Yesterday I attended the 10th Bodies from the Library conference, and whilst absolutely exhausting, it was also, and more importantly, a brilliant and wonderful day. In keeping with other years, I am posting a report about it on my blog, but I decided to structure things a little differently this time.
- Talks that made me laugh out loud – a lot!
Tony Medawar gave the fourth talk of the day on Ngaio Marsh, and I enjoyed how he was able to pick out interesting facts connected with her family history. I think everyone’s enjoyment, based on the number and volume of collective laughs, was increased by Tony’s amusing way of delivering his information. He also opined that Off with His Head was Marsh’s best village mystery, so I would be interested to know what others thought, as it is not one that I have read.
Another session which garnered plenty of laughs was Ronaldo Fagarazzi’s session on the BBC TV series from the 1960s called Detective. Ronaldo did a great job of stitching together various scenes from the following episodes: ‘Death in Ecstasy’, ‘A Connoisseur’s Case’, ‘The German Song’, ‘The Case of the Late Pig’ and ‘Dover and the Poison Pen Letters’ and let’s just say 1960’s acting/stage effects can be quite amusing for a modern-day audience. I think the conclusion to ‘A Connoisseur’s Case’ got the loudest laughs, when the killer decides to try and escape.
2. Talks that made me think.
One of the many things I enjoy about Bodies from the Library is the way that it stimulates my thinking. The three talks which did this the best for me (as different topics will engage other differently) were:
- Victoria Dowd examines The Gothic in the Golden Age
- John Curran: And Ten There Were None*
- Jake Kerridge and Moira Redmond consider a Golden Age Reference Shelf
At least one of these talks is going to be the basis for a future blog post, as with talks such as these, you quickly find yourself wondering: ‘ooh which books would I choose?’ A good conference opens discussion, and Bodies has certainly achieved this with its choice of topics this year.
* In his talk, John was looking at mysteries with the number 10 in their title, which sounds like an easy task, until you get a few titles in. So, John did a good job of finding ten. The only one I would include, which probably got excluded due to its date of publication, was Ten Trails to Tyburn (1944) by Bruce Terhune. This book is part of the Theodore Terhune series, a series involving an amateur sleuth bookseller and it is one I warmly recommend.
3. Talks that gave me book recommendations
When attending such a conference, with many a book available to buy at the shop, your TBR pile is decidedly in danger of putting on some extra weight. However, even the talks themselves can be a risky business, as listeners frantically write down the names of books recommended or suggested by speakers. Moira and Jake’s talk was decidedly a lethal one for my bank balance, as was Martin Edwards and Christine Poulson’s slot on Fiona Sinclair, who were good at making this author’s other titles (not yet reprinted) sound rather appealing.
4. “That photo looks very familiar … Is that my Cluedo board?”
This one might take a little bit of explaining, but this was the question which ran through my mind near the end of L. C. Tyler’s talk entitled: ‘“More Baffling than Any Detective Story” – John Dickson Carr and the Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey’, when I saw a photo on the PowerPoint which showed Carr’s book alongside Tyler’s The Three Deaths of Justice Godfrey. The background behind the books is the reverse side of a Cluedo board. How do I know this? Well, it slowly dawned on that it was my photo, the rational explanation to my initial question. Len’s talk then went on to mention my post which compares his book with Carr’s (which you can find here), so I felt I had solved the great mystery. In a sense having done my reading homework e.g. reading Tyler’s book and Carr’s back in January, I very much enjoyed Len’s talk and would certainly recommend giving his book a go.
5. The talk I got to be a part of.
The penultimate session of the conference saw me, Moira and Ronaldo discussing ‘The Pleasures and Pitfalls of GA Blogging’. I had lots of fun doing it (although naturally beforehand I was questioning my life choices) and I think we were able to cover a variety of topics, our different approaches to blogging complementing each other’s points well. It was particularly special for me to be able to take part in the conference as like Bodies from the Library this month I have been celebrating my own 10-year blog anniversary, with my first blog post coming out in June 2015, one week after the first Bodies of the Library conference. To that end, one of the things I have been doing this month is running a competition. First prize is ten books, and you have until the end of June to enter, so don’t delay. One of the topics that we touched upon was how we go about putting our reviews together, and this is a subject I hope to come back to in a future post, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
6. Meeting all my friends
Whilst listening to talks, and getting to take part in one, took up a large part of the day, coming to Bodies is very much a social event for me, as it is a rare occasion during which I can meet my golden age reading and blogging compatriots in person. Much swapping of books invariably takes place, returning books borrowed from earlier in the year and passing on the next loans. It was particularly lovely to meet Aidan who blogs at Mysteries Ahoy and Caroline Crampton who hosts the podcast Shedunnit, as hitherto I have only been able to communicate with them online.
It was also great to be able to put a face to a name for some of my blog readers.
7. Books! Books! More Books!
Well, it wouldn’t be a proper book event, if I didn’t come away with more books than I came with. So much thanks go to the British Library, the Barbican Library (who were giving away some Green Penguins away free, as they were a little well-worn after much reading and like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t resist picking up a couple) and Moira who was having a clear out and knew that I liked Elizabeth Ferrars.
8. I won the quiz!
Well, I was one of two people to get full marks on the quiz participants were given in their goodie bags. The quiz involved solving book title anagrams, filling in the missing words from blurbs and also a section dedicated to guessing books from part of their covers. This is the first time I have managed to do so well, and it was definitely the icing on the cake.
9. A Deadly Memento
If number 8 was the icing, then number 9 is certainly the cherry. All the speakers, including myself were given an engraved letter opener to mark the occasion. This reminded me that back in 2019 when I gave a talk at Bodies in the Library on June Wright, I was also given a similar gift (pictured below). I now feel incredibly posh, being the owner of not one, but two letter openers! Surely, I need to be living in a country house, with an oak panelled study or library? Although that would probably increase my chances of getting bumped off, so maybe not…
10. Behind the Scenes Organisation
This might be last in the list, but it is by no means the least important, as without all the hard work of the organisers, none of the above would have been possible. Each part of the day ran smoothly, and the team made it all look effortless and professional, although I am sure it involved a tremendous amount of work to achieve this.
So, all in all, Bodies from the Library 2025 was a huge success and I am already looking forward to next year’s conference.