I might have mentioned already, but I can’t go to the British Library for Bodies From The Library this year – I’m sorry, you’ll all have to save your Brian Flynn books for me to sign next year. I’ve got one of those pesky jobs that occasionally needs me to work on a Saturday and this year it has the misfortune to clash. Boo.

So instead this year, I thought I’d push the boat out a tad and head off to Hawarden in North Wales – specifically Gladstone’s Library – for the Alibis In The Archive event. It’s not focussed primarily on the Golden Age, unlike Bodies, but there’s plenty for everyone. And given it’s organised by that Martin Edwards chap, needless to say the Golden Age certainly gets a good look-in.

On top of that, it has to be the most delightful setting of any conference that I’ve been to. The Library is housed in a beautiful building with a restaurant and accommodation attached. It also has a church next door that forgot to turn its bells off on the first night but we’ll let that pass.

There’s also the chance to mingle and talk to the authors who are giving talks (and some others who’ve come anyway) and as you should know, crime writers really are the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

Friday night started with a quiz. Despite trying to get an advantage by teaming up with Dolores Gordon-Smith and Len Tyler, we came third – our knowledge of nineteenth century crime fiction and AC/DC was a bit lacking unfortunately.

Next day, Dolores kicked off the event by talking about the unsolved Charles Bravo case from 1876 – I’ve picked up a copy of her radio play on the subject, so I’ll talk a bit more about that soon. It was fascinating and I’ve got a theory as to what happened…

Following that, Martin spoke about the history of the Crime Writers’ Association – the library houses their archive which we got to take a look at. I should say at this point that I completely failed to make any notes in these talks – I had a notepad, I was just too interested in what they were talking about.

The final talk before lunch was from Felix Francis, the son of Dick Francis, who has been continuing his parents’ work both officially and behind the scenes since 2006 (and helped out with the design of a bomb even earlier than that).

The afternoon gave a chance to look at some choice items from the CWA archive and then Len Tyler finished off the day with an excellent topic covering all aspects of humour in crime fiction.

After dinner, it was a chance to chat to our fellow delegates over a glass or three of wine – well, those that weren’t huddled in the next room watching the Champions League Final…

This morning, Tim Sullivan opened the show talking about his life from working with Derek Jarman to becoming the best-selling author of the DS Cross series (via directing with Jeremy Brett on Sherlock Holmes).

Matthew Booth followed up with a discussion on how cosy the Golden Age was? To no surprise, the answer is not much, but he made some excellent points. I’ve a few ideas on this, and might put them down in a post soon.

Christine Poulson finished off with a talk on the multitude of mysteries set amongst the gleaming spires and the other place, namely Crime Novels and Academia, that raised a few new names to investigate.

All in all, this was a wonderful weekend and it was a delight to spend time with some of my favourite authors. Last time I went, I monopolised Michael Jecks last time – I think I was a bit more even with the people I bothered this year. And special thanks to Martin, Dolores and Len who were all kind enough to personalise some first editions of their works that I’d picked up over the years.

I did book my place this year because I couldn’t go to Bodies, but I think this is going to have to go on the calendar for the future as a regular occurrence. It’s a great conference and I’m already looking forward to going again. Many thanks to all the organisers.