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.
Way back in 2015, I wrote a short piece on how Golden Age Detective Fiction bore many of the hallmarks of the Modernist literature being written by a very different set of authors at more or less the same time.
When I read the latest edition of Crime and Detective Stories (CADS 77) published by Geoff Bradley I was delighted to find a superb article by Kate Jackson which expanded on my brief foray into the comparison and gave it the detailed consideration – both in depth of analysis and breadth in the range of books she brought into her examination of the genres/field – which it deserves.
Kate has very kindly agreed to me making her article available through this site and Geoff, as the publisher of the hard copy version, has kindly given permission for me to reproduce the article in “soft” format.
Here is Kate’s article:
The Literary Crossovers Between Modernist Literature and Golden Age Detective Fiction
If you are interested in reading more of Kate’s views on matters pertaining to Golden Age and other detective fiction you can go to her website, where she writes under the monicker “Armchairreviewer”:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress.com/
To subscribe to Crime and Detective Stories magazine contact Geoff Bradley at the following address:
Geoff Bradley, 9 Vicarage Hill, South Benfleet, Essex, SS7 IPA, England
My thanks to both Kate and Geoff for their permission to reproduce Kate’s article here.
We are delighted to announce the programme for the 2018 Conference.
Once again we have assembled the leading authorities on Golden Age Detective Fiction to provide what promises to be both an informative and entertaining day.
9.55 Welcome
Rebecca Nuotio and Martin Edwards
10.00 Unearthing ‘Bodies from the Library’: Golden Age short-story anthologies
Christine Poulson moderates a discussion with Martin Edwards and Tony Medawar
10.30 The 1930s Crime Files
Dr John Curran
11.00 Ellen Wilkinson: MP and Detective Novelist
Rachel Reeves MP
11.30 Coffee Break
11.50 Francis Durbridge Presents …
Dolores Gordon-Smith moderates a discussion with David Brawn and Melvyn Barnes
12.20 The Excellent Richard Hull
Martin Edwards
12.50 Lunch
1.50 Radio Play
2.20 The Life and Works of Christianna Brand
Tony Medawar
2.50 Golden Age non-fiction studies
Simon Brett and Len Tyler
3.20 Michael Innes and John Appleby
Jake Kerridge
3.50 Coffee
4.10 Why Was it ‘The Body In The Library’?
Dr Jennifer Palmer
4.40 The Queen of Crime Abroad
Dolores Gordon-Smith
5.10 Desert Island Detective
Nominations by Simon Brett, Martin Edwards, Dolores Gordon-Smith, Jake Kerridge, Tony Medawar, Dr Jennifer Palmer, Christine Poulson and Len Tyler
In 1931, Margery Allingham was, not for the first time, nor for the last, in a tight spot financially. Typically, she tried to write her way out of trouble. She had been offered the opportunity to write a serial for Answers magazine, of which, as her biographer Julia Jones notes in The Adventures of Margery Allingham, Margery said, “They pay generously and promptly and really take one on the staff for the duration of the work.”
The serial she provided was Dangerous Secrets, also known as Other Man’s Danger, and recently republished by Ipso Books as The Man of Dangerous Secrets.
She followed this with Rogues’ Holiday in 1933 and The Devil and Her Son, also known as The Shadow in The House, in 1935 – both also now available from Ipso Books.
The novels were published under the pseudonym Maxwell March which gave Margery the chance to step away from her Campion series of novels and produce stand alone works that were freed from the constraints that publication under her own name might impose. Of course the deception did not last long and it quickly became known that the hand holding the pen behind the Maxwell March persona was in fact Margery.
The results are lighter, more breathless, thrillers which are in the classic mould of the British thriller between the wars, featuring Julia Jones observes, “helpless heroines and handsome heroes.” As such, they may be regarded as atypical of Allingham’s output at the time and so provide the reader with an intriguing sidelight on the author’s main body of work.
Just in case you haven’t heard, the newly republished Margery Allingham novel, The Devil and Her Son, written under the pseudonym Maxwell March, is available for a limited time only for just 99p.
Another limited time offer also applies to Georges Simenon’s Maigret at Picratt’s. Again the price is 99p.
The Detection Club produced a number of collaborative ventures to boost its coffers. The earliest of these, in 1930, was Behind The Screen. Broadcast on the BBV in six episodes, each read by the author, and also serialised in The Lustener, the mystery was written by Hugh Walpole, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Anthony Berkelwy, E. C. Bentley and Rinald Knox. An abridged version, adapted by Jihn Peacock, last broadcast in 2015, is currently being rebroadcast by the BBC on Radio 4 Extra. To listen to it, including the four episodes broadcast last week on the BBC Radio iplayer go to:
Tying in with the fourth Bodies From The Library conference on 16 June 2018, Tony Medawar has compiled this exciting new anthology of rare stories by Golden Age greats, bringing together 13 tales for the first time in book form. These orphaned works come mainly from magazines and newspapers that are now almost impossible to find.
The book will be available in hardback and features this stunning cover by Holly MacDonald.
It is intended that copies will be available to buy at the conference, taking place once again at the British Library.
So what are you waiting for?
Book your tickets today while the Early Bird Discount is still available.
The Bodies From The Library 