This year’s CrimeFest happened last weekend, May 15-18 at the Bristol Royal Hotel. So, what’s CrimeFest? It’s the annual gathering for anyone who has any interest in reading, writing, or simply talking about (sometimes quite loudly over several drinks) that curious and  bloody phenomenon: crime. Especially crime fiction, but there’s always room for true crime, too. Why go? You want to meet authors? Find out what they’re writing? Try to work out how people with such deviant imaginations can be really great company? These are all good reasons. Mark Billingham, one of Britain’s best-selling thriller writers was one of the featured authors this year. His books are spell-binding and disturbing – and he gave one of the funniest interviews I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. At the rather less dark end of the spectrum of crime-writing, Simon Brett was on top form as a speaker. There was also masses to learn about the Iceland Noir writing which has acquired such an enthusiastic following on UK TV – you could even have won a trip to the Iceland Noir convention in Reykjavik.

CrimeFest4 B Forshaw EUROCRIME Panel

The long weekend is full of difficult choices: should I go to the panel discussion on historical crime or does it clash with the one which asks Does a crime novel have to have something to say? The one that deals with the problem of When your character isn’t qualified to solve crimes, or What have old thrillers ever done for us? Choices, choices, choices. There was a quiz on the Thursday evening when we discovered just how competitive we all were – who said you couldn’t argue with the judge? Not us. The Gala Dinner on the Saturday, was a triumph of organisation and good food, which kept us all comfortable in our seats, happy to celebrate the award of prizes for humorous crime, for e-books and audio books, for works in translation and for Euro Crime. And afterwards you could linger at the bar ….

The joy of CrimeFest is that it doesn’t discriminate between readers, writers (wannabe or distinguished), publishers or agents, nor does anyone show the slightest sense of exclusivity. You can find yourself talking to a top author or an ardent fan. You can discover how the Alibi Channel’s crime dramas Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and The Murdoch Mysteries have developed from page to screen; or hear the husband and wife team which makes up the author Nicci French (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) discuss how they combine their relationship with writing international best-selling psychological suspense.

CrimeFest5 Alison Joseph, Felix Francis, Susan Moody

Alas it’s all over for this year – but it will happen again next year. If you enjoy crime writing or reading, or just want a slightly different weekend with a lively mix of people, all of whom seem eager to talk to you (I think writing, or reading, about terrible events must make people appreciate the good things about real life) then you might want to think about giving it a try.

 
Penny Deacon
Photos: thanks to Ali Karim of Shots Magazine