This month a letter landed on my doormat, totally unexpected and very thrilling. It told me that I’d been elected ‘by secret ballot’ to become a member of the Detection Club. The Detection Club is a prestigious club for crime writers and membership is by invitation only. It was founded in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers (including Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers) and the first president was G K Chesterton (the creator of Father Brown). There is a dramatic initiation ceremony which involves a skull called Eric – I can’t wait to make his acquaintance. Here’s a link to Lucy Worsley’s encounter with the Club: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01gw1f3 I must say, I’m very honoured to be invited – when I first started writing, I never thought I’d be in such august company.
Spring has arrived at last which means that many authors’ thoughts turn to library appearances, conferences and conventions. For me the past week has been great fun as my Murder Mystery Evening ‘Death at the Dig’ has been performed at two libraries, Flint in North Wales and Wilmslow in Cheshire. These evenings are tremendous fun and the library staff and (in the case of Wilmslow) local actors who gallantly play the parts of the ‘suspects’ are invariably marvellous. It’s great to see how much people enjoy themselves and enter into the spirit of the performance. Another Murder Mystery Evening is currently being arranged for Kingsbridge in Devon in June – keep an eye on my Events page for details.
The popularity of Murder Mystery events in general proves that the ‘Golden Age’ type of mystery is still as popular as ever. A few weeks ago I was amused to learn that Midsomer Murders is one of the most popular programmes in Scandinavia whereas this country’s crime fiction fans go mad for Scandinavian ‘noir’. Apparently a huge proportion of Scandinavian homes contain a Midsomer Murders DVD – it certainly makes you think!
I’ve just sent my next Wesley Peterson novel to my editor and I’m awaiting her verdict. Fingers crossed she enjoys it.