Best Fictional Detective Balloon Debate

Saturday 22nd June 2013, 6pm – 8pm

Blackwells Charing Cross Road will be hosting what promises to be a lively balloon debate to figure out who is the best fictional detective.

They will be joined by Nicola Upson, author of a brilliant series of crime novels featuring Josephine Tey (starting with An Expert in Murder), who will argue that Tey’s own creation, Alan Grant, should win the title.  Inspector Alan Grant starred in 5 of Tey’s detective books, the most famous of which was The Daughter of Time where he solves the murder of the Princes in the Tower from his bed while recovering from a broken leg.

Sara Sheridan will be arguing on behalf of Precious Ramotswe, star of Alexander McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.  Having written 2 crime novels starring ex-World War 2 spy Mirabelle Bevan (Brighton Belle and London Calling), Sheridan is well placed to argue for the excellence of another female detective.

Barry Forshaw, an expert on crime fiction and author of British Crime Film and Nordic Noir, will argue that Sherlock Holmes is the greatest of the great detectives.  With his cerebral skill and ability to physically transform himself, as well as come back to the dead, will Holmes be declared the winner?

The final member of the panel will be Emelyne Godfrey who has written extensively on Masculinity and Femininity and Crime in Victorian London.  She will be arguing in favour of adventurous Judith Lee.  Lee was the female equivalent of Sherlock Holmes and starred in a series of books by Richard Marsh, who made her feisty, independent, and able to defend herself using martial arts.

Will it be a battle of the sexes and who will win?  You will decide!

Tickets are free, but please reserve a place for the event by emailing events.london@blackwell.co.uk.