More hightlights from the Crime festival

So many great authors...one highlight would have to be Phil Rickman known as the 'grandfather' of supernatural/paranormal-ish crime writing, his best known character is Merrily Watkins, a priest in small village near the English-Welsh border who specialises in exorcism..., he explained that he tries to write an explicale mystery with some unexplainable elements.


The 'New Blood' session was one I was looking forward to having just read 'Before I go to sleep' by S J Watson, a gripping psychological thriller about a woman whose memories are erased each time she goes to sleep...Julie Crouch, author of 'Cuckoo' about obsessive love and the consequences it has on a family is another first time author generating a lot of interest.

Other great sessions included 'Legal eagles' M R Hall, Martin Edwards, Helen Black and one of my favourites France Fyfield....'Blood from a stone' is one of the most disturbing mysteries I have ever read.


More great sessions included

• A deep and meaningful with Lee Child about his crime writing pet hates


• A panel of authors talking about the importance and influence of location...CJ Box [Wyoming], Urban Waite [Seattle], Ann Zroudi [Greece] and a new fav of mine Elly Griffiths [Norfolk, character Ruth Galloway forensic archeologist]


• Dennis Lehane writer of many great novels including 'Mystic River' and 'Gone baby gone'

And... to top it off a dinner to celebrate M C Beaton's 75th birthday, the author of the Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series is a gorgeous woman who sounds like the Queen.

It has been such a great 4 days...and now I've got lots of reading to do { & way too much excess baggage...}

The UK Underbelly.....

Martina Cole's 2 pack a day voice and North London accent set the scene for a hugely entertaining talk about her gritty books set in the murky underworld of London's East End and Essex. She has sold over 10 million books but at school one of her teachers said she 'would never amount to nothing' to which Martina replied 'it could be worse - I could be working in a sh*t school like this wearing the same jacket for thirty years' .. she is a straight talking woman.

We next met a number of authors who had for various reasons been in prison...Cass Pennant, Jonathan Aitken and perhaps most interesting Erwin James who served a life sentence for murder before becoming a Guradian columnist...a powerful session emphasising the redemptive power of writing.

So much to hear here and I don't want to bang on for too long but some highlights have included

• Andrew Taylor' s appearance on the panel discussing psychological thrillers which included Sophie Hannah, sadly one of my favourites Camilla Lackberg, recently diagnosed with Lyme's disease was unable to attend.


• Tess Gerritsen's session..the presenter broadcaster Jenni Murray said the most frightening night of her life was spent reading The Surgeon and Tess's son's friend said, after reading one of her books 'Dude, your Mum is sick'


• S J Bolton describing her work as Scooby Doo-esque


• The very witty Patricia Duncker


• Val McDermid's Madonna impersonation with the cool hands free microphones they are using this year.

Will keep you posted...

Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival

Old Swan Hotel Harrogate 21-24 July 2011 I'm having such a great time here with hundreds of other crime fiction tragics, despite quite severe jet lag which I don't remember having last time I travelled to the UK although admittedly that was about 25 years ago.....I was much younger, fitter etc.
The festival kicked off with the Crime Novel of the year award and festival opening party, for me the highlight was the presentation of the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award to
P D James, what a gorgeous woman, 90 years old and delightful. She was thrilled to be here and to accept the award and she promised that from now on Adam Dagliesh, her renowned detective, would only drink Theakston's ale {festival sponsor}. Lee Child followed her to accept the Crime Novel of the Year for 61 hours, he was unprepared as despite selling 50 million books he hasn't won an award for ages but said that what he will remember most is following P D James onto the stage.
I'll keep you posted on hightlights from the sessions www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime