We are delighted to confirm the date for next year’s Bodies From The Library conference at the British Library. The conference will be taking place on Saturday 16th June 2018.

At this stage we can’t reveal details of who will be speaking and what topics will be covered but we promise to bring you the very latest and best in discussion on Golden Age Detective Fiction.

Tickets are not yet on sale but watch this space for notice of Early Booking offers.

One of our popular speakers at the Bodies From The Library conferences, Dolores Gordon-Smith, has (temporarily) turned away from her crime series featuring Jack Haldean, to pen a First World War spy thriller. It may pre-date the Golden Age but we expect a cracking book nevertheless.

You can get your copy at:

Dolores Gordon-Smith spoke about Freeman Wills Crofts at the first Bodies From The Library conference in 2015. A live recording of her fascinating talk is (finally) available with her slides at:

Hopefully, there will be more recordings available shortly (depending on time, permissions etc.)

Ricardo Jasso Moedano of Mexico City argues that there is a connection between Anthony Trollope and Agatha Christie. He believes that Christie took inspiration for one of her plots from Trollope’s oft-quoted decision to kill off his character Mrs Proudie in the Last Chronicle of Barset, following a conversation he overheard at his club, which he describes in his Autobiography:

“It was with many misgivings that I killed my old friend Mrs. Proudie. I could not, I think, have done it, but for a resolution taken and declared under circumstances of great momentary pressure.

It was thus that it came about. I was sitting one morning at work upon the novel at the end of the long drawing-room of the Athenaeum Club, as was then my wont when I had slept the previous night in London. As I was there, two clergymen, each with a magazine in his hand, seated themselves, one on one side of the fire and one on the other, close to me. They soon began to abuse what they were reading, and each was reading some part of some novel of mine. The gravamen of their complaint lay in the fact that I reintroduced the same characters so often! `Here’, said one, `is that archdeacon whom we have had in every novel he has ever written.’ ‘And here’, said the other, `is the old duke whom he has talked about till everybody is tired of him. If I could not invent new characters, I would not write novels at all.’ Then one of them fell foul of Mrs. Proudie. It was impossible for me not to hear their words, and almost impossible to hear them and be quiet. I got up, and standing between them, I acknowledged myself to be the culprit. `As to Mrs. Proudie,’ I said, `I will go home and kill her before the week is over.’ And so I did. The two gentlemen were utterly confounded, and one of them begged me not to forget his frivolous observations.”

These circumstances are mirrored in Agatha Christie’s novel Taken at the Flood, written in 1948. Poirot overhears a conversation in which the wish that a woman were dead was expressed and, shortly afterwards, she is indeed murdered.

It is difficult to prove whether or not Christie was directly inspired by the events described by Trollope in his Autobiography. She might well have been aware of the anecdote and she was certainly very able at taking things she heard about and putting them to use in her plots.

I leave it to you to hear Ricardo’s arguments and see whether you find them persuasive. (You can switch on English subtitles to help follow Ricardo’s argument.)

We are busy with the last few tasks to stage this year’s conference which takes place on Saturday. If we had a spare moment we would probably devote it to wondering where all the time went!

To put you in the best possible frame of mind to attend the conference why not check out our video “trailer”.

We’re really looking forward to seeing you all on the day, catching up with old friends from previous years and meeting new friends attending their first “Bodies”.

See you there!

The Bodies From The Library team

Security:

We are all deeply saddened by the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. In order to protect visitors to the British Library where the conference is taking place, there will be additional security measures including bag-searches on entry. Please allow extra time on arrival to facilitate this. 

For those of you who wish to read up on the subjects of two more of our sessions at this year’s conference we suggest the following titles may provide an introduction to Edmund Crispin and Ronald Knox.

The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin
Holy Disorders by Edmund Crispin

The Viaduct Murder by Ronald Knox
The Body In The Silo by Ronald Knox
Double Cross Purposes by Ronald Knox
The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald Knox
Still Dead by Ronald Knox
Behind the Screen by  The Detective Club
The Floating Admiral by  The Detective Club
Six Against The Yard by  The Detective Club

Martin Edwards, in his capacity as Chair if the Crime Writers’ Association, introduced the long-lists of nominations for the CWA 2017 Dagger awards during the CWA reception at Crimefest in Bristol. The winner of the CWA Dagger in the Library award will be announced at the Bodies From The Library conference on June 17th. 

At Crimefest in Bristol and looking forward to tomorrow’s session on the Tom Adams covers for Agatha Christie’s novels. Our own John Curran has provided the text of the book which brings together in one place some of Tom’s most distinctive work. Tom and John will be interviewed by Jake Kerridge in what promises to be an illuminating session.

Professor Kirsten Saxton will be speaking about Lois Austen-Leigh’s The Incredible Crime at the Bodies From The Library conference. The novel is newly re-issued in the British Libraries Crime Classics series (published last week) and is Professor Saxton’s recommended pre-conference reading for attendees who wish to make the most of her session.

To buy your copy direct from the British Library’s online shop go to:

https://www.bl.uk/shop/the-incredible-crime/p-952

(P.S. when we last checked the website it had not been updated to reflect the book’s publication on 10th May but fear not – the site may talk about pre-ordering but it is actually published and on sale!)

We are delighted to confirm the final programme details for the 2017 conference.

10.00 Welcome
Martin Edwards – President of the Detection Club

10.10 The Continuing Popularity of The Golden Age
Martin Edwards, Len Tyler, Seona Ford and Jake Kerridge

10.50 Open Verdict: The life and work of Miles Burton/John Rhode
           Tony Medawar

11.20 Coffee Break

11.40 Lois Austen-Leigh’s The Incredible Crime
Professor Kirsten Saxton

12.10 Clues and Corpses
Dr John Curran

12.40 The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books
Martin Edwards

1.10 Lunch

2.10 Radio Play

2.40 Neglected Queens of Crime: Ethel Lina White and Elizabeth Daly
Christine Poulson and Sarah Ward (Moderator: Jake Kerridge)

3.20 Murder and Music in the life and work of Edmund Crispin
Dr David Whittle

3.50 Break

4.15 Ronald Knox: Father of the ‘Detective Decalogue’
Dolores Gordon-Smith 

4.45 Desert Island Golden Age book
The speakers

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The conference will be followed immediately by:

5.30 CWA Dagger In The Library Award

5.40 CWA Wine Reception – to which all conference attendees are invited.