The miniature book museum in the old city part of Baku in Azerbaijan includes amongst the titles on display two tiny (less than two inches tall) editions of Agatha Christie, translated into Russian. For those of you unfamiliar with the cyrillic script, both bear the title Two Stories. Unfortunately, as the display is behind glass, I was unable to check which two stories were included and whether the two volumes contained the same pair of stories or different ones.

Simon Brett and Len Tyler have suggested the following pre-conference reading for their talk on The Changing Image of the Golden Age. Some of these are articles and not a book so a careful internet search may prove fruitful in locating copies (possibly, though by no means caertainly, for free).

The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

Murder for Pleasure by Howard Haycraft

Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James

Bloody Murder by Julian Symons

Snobbery with Violence by Colin Watson

Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? by Edmund Wilson

The Baffle Book by Lassiter Wren and Randle McKay

Dr Jennifer Palmer has suggested the following books as preparatory reading for her session at this year’s conference. Jennifer says that although some of the books are more obscure and difficult to obtain than others, she also refers to a number of books which are readily available in paperback or ebook form, including one title from the British Library Crime Classics series.

The Widening Stain by Morris Bishop

Dewey Death by Charity Blackstock

Death Walks in Marble Halls by Lawrence G. Blochman

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

Murder in a Library by Charles J. Dutton

Dewey Decimated by Charles A. Goodwin

Murder in the Stacks by Marion Boyd Havighurst

Operation Pax  by Michael Innes

Landscape with Dead Dons by Robert Robinson

Murder in the Museum by John Rowland

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

As we move into the final weeks before the conference, here are three more titles to add to your Suggested Reading to help you make the most of your day:

Come Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan
An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
Beware of Johnny Washington by Francis Durbridge

The first two titles by Christie are non-fiction. The name under which she published Come Tell Me How You Live may give you a clue that it focuses on her times spent on digs in the Middle East with her archaeologist husband Sir Max Mallowan though there is little doubt that her experiences lend not only local colour but also verisimilitude to her fiction excursions in the area.

The Francis Durbrdge title, originally from 1951 but recently republished, is a reworking of the first Paul Temple radio serial Send For Paul Temple that features alternative characters including the eponymous Johnny Washington.

Martin Edwards will be speaking at the conference on the works of Richard Hull. To get you in the right frame of mind for this you might want to check out the following books:

The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull
Blood on the Tracks by Martin Edwards
Bats in the Belfry by E. C. R. Lorac

I might add that I am currently reading Murder Isn’t Easy by Richard Hull, which has a similar tone to The Murder of My Aunt. It also promises to be every bit as good as, and as convention-upsetting, as that novel.

Tony Medawar, who will be speaking on the life and works of Christianna Brand, has suggested the following of her books as preparatory reading for his session at the conference:

Green for Danger 
Cat and Mouse 
The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from Inspector Cockrill’s Casebook

Once again we invite you to prepare for the conference by reading books suggested by the speakers that will help you to get the most out of your day.

We start with three books by Michael Innes, suggested by Jake Kerridge who will be talking about Innes and his creation, the detective John Appleby.

Death at the President’s Lodging

Hamlet, Revenge!

Appleby’s End

We are delighted to announce that Stephen Durbridge, son of Francis Durbridge, author of the Paul Temple radio and TV serials and the novels based on them, will appear at this year’s conference to join the discussion on his father’s works. Stephen will give unique insights into his father’s working practices from the inside – the family perspective.

I have just been to see a play, written by Chris Jaeger, and staged by Worcester Repertory Company at the intimate Kings Theatre in Cheddar, about Agatha Christie. It is a one woman show, with Liz Grand in the role of Agatha and, I have to say, she inhabits the part perfectly. Whether it is Agatha or not is another matter, but she comes on stage, middle-aged and matronly, about to go to the opening night of The Mousetrap and engages with the audience in a one sided dialogue – the sort of cozy intimate chat she might have had with a close friend of many years minus the responses – that is both revealing, letting you into her secrets, and yet artfully concealing of her true feelings.

The subtitle of the play gives a broad hint as to the direction this chat takes – “The Mystery of Agatha Christie’s Eleven Lost Days”. Of course, in a lifetime of writing books and accompanying her second husband on his archaeological digs, the events of the breakdown of her first marriage are the only truly dramatic interlude so it is perhaps inevitable that this should be the focus of the playwright’s attention. Without giving too much away – heaven forbid that there should be spoilers – but Jaeger follows the theory put forward by Jared Cade in his book on the subject. It is one of several possible explanations of varying plausibility. As a solution to the mystery, it lacks the certainty of a Poirot denouement exposing the truth in the final scene, but it provides a very human and sympathetic interpretation which, at this distance in time, is perhaps all that a modern theatre-going audience can reasonably expect.