Crime writers gather to plot murder and mayhem

The Crime Writers’ Association’s annual conference brought together top criminal minds and experts in wrongdoing for three days in Brighton

I attended my first Crime Writers’ Association Conference last weekend. This brought together a number of excellent writers and experts to give talks, only stopping for a convivial gala dinner on the Saturday night.

Fiction is the main focus of the CWA and there were some terrific authors from a range of crime-fiction sub-genres to rub shoulders with.

Vaseem Khan, CWA chair, and vice-chairs Sarah Ward and William Shaw – all popular authors – opened the event with a panel entitled Who Do I Have to Kill to Sell a Crime Novel in Today’s Publishing Environment?

Other talks I particularly liked included one on criminal psychology by eminent psychologist Linda Sage. She’s spent her career getting to know some of the most notorious prisoners in UK history, from Myra Hindley to Dennis Nilsen.

Her talk was brilliantly informative, if a little disconcerting. Getting close to clients like hers is difficult to imagine.

Graham Bartlett, former detective and chief superintendent in Brighton, where the conference was held, is today a crime novelist and advises authors and TV producers on writing authentic crime fiction. He gave a very entertaining talk on Sunday morning (see more about his service here).

I am part of a small cell of CWA non-fiction writers. I was delighted to do the first panel on the Saturday with fellow true-crimers Sarah Bax Horton and Dean Jobb. It was great to team up with them.

We put a lot of thought into our joint panel on researching crime investigations of the past, but it seemed to go well and there were plenty of questions from our audience (I’ve linked all the research resources I discussed in last week’s post).

Finally, the longlists for the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards, which started in 1955, were announced.

I was, of course, particularly eager to see the nominees for the non-fiction prize.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man; The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, the true story of the world’s most prolific art thief who accumulated a collection worth more than $1.4 billion, and No Comment by Jess McDonald. She quit her job as a Met detective to tell all about her work on rape and domestic violence cases that left her with PTSD and a determination to speak out.

Here’s the full list:

Michael Finkel The Art Thief, Simon & Schuster

Beverly Gage G-Man, Simon & Schuster

Lara Love Hardin The Many Lives of Mama Love, Endeavour

Matt Johnson with John Murray No Ordinary Day, Ad Lib Publishers

Miles Johnson Chasing Shadows, The Bridge Street Press

Patrick Radden Keefe The Snakehead, Picador

Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson Devil’s Coin, Ad Lib Publishers Ltd

Jess McDonald No Comment, Raven Books

Alex Mar Seventy Times Seven, Bedford Square Publishers

Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida How Many More Women? Endeavour

Nicholas Shakespeare Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, Vintage

David Wilson Murder at Home, Sphere

I’ve read No Ordinary Day, which is a shocking insight into the WPC Yvonne Fletcher killing and aftermath, and Seventy Times Seven, which is a compassionate story from the US about a teenage girl on death row.

Check out the CWA’s website.

Oh, one last thing: hats off to Brighton. Real buzzy and fun seaside town – with a fine past in notoriety for crime historians, too.

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