Recommendations from Jake Kerridge and Moira Redmond (requested by many attendees at this year’s conference):

Taking Detective Stories Seriously – the collected crime reviews of Dorothy L. Sayers with an introduction by Martin Edwards

Murder for Pleasure – the life and times of the Detective Story by Howard Haycraft

Snobbery with Violence – English crime stories and their audience by Colin Watson

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

Guilty but Insane – Mind and Law in Golden Age Detective Fiction by Samantha Walton

Deadlier than the Male by Jessica Mann

The Hooded Gunman – an illustrated history of the Collins Crime Club by John Curran

Talking about Detective Fiction by P. D. James

Murder Ink – the mystery reader’s companion by Dilys Winn

Murderess Ink – the better half of the mystery by Dilys Winn

A Catalogue of Crime by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor

Bloody Murder – from the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History by Julian Symons

The Bedside Companion to Crime by H. R. F. Keating

The Puritan Pleasures of the Detective Story  – from Sherlock Holmes to Van der Valk by Erik Routley

Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? by Pierre Bayard

The novels of Gilbert Adair

A Talent To Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie by Robert Barnard

To mark 150 years of the Metropolitan Police Crime Museum (sometimes referred to as Scotland Yard’s “Black Museum”), it is opening its doors for a limited period to members of the public to view items from its collection of artifacts relating to crimes the force has investigated. Museum curator, Dr Clare Smith, says “The exhibits relate to cases that inspired or are referenced by Golden Age writers such as the Emily Kaye and Patrick Mahon case mentioned by Dorothy L Sayers and The Brides in the Bath and Crippen cases referenced by Agatha Christie.” Normally members of the public are not permitted to view the collection, which is primarily a resource for the police for training and historical record-keeping purposes, so this is an opportunity not to be missed for anyone interested in the overlap between true crime and detective fiction, especially of the Golden Age.

Tickets are free of charge but must be reserved in advance through the Museum’s website: https://police-museum-tour.eventbrite.co.uk/

We are delighted to announce that three of the leading UK-based bloggers on Golden Age Detective Fiction will be appearing together to discuss The Pleasures and The Pitfalls of GA Blogging at this year’s Bodies From The Library conference. Ronaldo Fagarazzi, Kate Jackson and Moira Redmond will be revealing their secrets (where do they get all their ideas for what to write about is my big question) and giving us a glimpse into their approach to keeping us hooked.

This session replaces the planned talk by Carla Valentine which, unfortunately, has had to be cancelled due to the pressure of her other work commitments.

We are very sorry to have to announce a change in the programme for this year’s conference due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control. Unfortunately Jim Noy is no longer going to be available to discuss inverted mysteries as advertised in the original programme. 

However, we are delighted that the wonderful L C Tyler has very kindly agreed to step in to fill the vacant slot with what looks to be an intriguing talk in prospect, entitled: “More Baffling than Any Detective Story” – John Dickson Carr and the Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey. 

We are delighted to welcome two first time speakers to this year’s Bodies From The Library Conference: Victoria Dowd and Carla Valentine.

Victoria Dowd is the award-winning author of the Smart Woman’s Mystery series and has been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger. Her novel, The Smart Woman’s Guide to Murder, won The People’s Book Prize for fiction and was In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel’s Book of the Year. Her novel Murder Most Cold won the Grand Puzzly award. Victoria was also awarded the Gothic Fiction prize for her short fiction. Her historical crime novel, Death in the Aviary, will be published in September 2025, and is the first book in her new series, The Blood Chronicles. Victoria is head of the London Crime Writers’ Association and was a criminal defence barrister for many years on the London circuit appearing at the Old Bailey.

You can buy your copy of Victoria’s Smart Woman’s Guide to Murder here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087C12B9L?geniuslink=true

Carla Valentine is a Senior Anatomical Pathology Technician and curator of Barts Pathology Museum in London. She is also the author of The Chick and the Dead: Life and Death Behind Mortuary Doors and her newest book Past Mortems: Life and Death Behind Mortuary Doors topped the Amazon best-sellers list.

Her book ‘Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie’ was nominated for the HRF Keating Award for non-fiction in 2021, and was a Barnes & Noble ‘Monthly Pick’ in the USA (as The Science of Murder). Her podcast Mortem is currently on BBC sounds, and her forthcoming books include Planted Evidence: Gardens and Graves in Golden Era Detective Fiction.

You can get your copy of Carla’s Murder Isn’t Easy here:

https://www.carlavalentine.co.uk/books

We are delighted to announce the Programme for our Tenth Anniversary Conference has been finalised and speakers confirmed.

The full programme is available via the following link:

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased through the website.

Delegates at the recent Bodies From The Library Conference at the British Library may recall the debate which took place on the merits, or lack of them, of the husband and wife writers G.D.H. and M. Cole. In the interests of balance, and of identifying which of their books to seek out and which to avoid, I have sought the views of people who know their works better than I do.

Barry Pike suggests the following titles as worth investigating:

Death of a Millionaire
The Blatchington Tangle (which has a 4* rating on Amazon from 31 reviews – so it is arguably a reasonably reliable guide to opinions)
Death of A Star
The Brothers Sackville
Burglars in Bucks (also, and confusingly for those who know their English counties, published as The Berkshire Mystery)
The Murder at Crome House (which has only two reviews on Amazon, a 3* and a 4*)

Barry suggests that you avoid the following:

Big Business Murder
Dr Tancred Begins
Murder at the Munition Works

BUT…Martin Edwards in his book The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, says that Dr Tancred Begins is, with Last Will and Testament, an “interesting experiment” and the pair of books rate a 5* and a 3* review on Amazon respectively (though there is only one review of each so these must be taken with caution).

Martin does include a G. D. H. and M. Cole book in his list of 100 books, End of An Ancient Mariner, which he says is “good enough to make it a pity that the Coles did not devote more time and effort to developing the inverted form of detective novel.”

And finally, Barry flags The Missing Aunt as “very entertaining”.

So if you are interested in following up this controversy and forming your own opinion (provided you have deep pockets as some of these out of print volumes come with eye-watering prices for those of us used to picking up our classic crime reading from the shelves of second hand book shops) you are now in a position to do so with a little guidance to steer you towards the best of their output and away from their less successful outings.

Josephine Bell: Death at Half-Term

Anthony Berkeley: Murder in the Basement

Nicholas Blake: A Question of Proof

Anthony Boucher: The Case Of The Seven of Calvary

Dorothy Bowers: Fear for Miss Betony

Leo Bruce: Case with Ropes and Rings

Miles Burton: Murder in the Coal Hole

G.D.H. and Margaret Cole: Scandal at School; Off with Her Head; Knife in the Dark

Edmund Crispin: Love Lies Bleeding; The Case Of The Gilded Fly

Glyn Daniel: The Cambridge Murders

Helen Eustis: The Horizontal Man

Timothy Fuller: Harvard Has a Homicide

James Hilton (Glen Trevor): Was It Murder? /Murder at School

Michael Innes: Death at the President’s Lodging

Lange Lewis: Murder Among Friends; Juliet Dies Twice

E.C.R. Lorac: A Pall for a Painter

Ngaio Marsh: Artists in Crime

John Cecil Masterman: An Oxford Tragedy

Helen McCloy: The Man in the Moonlight

Gladys Mitchell: Tom Brown’s Body; Laurels Are Poison; Death at the Opera

Dermot Morrah: The Mummy Case Mystery

Clifford Orr: The Dartmouth Murders

Stuart Palmer: Murder on the Blackboard

Q. Patrick/ Quentin: Murder at School; Death and the Maiden; The Cambridge Murders

Rupert Penny: Sweet Poison

R. Philmore: Short List; Procession of Two

Milton M. Propper: The Student Fraternity Murder

Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night

L. A. G. Strong: Othello’s Occupation

F.J. Whaley: Reduction of Staff

Ethal Line White: The Third Eye

Victor L. Whitechurch: Murder at the College

R.C. Woodthorpe: The Public School Murder

We are very pleased to announce that delegates to the Bodies From The Library conference will have the opportunity to buy copies of the next two British Library Crime Classics novels before they go on sale to the general public. The British Library will have copies of Lessons in Crime – an anthology of short stories set in academia and Tour de Force by Christianna Brand for sale at their pop up shop at the conference.

Series editor Martin Edwards will be speaking at the conference and, if you ask nicely, may be persuaded to sign your copies.

We are extremely grateful to HarperCollins for generously sponsoring a wine reception to close this year’s conference at the British Library. We look forward to relaxing together with delegates before we all head home after what we hope will have been another enjoyable and interesting day. The reception will take place immediately after the closing panel session “Ask The Experts”.