Mystery People © 2012. Developed by D H H
Bodies in the bookshop
by Ruth Downie
by Ruth Downie
This year Bodies in the Bookshop burst the bounds of Heffers and expanded into the Cambridge Union building down the road. Clearly either the Union building is on a slant, or I was. In these august surroundings a friendly crowd of crime readers and writers enjoyed a great day of panels and informal chat.
“When a murder is satisfied, it isn't the beginning of the story; it's the middle. We shouldn't forget that fact because murder has ripples.”
Ian Rankin
Sadly this chap didn’t quite make it.
Patrick Easter, Ruth Downie, and
Jane Finnis)
Jane Finnis)
I missed the second panel, ‘Experts in Murder’, but here are three of them. (See picture right). Apparently a little-known fact was shared during this panel - you can be an expert in murder but if you aren’t also an expert in railway history, you’re in trouble. Readers who know really hate it if writers get the trains wrong!
Laura Wilson, Nicola Upson, and
Catriona McPherson
Catriona McPherson
Richard Reynolds interviewed Rebecca Tope and Jayne Marie Barker, who’s a new member of Mystery People, to get the low-down on ‘Poison in the Parish.’ Little-known fact: Rebecca wrote the novels that were created from the scripts of the Rosemary and Thyme series.
Rebecca Tope, Richard Reynolds and
Jayne-Marie Barker
Jayne-Marie Barker
Robin Blake, Ros Barber, Rory Clements, Peter Moore, and Chris Nickson. (See picture left). There was more Crime Through Time after lunch, when Rory Clements introduced us to Richard Topcliffe, a ghastly and strangely-forgotten villain of Elizabethan England.
The Scene of the Crime was Cambridge (or thereabouts) for Jim Kelly, Elly Griffiths and Alison Bruce. Apparently Alison chooses an appropriate song to listen to and puts it on ‘repeat’ while writing a scene, which was how she ended up hearing one song nearly 600 times. That’s dedication for you.
Here are Adrian Magson, Roger Morris, Edward Wilson and Richard Reynolds plotting some International Intrigue. Little-known fact from Edward Wilson: spies are recruited by mice. Sorry, MICE. That’s Money, Ideology, Coercion or Ego/Excitement/Eroticism. Now you know that, gentle reader, I may have to kill you.
Adrian Magson, Roger Morris, Edward Wilson and Richard Reynolds