklet essays for Blu-rays & edits Crime Time.

Maxim Jakubowski
New: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
Knowing other end of year polls to which my fellow critics have contributed to, I guess I won’t be the only one strongly recommending Shawn Cosby’s second crime novel, but it deserves all the plaudits it is getting. A savage vengeance tale set in an American rural wilderness full of intolerance, prejudice and warped family ties, it is a brutal but fast-moving read which rapidly carves its way into your gut. Truly memorable and sees Cosby as a modern heir of Jim Thompson with a difference and utterly contemporary even if the setting he sets on fire throughout is timeless.

Classic: Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich
I’ve spent much time this year re-reading Woolrich as I have been editing a tribute anthology to his work, which will appear in 2022 as Black is the Night, and the impact of his tales of noir despair, forlorn bars, femmes fatales and everymen fighting a losing battle against fate or the clock never falters. What to chose? I love his ‘Black’ novels, I love the William Irish race-against-time novels but at the end of the day I opted for Waltz Into Darkness for its over the top romanticism, a story of female betrayal and male insecurity that still has the power to tug the strings of my heart.

Maxim Jakubowski is the former owner of the Murder One bookshop. A past Guardian and Time Out columnist, he writes and edits fiction and non-fiction and also reviews for Crime Time. His most recent novels are The Louisiana Republic and The Piper’s Dance. His anthology of CWA Short Story Dagger winners, Daggers Drawn appeared in 2021. He is an Executive Producer for the upcoming FX/Disney TV series based on the Derek Raymond Factory series, featuring Tom Hardy. He is the currently Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association.

Jake Kerridge
New: The Oxford Brotherhood by Guillermo Martínez
Martínez’s brainy-but-breathless thrillers always seem to me to be the books that Dan Brown is trying to write but never quite manages. Involving a long-lost secret about Lewis Carroll coming to light, this is a fine follow-up to The Oxford Murders.

Classic: The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips
Newly reissued as part of Bernardine Evaristo’s Black Britain: Writing Back series, this 1997 thriller begins with an academic stealing a Benin mask from a museum to highlight the issue of colonialist appropriation of art and artefacts, and soon becomes a riot of double-crossing and violence.

Jake Kerridge is the crime fiction reviewer for the Telegraph.

Donna Moore
New: The Shadow Friend by Alex North
Utterly compelling, dark, twisty and fiendish, The Shadow Friend tells the story of Paul, returning to the town where he grew up because his mother has had an accident and is now in a hospice. It’s not a happy place for Paul, following the death of one of his childhood friends, and he hasn’t been back for 25 years. The timeline alternates between now and then and Paul’s first person narration is interspersed with the third person narration of Detective Amanda Beck who’s investigating the present day death of a boy in a nearby town. Brilliant stuff – a complex and multi-layered look at relationships, grief, reality, memory, the impossibility of escaping the shadows of the past and how they impact on the present. Loved it.

Classic: Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Cornell Woolrich (originally published under the pseudonym George Hopley)
Detective Tom Shawn follows a trail of money on the ground one night, at the end of which is a woman who is about to take her own life. The detective saves her and listens to her unlikely story – a man who can apparently see the future has made predictions which have come true and has now foreseen the death of her father in a very strange manner at a specific date and time. A deliciously noir tale full of tension and infused throughout with a sense of dread and doom. Despite some unlikely coincidences this is the stuff nightmares are made of.

Donna Moore is a reader/reviewer, a writer, and CRIMEFEST’s co-host and programmer.

Mike Ripley
New: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
A powerful, finely-honed piece of American noir from a genuinely exciting new voice. A tough, uncompromising but very human tale as two unlikely vigilantes team up to get justice for their murdered sons.

Classic: A Perfect Spy by John Le Carré
A year after the author’s death might be a good excuse to catch up or re-read what I consider to be his best novel from 1986. Unsparingly autobiographical and poignant, a moving tale of a lonely spy prepared to betray everything except his friend. Perfect.

Mike Ripley has won awards both for his ‘Angel’ comedy crime series and for his non-fiction history of British thrillers Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He is the continuation author of mysteries featuring Margery Allingham’s Golden Age sleuth, Albert Campion. The ninth, Mr Campion’s Wings, was published in October. Mike writes a monthly column for the eZine Shots.

Karen Robinson
New: Welcome to Cooper by Tariq Ashkanani
DC Detective Thomas Levine has dirty hands and a dirty soul – but you can’t help rooting for this damaged individual, exiled to a down-at-heel Nebraska backwater town with some nasty secrets. Levine finds himself seriously compromised as he investigates the murder of a young woman – will he be brave enough to do the right thing? A brilliant debut that expresses its debt to the dirty noir tradition with some zinging hard-boiled prose.

Classic: Hyde by Craig Russell
It’s the versatile and talented Russell’s latest book, but he’s gone back to one of the classic stories to give us his spin on Jekyll and Hyde, leaning strongly into the gothic. When Captain Edward Hyde takes it upon himself to investigate a series of murders in the city, the evocation of Victorian Edinburgh, up and down the social scale, is as accomplished as you’d expect from Russell, whose post-war Glasgow in the Lennox novels is one of crime fiction’s defining settings. Eerie, chilling and shiveringly hallucinatory.

Karen Robinson is a writer and critic. She is on the panel for the 2022 Creasey Dagger award for debut crime novels.

HEATHER CRESSY
Some very sad news: Heather Cressy, room monitor and time keeper extraordinaire at every CRIMEFEST, died unexpectedly earlier this month. Heather was a great supporter of the convention, happily chatted to any delegate, and was a close family friend of the Muller family. She will be much missed.

CRIME DRAMA COMING YOUR WAY
Following in the footsteps of actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum and more, Liam Neeson will star as Raymond Chandler’s classic PI Philip Marlowe in an adaptation of Benjamin Black’s (aka John Banville) continuation novel The Black-Eyed Blonde. Website Collider has more.

How many of you are old enough to remember Jim Hutton (UK) as Ellery Queen, breaking the fourth wall, and asking you if you know who the murderer is? Well, apparently the sleuth, created by Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, will be undergoing a gender swap in a new adaptation for the small screen. Variety reveals more.

Anybody familiar with Israeli crime writer D.A. Mishani’s international bestselling Avraham Avraham crime novels will be interested to know that The Missing File is being adapted for television by David E. Kelley, the producer with the golden touch. Deadline will give you details.

And talking about producers with a golden touch, John Wells of ER fame has optioned the rights to Swedish author Tove Alsterdal’s three-book crime series The High Coast for series adaptation. The first novel, We Know You Remember, was published in Sweden in 2020 and won the Best Crime Novel of the Year Award as well as The Glass Key Award. Faber and Faber publish in the UK in February. It’s another Deadline story.

Forty-plus years on from Agatha (with Vanessa Redgrave as the Queen of Crime), plans are afoot for another imagining of what may have happened when Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days. The Christie Affair is based on the forthcoming Mantle novel by Nina de Gramont. Visit Slash Film for details.

And, finally, Harlan Coben fans are probably already aware of this, but Netflix is filming a slew of his books, with their mini-series filmed in different international locations with local actors from that country. On 31 December comes Stay Close with Cash Jumbo and many other familiar British faces. Visit IMDb for more info on other adaptations.

We hope we’ve given you plenty of ideas of what to read and watch. Books are a great way to escape and connect with our fellow human beings – so you know you are never alone in our CRIMEFEST community.

That’s it for now. We hope you and yours enjoy the Festive Season, and we can’t wait to see you all in a hopefully happy 2022!

Be well and stay safe!

Cheers,

Adrian & Donna,
CRIMEFEST organisers.

 

20 October 2021

Hi all,

We hope this finds you well!

In this newsletter:

– TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
– IS YOUR NAME ON THE DELEGATE LIST?
– ANN CLEEVES STARS
– OTHER CRIMEFEST 2022 NEWS
– WHERE TO STAY
– CRIMEFEST FAMILY UPDATE
– THE LIKELY SUSPECTS – AND OTHER CRIME FICTION NEWS
– CRIMINALLY GOOD DRAMA

TICKETS FOR CRIMEFEST 2022 NOW ON SALE
Like all good crime dramas, we’ve built (and built) the suspense. Take a deep breath. We are, at long last, delighted to announce that TICKETS for CRIMEFEST 2022 are now on sale.

Yes, Britain’s friendliest and most inclusive crime fiction convention returns, and we’re still offering more authors for your buck. But do hurry to get the Early Bird rate of £145. Tickets go up to £165 on 1 November!

Thanks to the Covid vaccines’ increased protection, we are actively planning next year’s convention (12-15 May) as a LIVE one – no Zooming or streaming!

AUTHORS, PLEASE NOTE: Many of your colleagues either donated their fee (and received priority booking), or transferred their registration to 2022. As a result, many of the panel slots have already been filled. Newly registered authors will be offered a slot on a waiting list and offered panels on a first-come-first-served basis (subject to topic suitability).

We can’t wait to see all of you in person again – authors, readers and the in-betweeners!

CHECK YOUR NAME IS ON THE DELEGATE LIST
Unsure if you transferred your registration, or donated it and need to register for 2022? No problem, just check your registration status on the DELEGATE page on the CRIMEFEST website.

Those of you who donated your 2019 registration fee and would like to register for next year will see that, as a thank you, you are eligible for a discount.

ANN CLEEVES STARS
We are delighted that firm CRIMEFEST favourite Ann Cleeves is one of the confirmed 2022 Featured Guests.

She’s the visionary behind Vera and Shetland, both adapted of course into smash-hit TV series, with fans worldwide. (Series six of Shetland returns on 19 October.)

What’s more, Ann continues to conquer the airwaves with a new ITV arrival – the dramatisation of The Long Call, the first in her Two Rivers series, featuring Detective Inspector Matthew Venn.

Filmed in part on location in our very own Bristol, the first episode airs on 25 October. We can’t wait to hear first-hand all her TV news, as well as the latest on her upcoming books. Ann is also of course an inspiring champion of readers and libraries alike.

Watch this space for more Featured Guests to be announced!

OTHER CRIMEFEST 2022 NEWS
In other 2022 news, some panels scheduled for 2020 were too good to miss, so will return.

We’re delighted CRIMEFEST friend Zoë Sharp has agreed to resume the Toastrix role next May. Possibly one of the busiest crime writers around (with the obvious exception of James Patterson), Zoë now has an additional two series on the go in addition to her popular Charlie Fox books. There’s lots to catch up on.

You can also expect those missed Diamond Dagger recipient interviews with Martin Edwards and Robert Goddard.

In addition to the ever-popular Authors Remembered panel, Dick Francis was going to be CRIMEFEST’s first Ghost of Honour. Celebrating his career, we have invited Felix Francis back, together with Dick’s editor, and friend Simon Brett.

Another missed celebration was the 75^th birthday of that crime fiction modern Renaissance Man, Maxim Jakubowski. We have invited the author, bookseller, editor, publisher and current chair of the Crime Writers’ Association back to curate his own panel. (Subject to confirmation.)

Talking of the Crime Writers’ Association, they will return once more to announce their Dagger Awards shortlists at the Friday night reception.

The full programme is due to be announced in the spring. In the meantime, the list of PARTICIPATING AUTHORS might offer a few tantalising clues of what panel topics to expect. Take a peek.

WHERE TO STAY
CRIMEFEST returns to the four-star Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel. Only registered delegates will receive the convention discount code, which will be sent out later this year/ early next. For those looking to add balance to their party vibe, please note that the Grand no longer offers a swimming pool facility, but it does still have a gym.

The WHERE TO STAY page lists budget hotels delegates may wish to consider.

(Those delegates penalised for cancelling their 2019 hotel rooms – or UK flights – due to Covid, please note that the Competitions and Markets Authority ruled this was illegal. Full refunds or rebooking should have been offered where applicable.)

CRIMEFEST FAMILY UPDATE
Since it has been a while, a brief CRIMEFEST family update.

But, first of all, we couldn’t be prouder of co-host Donna Moore who has become a Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Writing. Not only that, but she passed her viva with no corrections, which is almost unheard of! Congratulations, Donna!

Donna
Donna is still providing literacy and numeracy support to marginalised and vulnerable women. She is glad to have completed her PhD and eagerly awaiting taking a flight where someone asks: “Is there a doctor on the plane?” The best bit, though, is that she finally gets to read for fun again, rather than endless academic articles and can now dump Foucault for fiction. [Don’t worry if you didn’t get that. Adrian had to look up Foucault as well.]

Books: a re-read of her Cornell Woolrich collection.
TV: Maid (“Brilliant”), and has just started Squid Game (“Yikes!”)

Fiona and Heather
Fiona, Chief Delegate Bag Filler
Fiona’s days seem to pass in a blur of looking after children and grandchildren (both planned and emergency). So, working part-time three days a week is useful because she at least gets a rest at the office. Other than that, she remains well and enjoys the occasional break away from home.

Books: Just finished Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and currently on Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson.
TV: Binged on the entire Line of Duty series. [UK / US]

Heather, Full-time Timekeeper
Heather remains cheerful, pottering along, and continues to read books and her email.

Book: Matchup, a short story collection edited by Lee Child
TV: re-watching the odd Monk [UK / US] episode when visiting the Mullers.

Gianna and Jenny, Registration Desk Team
Last time we heard from Gianna she had just started her new job with the admin HR at the University of Hertfordshire. A year in and she is enjoying it but found working at home a bit hard. Fortunately, she started going into the office last month and finally met her team in person for the first time!

Book: Robert Thorogood’s A Meditation On Murder.
TV: Annika (which has “the amazing Nicola Walker” in it.) [Coming to the US on PBS Masterpiece Theatre soon.]

Jenny continues to work from home but did go into the office recently, finding “it was great to have the in-person contact,” but felt a bit strange to be back. She has had a sewing room built in her garden, and can now move the mass sewing/cross stitch/tapestry paraphernalia out there.

Books: The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig, Red Notice by Bill Browder, the Accidental Alchemist Mystery series by Gigi Pandian
TV: Line of Duty (“Obviously”) [UK / US], Baptiste [UK / US], Mare of Easttown, The Flight Attendant.

Book: Jacqueline Bublitz’s Before You Knew My Name
TV: She recently binge-watched Schmigadoon (but refuses to put the exclamation mark on it!). Also Taskmaster.

The Mullers
Jen alternates working on her PhD in Archaeology with her part-time archaeological job. Gabe and Eleanor are back to school, and both still stream television programmes in their spare time. Eleanor is also reading lots, with Gabe continuing to play computer games. After watching TV and reading stacks, Adrian is gearing up for next year’s CRIMEFEST.

Eleanor’s book: Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles
Eleanor’s TV: Wandavision, and binge-watched Killing Eve, series 1 through 3. [UK / US]

Gabe’s Book: Treasure Hunters by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
Gabe’s TV: rewatching Monk [UK / US]

Adrian’s books: Binged on five biographies all written by A. Scott Berg, and also (finally) read Adam Sisman’s excellent John le Carré: The Biography