Christmas Crime in Cambridge by Mike Ripley

(L to R - L C Tyler, Ayo Onatade & Richard Reynolds)

Last night’s “Christmas Chrime” party at Heffers majestic bookshop in Cambridge – a festive celebration of crime fiction complete with mince pies and mulled wine – had added value this year as it also saw the official launch of the new anthology called, very appropriately, Bodies in the Bookshop, from Ostara Publishing.

Devised by Heffers’ crime fiction supremo Richard Reynolds and edited jointly by the Detection Club’s Len Tyler and Shots’ very own Ayo Onatade, the Bodies anthology celebrates the famous ‘Bodies in the Bookshop’ parties held at Heffers for twenty years with twenty stories of murder, mayhem and a surprising number of rather lethal bookshops!

Among the distinguished – positively star-studded – cast of contributors are: Andrew Taylor, Peter Lovesey, Simon Brett, Stella Duffy, Christopher Fowler and Ann Cleeves and at the launch itself a goodly number of contributing authors were on hand to sign copies, including Cambridge’s own Alison Bruce and Michele Spring, Suzette A. Hill and Ruth Dudley Edwards.

Nicola Upson, Mandy Morton & Richard Reynolds

All those assembled used the launch party to join in a toast in honour of the late P. D. James, following a heartfelt tribute from crime-writer Nicola Upson who described Phyllis James as ‘a friend of crime writing and a friend of Heffers’ to whom everyone in the room – readers and writers – owed a significant debt'.

Pix show:

L C Tyler, Ayo and Richard Reynolds

Nicola Upson, who paid tribute to the late P D James, and RR.

Bodies in the Bookshop - July 2012

Every year readers and fans of crime fiction look forward to Bodies in the Bookshop the annual event that takes place in Heffers Bookshop Cambridge.  It is an event that has been taking place for over 20 years now and is organised by the terrific Richard Reynolds and his colleagues.  Over the years, the event has expanded as more fans of crime and mystery fiction have learnt about this brilliant event.  It has grown so big that the event now spills out on to the sidewalk of the shop.

This year Bodies, as it is fondly known as is due to take place on Saturday 14 July 2012. However, and much to my delight instead of it taking place in the evening for a couple of hours, it will be a whole day events kicking off at 10:00.  Furthermore, Heffers will be moving to the distinguished surroundings of the Cambridge Union.  But don’t worry as they will be bringing their brilliant bookshop along with them.

This year Bodies is also having a different slant to it.  There will still be a wide range and large number of crime writers in attendance but there will also be some themed panels as well.

The panels and the participants are as follows –

•   Crime Through Time I

•   Jane Finnis (Ancient Rome)

•   Ruth Downie (Ancient Rome)

•   Rory Clements (Tudor)

•   Ros Barber (Marlowe papers)

•   Crime Trough Time II

•   Chris Nickson - 1730s Leeds

•   Robin Blake - 1740s Preston

•   Peter Moore - True Crime (mysterious murders in 1800s)

•   Comic Cuts

•   Len Tyler

•   Suzette Hill

•   Traditional Mysteries - Poison in the Parish

•   Ann Purser

•   Veronica Heley

•   Rebecca Tope

•   Jayne Marie Barker - 1930s

•   Scene of the Crime

•   Jim Kelly - Norfolk, Ely

•   Alison Bruce - Cambridge

•   Death in a Cold Climate - what to read after Steig Larsson

•   Barry Forshaw

•   Quentin Bates

•   International Intrigue

•   Roger Morris - 19th century / 1914 spies

•   Edward Wilson - Spies - cold war - 1950s

•   Adrian Magson - 1940s series, 1960s - spies/ France

•   Experts in Murder

•   Nicola Upson - 1940s

•   Catriona McPherson - 1920s Scotland

•   Sally Spedding - 1940s rural Wales

The programme of the panels are as below.

Time	Panel
10am	Crime Through Time I
11am	Experts in Murder
12 noon	Poison in the Parish
1pm	Break for Lunch
1.30pm	Crime Through Time II
2.30pm	Scene of the Crime
3.30pm	International Intrigue
4.30pm	Comic Cuts
5.30pm	Death in a Cold Climate
6.30pm	Drinks

More information can be found on the Bodies in the Bookshop blog and also have a look at their Facebook page.

Tickets for the whole day are £10 for adults and £7 for concessions. Available in Heffers, by calling 01223 463 200 or by emailing events.tst@heffers.co.uk.

  

Bodies in the Bookshop is always such good fun and this year with the addition of panels then it is bound to be a brilliant event! 

Bodies in the Bookshop Pictures, Cambridge 2010

The evening of Thursday 15 July was the date for the 2010 Bodies in the Bookshop organised by the brilliant Richard Reynolds at Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge. As can be expected there were a large number of authors who spent their time talking to readers/fans and signing books. Here are some of the pictures from the event!



Alison Bruce
and
Patrick Lennon

Barbara Cleverly














Ann Featherstone
and Elliot Hall













JT Ellison

Leigh Russell and

SJ Bolton

Laurie R King and

Michelle Spring

R N Morris

LC Tyler and

Jim Kelly

Sara Townsend,

Mike Stotter (Shots Editor)

and Kirstie Long

"Michael Gregorio "

Sheila Quigley

Stav Sherez & Tom Bale

Zoe Sharp and

Tom Cain

Imogen Robertson

Adrian Magson and

Tom Bale

Emily Winslow and

Mike Ripley

Ali "Snapper" Karim

Christine Poulson

Judith and

Barry Forshaw

Ayo Onatade

and

Leigh Russell

(with Adam Creed)

Alison Bruce and a fan!

Heffers Bookstore in Cambridge Announce launch parties

Dates for your diary - Launch parties at 6.30pm:

July 9th: Emily Winslow’s debut Cambridge-set mystery features American students Polly and Liv who both fall for the same charming graduate student. Then he disappears. Told through five narrators whose personal obsessions limit what each of them sees, The Whole World is the story of the desperation and malice that take them by surprise while they're all looking elsewhere.

July 12th: Nicola Upson’s Two For Sorrow is the third book in the Josephine Tey & Archie Penrose series after An Expert in Murder and An Angel with Two Faces. In London, 1903, two women are hanged in Holloway Prison for killing babies. More than thirty years later, their crimes resurface with shocking consequences… When Josephine Tey sets out to write a novel about Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the notorious Finchley baby farmers, she can have little idea that the research for her book will be needed to help solve a modern-day killing.

July 14th: In Alison Bruce's second book of the Cambridge-set DC Gary Goodhew series after Cambridge Blue, all it takes is one small item on the regional news for Kimberly Guyver and Rachel Golinski to know that their checkered past is catching up with them. Within hours, Rachel's home is burning and Kimberly's young son Riley is missing.

Lunchtime Signings – 1.00pm

July 23rd: Jeffery Deaver will be signing copies of the latest Lincoln Rhyme, The Burning Wire.

July 6th: Peter Robinson will be signing copies of the latest Alan Banks, Bad Boy.

Tickets are FREE and available from the cash desk at

Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge (01223-568568) or by contacting Richard Reynolds on 01223 568532 or by email at literature@heffers.co.uk.

July 15th: Bodies in the Bookshop at 6.00pm: 20th Anniversary

Join us for a glass of wine and make murder your business at our annual crime fiction extravaganza for an evening free from speeches and readings – a great chance to meet both debut and established crime writers including:

The line-up so far: Don Bartlett (Translator of novels by the Norwegian authors K. O. Dahl, Jo Nesbo, Pernille Rygg and Gunnar Staalesen), A. L. Berridge, Richard Blake, Alison Bruce, Armand Cabasson, Charlie Charters, Mary Andrea Clarke, Rory Clements, Barbara Cleverly, Adam Creed, John Curran, Ruth Downie, Ruth Dudley Edwards, JT Ellison, Ann Featherstone, Jason Goodwin, Dolores Gordon-Smith, Eliza Graham, Michael Gregorio, Lucretia Grindle, Elliott Hall, Sophie Hannah, Veronica Heley, Suzette Hill, Matt Hilton, Lis Howell, Seth Hunter, Rebecca Jenkins, Erin Kelly, Jim Kelly, Laurie R. King, Patrick Lennon, Adrian Magson, Rose Melikan, R. N . Morris, Janet Neel, Chris Nickson, Gerard O'Donovan, Christine Poulson, Ann Purser, Philip Purser, Sheila Quigley, Mike Ripley, Imogen Robertson, Leigh Russell, William Ryan, E. V. Seymour, Lynn Shepherd, Stav Sherez, Harry Sidebottom, Roz Southey, Lyndon Stacey, L. C. Tyler, Nicola Upson, Andrew Williams, Emily Winslow and many more

Check out the photos from 2005

Bodies in the Bookshop

This year's annual Bodies in the Bookshop event is due to take place on Tuesday 21 July 2009 from 6:00pm.

Bodies in the Bookshop is to be held at Heffers in Cambridge as usual. The line-up so far: Alison Bruce, Judith Cutler, Ariana Franklin, Meg Gardiner, Edward Marston, Rose Melikan, Malcolm Pryce, L C Tyler, Nicola Upson, Paul Waters and many more. Tickets, costing £5.00, will be available from May 1st and can be obtained from the Ground Floor Cash Desk (01223-568568) or by contacting Richard Reynolds on 01223-568532 or by email at literature at heffers.co.uk.