Crimewave Heads to Bristol

 

A crimewave is headed to Bristol as CrimeFest sees more than 150 authors take part in the crime fiction convention this May.

CrimeFest, which is sponsored by Specsavers, has revealed its full line up for the four-day celebration of the UK’s most popular genre, hosted at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 May, 2023.

Alongside 2023 featured guests - stalwarts of the genre, Mark Billingham and Elly Griffiths – around 50 panels will explore everything from crime fiction set during World War Two, to the crime genre in the digital age.

Panellists include Andrew Child, co-author of the Jack Reacher novels, adapted as Reacher by Amazon Prime, author of the award-winning crime series set in India, Vaseem Khan, and Robert Thorogood, the creator behind the smash-hit BBC One series, Death in Paradise.

As Nielson book data report that sales of crime fiction in 2022 are up 19% pre-pandemic levels, one panel explores today’s ‘New Golden Age’ with the leading authority of the original Golden Age of crime fiction, Martin Edwards, alongside Janice Hallett, best known for her phenomenally successful debut, The Appeal. The panel is chaired by Agatha Christie’s publisher, David Brawn.

Nielson book data also reported an “increased appetite” in ‘cosy crime’ in 2022 book sales. The panel, ‘Keeping it Cosy’ features the former journalist turned mystery writer, Fiona Veitch Smith, and author of the Lady Hardcastle mysteries, T E Kinsey.

Marking the 70th anniversary of the publication of Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel, this year’s Ghost of Honour commemorates Ian Fleming. The panel includes the first female 007 author, Kim Sherwood. She will be joined by Corinne Turner, managing director of Ian Fleming Publications, with panel moderator, Simon Brett.

Also attending from Colorado is the winner of last year’s CrimeFest Specsavers Debut Crime Novel award with Winter Counts, David Heska Wanbli Weiden. The Professor of Native American Studies and Political Science at Metropolitan State University of Denver is an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota nation. He was named by the New York Times as one of “the most critically acclaimed young novelists working now.”

He will feature on a panel with the Icelandic novelist, playwright, and former wife of the Prime Minister of Iceland, Jónína Leósdóttir.

The former police detective turned author, Graham Bartlett appears on the panel, ‘Society: What Crime Fiction Says About Us’. Bartlett has advised some of the biggest names in crime fiction to inject reality into procedurals, and has now turned to crime fiction, with his debut, Bad for Good.

Panellists also include the son of Dick Francis, the crime writer Felix Francis, creator of the Cait Morgan Mysteries Cathy Ace, the international number one bestselling author, Liz Nugent, and Antony Johnston, the New York Times-bestselling creator of Atomic Blonde, the hit movie based on his graphic novel.

Bristol author The Sunday Times bestselling author, C. L. Taylor, who has sold nearly two million copies of her books in the UK alone, also features. As does the multi-million bestselling author Adele Parks, who will be discussing plot twists in ‘A Twist in the Tale’ with her fellow blockbusting author, Lisa Jewell, who has topped the New York Times and Sunday Times charts.

Author, playwright and TV and radio producer Simon Brett features on a panel ‘Partners in Crime’, chaired by Kate Ellis, best known for her series of detective novels which blend history and mystery.

Kia Abdullah, whose novel Take it Back was a Guardian and Telegraph thriller of the year will be on the panel, ‘Protagonists Under Pressure’ with the Scottish author, Caro Ramsay.

Leading minds from the genre include the Financial Times crime fiction reviewer and genre expert, Barry Forshaw, the chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and all-round publishing polymath, Maxim Jakubowski, alongside the President of the Detection Club - the novelist and leading authority on crime fiction, Martin Edwards.

Highlights include the annual Pub Quiz with the journalist and author Peter Guttridge as the Inquisitor; Peter is also the Toastmaster at the annual CrimeFest Awards.

Bristol-born Dame Mary Lesley Perkins DBE co-founded the optician chain and is an avid reader. Dame Mary will attend the CrimeFest gala dinner and awards presentation, which features the CrimeFest Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award. The annual CrimeFest awards are now in their 16th year and honour the best crime books released in 2022 in the UK.

Director and co-founder of CrimeFest, Adrian Muller, said: “The fact that sales of the genre continue to rise, and it now dominates our TV screens shows the remarkable appeal of crime fiction. The line-up this year illustrates the wealth and breadth of topics behind a genre that not only offers escapism and entertainment, but can also give insights and comment on pressing issues in society.”

Donna Moore, co-founder of CrimeFest, added: “CrimeFest is a chance for readers and authors to mingle in a friendly, accessible, and fun setting. We hope people will come along, and be inspired.”

Panel topics explore humour in crime fiction, serial killers, psychological thrillers, and the importance of settings. A Fresh Blood panel will also showcase debut authors.

For those who think it’s a crime to miss Eurovision, CrimeFest will also be screening the Eurovision Final Song Contest on Saturday 13 May in the convention hotel.

CrimeFest runs at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel from 11-14 May, 2023. For details and to book, go to: https://www.crimefest.com/

Solving Crime With Your Ex by Jónína Leósdóttir

Being an incurable Anglophile, I have long intended to have a British main character in one of my novels. I found the perfect opportunity to do exactly that when I was sketching the storyline of Deceit, my 6th book in the crime mystery genre. (Before I turned to crime, I had written 13 books in different genres, both fiction and non-fiction.)

In my first five crime novels, the protagonist was an amateur sleuth called Edda – a clever, energetic woman in her late sixties, recently retired after a successful career as a bookshop manager. A modern, Nordic character with an undeniable nod to Miss Marple. But when I started preparing a new series, I wanted to have two very different protagonists who complemented each other as a crime-solving team. 

First to take shape, was hard-working, Icelandic detective, Soffía – an independent, no-nonsense woman in her forties who lets nothing stand in her way. And who would be her complete opposite? An easy-going, polite and a bit old-school Englishman, of course. Thus, Adam the psychologist sprang to life. 

To have more fun, I decided to make Soffía and Adam a divorced former couple. Thus, they know each other extremely well, which is a bonus for people solving crimes together, but they are also fed up with each other, which inevitably creates tension. 

The couple had met when Soffía was a student in the UK and naturally, from her point of view, they moved to Iceland when she graduated. Adam simply had to adapt, learn Icelandic and forge a career in a foreign country. (It’s rather telling that his parents called their daughter-in-law The Bulldozer.)

They lived happily ever after … well, for about 15 years. By then they had a teenage daughter, Magga, that Adam couldn’t bear to be parted from by moving back to Britain. In other words, he moved to Iceland for Soffía but stayed for Magga. And, perhaps, for mystery woman, Jenny, too. Jenny, who? Now, that would be telling.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating Adam’s back-story, especially making him grow up in the lovely village of Wivenhoe in Essex, which I had got to know when I was a student at The University of Essex. Several years later, in the late eighties, when I was editor of a weekly newspaper in Iceland, I discovered by chance that the actor Joan Hickson lived in Wivenhoe. At that time, the Miss Marple series that Hickson starred in, was the most popular programme on Icelandic television. 

So, because of my love of Wivenhoe and Miss Marple, it became my mission to get an interview with the actor who portrayed Agatha Christie’s sleuth so charmingly and had the majority of the Icelandic population glued to their television sets once a week.

Although this was years before the birth of Google, I somehow managed to procure the name and phone number of Ms. Hickson’s agent. Perhaps, I have some of DI Soffía’s strong will and stubbornness. And I didn’t give up until the agent spoke to the actor who agreed to an interview over the phone. (Alas, my paper couldn’t afford to send me to Wivenhoe.)

This was an absolute “hold the front page” moment, a few hours before the paper went to print. I will never forget it: Joan Hickson was finally on the phone, I started my recording device and the interview took off. Half an hour later, I thanked Ms Hickson from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful chat, put the phone down and discovered that the recording had failed. I didn’t even have any notes, as I had trusted the equipment completely.

In my mind, it was out of the question to bother the agent and this kind, elderly lady in Wivenhoe again. But we had an empty front page. So, I put a “Do not enter!” sign on my office door and sat down to write all my questions and Hickson’s answers from memory – and, as everyone knows, blind panic is not particularly good for your memory. 

However, we ended up with a great front page and an exclusive interview with the most popular actor on Icelandic television at the time. Of course, I added a description of the village I missed from my university days and secretly envied Ms Hickson for living in. And now, decades later, I have included Wivenhoe in my crime series by making it Adam’s childhood home and the place where his parents still live.

Deceit by Jónína Leósdóttir Published by Corylus Books (Translated by Quentin Bates) Out now.

Reykjavík detective Soffía finds herself struggling to cope with a single-handed investigation into a spate of malicious acts taking place across the city, and enlists help from an unexpected direction. Her psychologist ex-husband Adam has advised the police before, but with Covid raging in the city, would prefer to stay holed up in his basement flat as he deals with challenges in both his working and private life. He grudgingly agrees to work with Soffía, as the stakes in the investigation are continually raised. Working out who bears a grudge that goes deep enough to lead to murder, they unravel complex family ties, lingering enmities and a dark past that the victims would prefer to keep secret, while Adam encounters a young woman in a race against the clock to find the father she has never seen, but for what purpose?