The Question of Genre - 23rd St Hilda's Mystery & Crime Weekend

The Question of Genre: What is Crime Fiction?

23^rd Mystery & Crime Weekend at St Hilda’s College Oxford

19^th – 21^st August 2016

Lee Child is the conference Guest of Honour

Natasha Cooper will be the chairing the conference

Friday 19^th August

6:45pm                     Reception

7:30pm                    The Conference Dinner

                                    Speaker: Ted Childs, the creator of ITV’s Inspector Morse

Saturday 20^th August

08:00 – 9:00                      Breakfast

09:15 -                      Welcome: Kate Charles

09:30 – 11:00am         Elly Griffiths

A Gimlet Hole bore in a Chair Leg: How Crowed Rooms Led to Murder

Jane Finnis

Once Upon a Crime

11:00 – 11:30              Coffee Break

11:40 - 12:40pm        Conference speech by Lee Child - Seven Million Years of  Thriller Fiction

12:50pm - 13:50pm   Lunch

2:00pm - 3:30pm       Martin Edwards 

                                  Trending: Why is Golden Age Fiction fashionable again?

                                  Carol Westron

                                  No Servants Need Apply

3:30pm - 4:00pm       Tea Break

4:10pm - 5:40pm      Andrew Taylor

                                      Pistols at Dawn: How Crime Fiction Waylaid the Historical Novel

                                      Shona Maclean

                        You Couldn't Make it Up: Rules and compromises in   Historical Crime                                      Fiction

5:45pm – 6:30pm Signing Session for all Authors

7:15pm                     Drinks followed by Conference dinner

                                    Speaker: Val McDermid

Sunday 21^st August

08:30 – 09:30       Breakfast

09:30 – 11:00        Kate Charles

                                 From Father Brown to Stanley Chambers: The Clerical Detectiv

                                Chris Ewan

                               What’s So Funny? Humour in Crime Fiction

11:00 -11:30        Coffee

11:30 – 1:00pm     Sarah Weinman

                                The Originator’s of Domestic Suspense

                                Marcia Talley

                               Murder Least Foul: Teapots and Crafts Shops and Cats. Oh My!

1:00pm                     Closing remarks

1:15pm                     Lunch

THE SINKING ADMIRAL Book Launch 15 June 2016

The Floating Admiral was the first of the Detection Club’s collaborative novels, and now, eighty-five years later, fourteen members of the club have once again joined forces to launch (hmm, pardon the pun) The Sinking Admiral.

‘The Admiral’ is a pub in the Suffolk seaside village of Crabwell, The Admiral Byng. ‘The Admiral’ is also the nickname of its landlord, Geoffrey Horatio Fitzsimmons, as well as the name of the landlord’s dinghy. None of them are as buoyant as they should be, for the pub is threatened with closure due to falling takings.

Tempers are already frayed due to the arrival of a television documentary team when Fitzsimmons is found dead in his tethered boat. The villagers assume a simple case of suicide and fear that their debt-ridden pub will now sink without trace. The journalists seem determined to finish the job by raking up old skeletons, but they weren’t banking on the fact that this story has been written by 14 extremely competitive crime writers – arch bamboozlers who will stop at nothing to save a good pub.

The Sinking Admiral, edited by the Detection Club’s outgoing President – author and broadcaster Simon Brett, OBE – continues a tradition established by the Detection Club’s founders in 1931 when Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Crofts and eleven other esteemed authors wrote The Floating Admiral, a ‘collaborative novel’ to challenge themselves, fox their readers and help to pay for the Club’s running costs. 14 of today’s leading crime writers have repeated this unique game of literary consequences, producing an original, ebullient and archetypal whodunit that will keep readers guessing right up to what crime lovers insist on calling the dénouement…

The contributors  are:
SIMON BRETT
KATE CHARLES
NATASHA COOPER
STELLA DUFFY
MARTIN EDWARDS
RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS
TIM HEALD
MICHAEL JECKS
JANET LAURENCE
PETER LOVESEY
MICHAEL RIDPATH
DAVID ROBERTS
L.C. TYLER
LAURA WILSON
all members of The Detection Club.

 

Collins Crime Club  Hbk £14.99 Purchase it here

 

 

Goldsboro Books played the genial host to the book’s launch. And here’s the photographic evidence, m’lud.

David Stuart Davies, Mike Jecks & Geoff (CADS) Bradley

Janet Laurence

Len Tyler, Michael Ridpath and Aline Templeton

"I've got all these to sign," says Martin Edwards

Old Chums - Geoff Bradley and Peter Lovesey

Harper Collins Editor

Just for a laugh - Geoff, Peter and Simon Brett



 

Love & Crime at St Hilda's -

Andrew Taylor - St Hilda's 2015

It is hard to believe that St Hilda's has been going strong for 22 years.  It is also hard to believe that it is again over for another year.  But this in fact the case.  This year St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Conference took place between 14th and 16th August.  The Conference was dedicated to the memory of P D James who was a staunch supporter of the Conference and who had attended on a number of occasions.  Anne Cleeves was the Conference Guest of Honour and Andrew Taylor was Chair.

The River Cherwell - St Hilda's 2015

For longstanding attendees the art to enjoying St Hilda's (or I should say my art to enjoying St Hilda's) is by turning up early enough to wander into town and have some lunch with friend's (trying hard to ensure that you sit by a window) and watch as other fellow attendees arrive in Oxford for St Hilda's and wave at each other frantically as they wander past!  For me my other enjoyment about St Hilda's is that I normally have  a pretty good idea where my room is going to be and I believe that I have only been wrong twice.  The first time being when I gave my first paper at St Hilda's and Eileen Roberts and Kate decided that as a speaker I should have an ensuite room.  Not that I minded have the ensuite room which was wonderful.  I just missed what I and a number of others who normally have rooms near to one another called "our corridor" . The second time this happened was last year when due to the fact that there were other students still in the halls I was put somewhere else.  My normal room is always in the main building in the South block.  The reason that I like being there is because I have a gorgeous view of the River Cherwell as I look out the window. What's not to like? 

St Hilda's actually starts when we all congregate @ 6:45pm for early evening drinks before dinner.  It is a chance to dress up, catch up and generally look forward to the conference.  This year the Conference dinner speaker was Simon Brett.  If you have ever heard Simon speak then you will understand that he can have you in fits of laughter in minutes.  However, as much as Simon made us laugh and smile he also shared with us all some of his treasured memories of P D James as well. It was a wonderful after dinner speech.  As per usual most of us made our way into the Senior Common Room or SCR as most of us know it by to relax, drink and talk before slowly meandering our way off to our various rooms. 

Ayo Onatade - St Hilda's 2015

St Hilda's always kicks off in earnest on the Saturday morning just after 9:00am after a welcome from Kate Charles.  This year I was giving a paper.  The title was Crimes of Passion: Detecting Couples - the Light and Dark Side of Love and Crime and my talk was partly on the different ways in which love has been used as a motive for murder and also the various detecting couples or sleuthing teams. I along with Alison Joseph were first up.  Alison's paper was on the romance of the lone detective.  The full title of the paper was Heavier than Broken Hearts: the Romance of the Lone Detective.

Natasha Cooper & Len Tyler (L-R) St Hilda's 2015

After a coffee break it was the turn of Natasha Cooper and Len Tyler.  Natasha Cooper talked about The Dark Side of Love using Scott Turow's first novel Presumed Innocent as a reference point. One of the points that she made was the fact that murder always had its roots in failed relationships. The title of Len Tyler's paper was Revenge: When it all Turns Sour and as an example of the ultimate revenge Len Tyler discussed the case of John Wayne Bobbitt and Lorena Bobbitt. 

After lunch, the next two papers were presented.  The title of the first paper was Reader, I Murdered Him  and was given by Ann Granger.  She spoke about how she became a crime writer after initially starting out as a romance writer.  She kept on putting murder etc in her romance novels and she kept on being asked to take them out.  She explained that she realised that she would prefer to write crime novels instead.  The second speaker was Nicola Upson and the title of her paper was Devices and Desires: The Tangent of Love in English Crime Fiction.  Of course the eagle-eyed amongst you will recognise the P D James connection.  Nicola Upson spoke not only about her friendship with PD James but also the encouragement that she received from her.  She also talked about deciding to use Josephine Tey as  a character and the doubts that she had about doing so. She explained that she received a lot of access to Tey's friends especially with the first book.    She believed that Tey would have hated to have anything written about her and that she would have not have liked the biography that has been done and is due out soon.  Ann Granger on being asked which author (if she were to make them a character) would she choose?   She said that she would choose Charles Dickens but that she would be frightened to use an author as a character and would not do so.

Alison Joseph indicated that she is writing a series of novels with Agatha Christie as a protagonist and wondered where one drew the line. The issue of the legal ramifications of using a real person were also mentioned.  Ann Granger pointed out that using a real person would hamper her.  It was however pointed out that one cannot slander the dead. Natasha Cooper pointed out that we all write novels that we think we completely understand. Te question was raised as to whether anybody could write a fictional book with PD James as a character?   Nicola Upson revealed that a character in her next book had been named after Pd James and that the character would (like PD James) be working in a theatre in Cambridge. One of the last points mentioned by Ann Granger was the fact that Georgette Heyer was not appreciated enough and it was thought that the reason for this is because she wrote too many books.

Val McDermid St Hilda's 2015

The last two speakers on Saturday were Frances Fyfield and Val McDermid.  The title of the paper being given by Frances Fyfield was The Usefulness of Hatred whilst Val McDermid's was Love: The Perfect Motive for Murder. in her she pointed out that 45% of women are killed by their partners. Questions are always asked after the papers are given or comments made. In answer to one of the questions, Frances pointed out that hatred in crime fiction is useful and that is was sometimes more useful than others. Val McDermid in response to a question was interested in knowing which was harder, to forgive the unrepentant or to hate the repentant? It was felt that hatred is a complete negative option.  Val McDermid pointed out that revenge can sometimes take things out of your system.

Always after the final two speakers on the Saturday afternoon then there is always time for attendees to get their books signed. This year as a result of the anthology that I did with Len Tyler which was published last year I found myself in the rather strange position of being asked to sign copies!

The after dinner speaker on Saturday was Canadian author Alan Bradley who is best known for his books featuring Flavia de Luce.  He gave a very humorous after dinner speech about book reviews and reviewing.

The common practice on Sunday morning is for there to be free time for punting, going to church, reading the newspaper, relaxing and so forth until mid-morning when the conference lecture is given.  Yes I did sneak off to relax and no I am not telling you were I snuck off to. 

This year the Conference Lecturer was given by Ann Cleeves who was the Guest of Honour.

Ann Cleeves - St Hilda's 2015

The title of her lecturer was Love in Amsterdam: Nicolas Freeling, Sex and Sentimentality.   Part of the title coming from Freeling's first novel in the Van de Valk series the 1962 book Love in Amsterdam which was also known as Death in Amsterdam. In her lecture Ann Cleeves pointed out that Nicolas Freeling and his protagonist Van de Valk predated the Martin Beck series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. She explained that he began writing after being sent to jail for three weeks and that it was Nicolas Freeling that triggered her love of translated crime.  However, when he killed off his protagonist unlike with Sherlock Holmes he refused to bring him back. After giving her lecture questions were asked and one of the questions that was asked by Andrew Taylor was whether or not she was tempted to set a novel further afield from the Shetlands?  In response, Ann explained that she did not like doing research unless she could do it somewhere like the South of France for three months tax free! Otherwise she preferred the North.  She went on to explain that she could not get into a book unless the atmosphere and tone was right. Also that very tiny details brought things to life, showing not telling. Ann also stated that a sense of voyeurism is what translated fiction was to her.  One of the best points that was made was when Ann made the point that she did not understand how one could be a writer if they did not use public transport.

It was also considered whether the war had been good for Nicolas Freeling's novels?  It was also pointed out that because crime fiction was now so broad that we could now go back and read the early work such as those from the "Golden Age" period.  Natasha Cooper said that she would rescue the early Gavin Lyall novels. 

Kate Charles - St Hilda's 2015

Unfortunately I did not catch the end of Ann Cleeves's lecture or the two that were given after lunch being Tom Harper whose paper was Love of Money: The Root of all Evil and Jo Hines whose paper was entitled Deadlier Than the Mother as I had to leave early for once..  

The dates for St Hilda's next year is from 19th August to 21st August 2016 and the theme is "The Question of Genre - What is Crime Fiction?".  The Conference speaker and Guest of Honour is Lee Child!  What a coup!!!.

Watch this space for more information about next year's Conference!

Ayo Onatade & Val McDermid - St Hilda's 2015

all pictures copyright Ayo Onatade @2015

'Love & Crime' at St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Weekend

The 22nd Mystery & Crime Weekend at 

St Hilda’s College, Oxford, 14th-16th August 2015

This year’s conference is dedicated to the 

memory of P.D. James

Ann Cleeves is our Conference Guest of Honour and

Andrew Taylor will be chairing the conference

Friday 14th August

6.45pm RECEPTION

7.30pm THE CONFERENCE DINNER

Speaker: Simon Brett

Saturday 15th August

8.00 - 9.00am BREAKFAST

9.10am Welcome: Kate Charles

9.20 – 10.50am 

Ayo Onatade

Crimes of Passion: Detecting Couples – the Light and Dark Side of Love & Crime

Alison Joseph

'Heavier than broken hearts': the romance of the lone detective

10.50 - 11.20am COFFEE BREAK

11.20 - 12.50pm 

Natasha Cooper

The Dark Side of Love

Len Tyler

Revenge: When it all turns sour

Saturday 16th August 

12.50 - 1.50pm LUNCH

2.00 - 3.30pm 

Ann Granger

Reader, I murdered him

Nicola Upson

Devices and Desires: the tangent of love in English crime fiction

3.30 – 4.00pm TEA BREAK

4.10 - 5.40pm 

Val McDermid

Love: the perfect motive for murder

Frances Fyfield

The Usefulness of Hatred

5.45 – 6.30pm SIGNING SESSION FOR ALL AUTHORS

7.15pm DRINKS: followed by the DINNER at 7.45pm

Speaker: Alan Bradley

Sunday 16th August

8.30 - 9.30am BREAKFAST

9.15 - 11.15am Free Time: Punting, Church, Bookstore, Walks, Relax!

11.20 - 11.50am COFFEE

11. 50 - 12.50pm Conference Lecture by our Guest of Honour: Ann Cleeves

Love in Amsterdam: Nicholas Freeling, Sex and Sentimentality

1.00 - 2.10pm LUNCH

2.15 – 3.45pm 

Tom Harper

Love of Money: The Root of all Evil

Jo Hines

Deadlier than the Mother?

3.45pm CLOSING REMARKS

4.00pm TEA

THE BOOKSTORE

The bookstore, provided by Blackwell’s, situated in the Foyer of the JdP Building, will be open continuously throughout the weekend. They aim to have as many of the speakers’ books as possible and of the other crime-writers attending the conference.