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”.

The programme for the conference has now been finalised and we are delighted to confirm the speakers and topics.

9:30 Doors Open and Registration

9:55 Welcome

10.00 Simon and Lucy Brett: Lord Peter Wimsey on Radio 4

10.30 Martin Edwards and Christine Poulson discuss ‘John Bude and the British Library Crime Classics’

11.00 Mark Aldridge: Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness  

11.30 COFFEE

12.00 Tony Medawar: The Man Who Lost His Head: The Life and Works of Edmund Crispin

12.30 Dolores Gordon-Smith and Jake Kerridge: True Crime influences on the Golden Age

1.00 – 2.00 LUNCH

2.00 Ronaldo Fagarazzi: BBC’s ‘Detective’: 1960s Golden Age TV Adaptations

2.45 Moira Redmond: Fancy Dressed to Kill: The Costume Party in the Golden Age

3.15 John Curran: Golden Age College Crimes

3.45 COFFEE

4.15 Jim Noy: Enid Blyton, Detective Novelist

4.45 Ask the Experts

The organisers reserve the right to amend the programme if necessary.

To book your ticket go to:

We are very pleased to confirm the names of more speakers who will be appearing at Bodies From The Library 2024.

In addition to those previously announced, the following speakers will also be at the conference: Lucy Brett, Ronaldo Fagarazzi, Dolores Gordon-Smith, Jake Kerridge, Jim Noy, Christine Poulson and Moira Redmond.

Topics that will be covered at this years conference, with more yet to be announced, include: Radio adaptations of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories of Dorothy L. Sayers, John Bude, Miss Marple, True Crime Influences and College Crime.

To book your ticket click on the link below:

We are delighted to confirm the first speakers for the Bodies From The Library conference on 1st June 2024.

Tony Medawar makes a welcome return along with Simon Brett, Martin Edwards and John Curran. We are also hugely excited that Mark Aldridge will also be making his first appearance at the conference.

We will be announcing some of the topics that will be included in the conference very soon.

To book your conference place go to:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bodies-from-the-library-2024-tickets-785835002647

We are delighted to announce that tickets for the Bodies From The Library conference are now on sale.

The conference will take place at the British Library on 1 June 2024.

To secure you place go to:

I’m taking a weekend off from the final preparations for this year’s Bodies From The Library conference, which is now only two weeks away, to attend the Alibis in the Archive conference at the wonderful Gladstone’s Library at Hawarden, near Chester. I must say it is great to be able to relax while somebody else is doing all the hard work (in this case the indefatigable Martin Edwards ably supported by the Gladstone’s Library team).

Today’s sessions have featured Dolores Gordon-Smith talking on the mysterious true crime from the Victorian era, the murder of Charles Bravo, Martin himself talking on the 70 year history of the Crime Writers’ Association from its inception on Bonfire Night 1953, Felix Francis talking about how his parents carved out a new career writing bestseller thrillers after the end of his father Dick Francis’s illustrious career as a top jockey, and Len Tyler on the often difficult balancing act to avoid lapses into bad taste when including humour in writing crime fiction.

We were also privileged to be given access to items from the archive of the Crime Writers’ Association which has been transferred to Gladstone’s Library under a long-term agreement that will see the archive protected and properly catalogued for use by scholars of its history.

Tomorrow promises further treats including a look at adapting classic crime fiction for TV and film, investigating just how “cozy” golden age detective fiction was and Chrissie Poulson will be taking a look at detective fiction with university settings.

And, of course, I am looking forward to seeing and hearing Martin, Dolores, Chrissie and Len again very soon when they give their talks at Bodies From The Library on 24th June.

We are delighted to announce some of the speakers who will at this year’s Bodies From The Library conference. They include:

Simon Brett
Martin Edwards
Kate Jackson
Tony Medawar
Richard Reynolds
and
Len Tyler

More speakers will be announced shortly.

Topics they will be covering include:

S. S. Van Dine
Agatha Christie
Impossible Crimes
One-off Golden Age Novels
Clifford Witting
and
How “Golden” is the Golden Age?

But who is talking on which subject? All will be revealed…