Join us as we celebrate the life and work of Edmund Crispin – and there is much to celebrate about him, as master of “splendidly complicated crime”, composer of music for Carry On films, and creator of the charming, frivolous and often badly behaved Gervase Fen, the detective with a donnish difference.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Martin Edwards has published eighteen novels, including the Lake District Mysteries, most recently The Dungeon House. The Golden Age of Murder won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards. He has edited thirty five crime anthologies, and wrote The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, a companion to the British Library’s Crime Classics, for which he is series consultant. He is recipient of the CWA Short Story Dagger, the CWA Margery Allingham Prize, the CWA Red Herring, and the Poirot award. He is President of the Detection Club and Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association.

David Whittle is the author of Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books (2007). He has also contributed to publications such as The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. Principally a musician who is usually found involved in big bands, folk groups or his almost finished five-year plan to play the complete organ music of JS Bach, he has been Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School since 1986.

Journalist, broadcaster and historian Ruth Dudley Edwards’s twelve crime novels satirise institutions and – above all – political correctness.  Targets include the civil service, academia, gentlemen’s clubs, the House of Lords, the Anglo-Irish peace process, the Church of England and literary prizes. Murdering Americans was set on an Indiana campus (CrimeFest Last Laugh Award 2008).  Killing the Emperors, a black comedy about the preposterous world of conceptual art, won the 2013 Goldsboro Last Laugh Award. Her non-fiction includes Patrick Pearse (National University of Ireland Prize for Historical Research), Victor Gollancz (James Tait Black Memorial Prize), Newspapermen: Cecil King, Hugh Cudlipp and the glory days of Fleet Street, The Pursuit of Reason: The Economist: 1843-1993, True Brits: inside the foreign office; The Faithful Tribe: an intimate portraits of the loyal institutions, Aftermath: the Omagh bombing and the families’ pursuit of justice (CWA Non-fiction Dagger 2010) and The Seven: the lives and legacies of the founding fathers of the Irish Republic (short-listed for the 2017 Orwell Prize). [email protected]   @ruthde

Camilla Shestopal (our Chair for the evening) is a Trustee of Essex Book Festival. As Agent and Director of Estates Camilla runs the Estates and Backlist titles for the literary agency Peters, Fraser & Dunlop.  She is involved in selling rights to bring these great classic authors back into the public consciousness. Working closely with print and E publishers alike, and international publishers Camilla is also responsible for making available as both traditional book and E book, classic writers such as Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Georges Simenon and many others. Camilla also works as an agent for authors such as Graham Masterton who not only has written the best-selling Amazon E crime series featuring Katie Maguire, but also has an extensive backlist in horror and other genres.

This event is part of Essex Book Festival’s Golden Age of Crime Weekend in Southend-on-Sea. Click here for a list of all events taking place in Southend as part of the weekend.

FESTIVAL 4 – MULTIPLE EVENT OFFER: This year we are offering four events for the price of three on selected talks – Just choose any four events with the ‘Festival 4’ symbol when booking in person, over the phone or online.