Crimefest ahead!

 Michael - Alt Thursdays

Adrian Muller

When this posts, I'll be on my way to what will be the last Crimefest. Certainly the last one managed by Adrian Muller and Donna Moore. Crimefest is always a pleasure, but this one will obviously be tinged with sadness.

In 2006, Left Coast Crime – the annual mystery convention that makes its way around the western states of the US – decided to go very far left and hold its convention across the pond in Bristol in England. It was a huge success. The host of big name participants included Lee Child and Jeffrey Deaver. The latter even included a delightful poem pointing out that the reports of the death of reading were exaggerated. You can read it HERE. The sentiments are as true today as they were nearly twenty years ago.

Coincidentally, that was the sixteenth Left Coast Crime. Next week will be the sixteenth Crimefest.

Toby and Bill Gottfried
with Donna Moore at LC Crime
in Bristol

The success of the 2006 event persuaded Adrian and Myles Allfrey that the conventions should continue. So they launched an annual convention in Bristol and christened it Crimefest.

Crimefest has been very much a part of our book life. Our first Kubu novel, A Carrion Death, was published in 2008, the year of the first Crimefest, and we’ve attended most of the conventions since then. The Murder is Everywhere team has always been well represented. This year Stanley will be chairing a Murder Is Everywhere (Evil Crimes in Foreign Climes) panel including Ovidia and Jeff, and I will be on Caro’s panel, so a good showing of blogmates.

Previous MIEer Yrsa Sigurðardóttir will be joining us this year too. Many of us remember her efforts to initiate us into Icelandic delicacies. At one Crimefest, she offered fermented shark with brennivin to wash it down. The weather was pleasant, and she suggested we find a table outside on the hotel patio. We soon discovered why. Once she opened the container of shark, the patio rapidly emptied of all except the most hardened drinkers. I remember a strange, unpleasant flavor heavily tinged with ammonia. The brennivin was fire water but essential. Also, the more of the alcohol we drank, the less bad the shark tasted…

For its tenth anniversary, Crimefest produced an anthology of short stories called Ten Year Stretch. We were represented with our story The Ring. This year they are releasing a second collection titled Leaving the Scene, a most appropriate punctuation mark…

We all have lots of great memories of Crimefest. Good panels, not so good panels. Always good conversation and friendship. Crimefest calls itself the friendliest crime convention and lives up to that.

I’m greatly looking forward to it! Hope to see you there!

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Michael and Stanley will be at CRIMEFEST in Bristol from the 15^th to the 18^th of May. We’d love to see you at one or more of the panels we’ll be on.

THURSDAY 14:40 – 15:30

Murder is Everywhere: Evil Crimes in Foreign Climes

Heidi Amsinck, Michael Ridpath, Jeffrey Siger, Ovidia Yu

Participating Moderator: Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip)

 

THURSDAY 15:50 – 16:40

Dark Pasts and Dark Presents: Secrets and Lies

Samantha Lee Howe, M.A. Hunter, Alison Joseph, Michael Stanley (Michael Sears)

Participating Moderator: Caro Ramsay

 

FRIDAY 14:50 – 15:40

One of A Kind: Atypical Characters

Paul Durston, Christina Koning, Tom Mead, Bridget Walsh

Participating Moderator: Michael Stanley (Michael Sears)

 

SATURDAY 13:40 – 14:30

Not All 999: Police Procedurals Across Time and Place

Tana Collins, Mark Ellis, Sólveig Pálsdóttir, Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip)

Participating Moderator: Jeffrey Siger