Crime Scene 2002 11th - 14th July 2002

Crime Scene once again took place at the National Film Theatre. The spotlight this year was on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes, and the centrepiece was the NFT's Richard Widmark season. The interview with Richard Widmark took place on Sunday afternoon and I understand tickets for it were sold out as soon as they were advertised.

As much as I am a fan of the classic detective fiction, I was not too keen on attending any of the Sherlock Holmes events. I think that this was because I am now more interested in contemporary crime fiction.

Kicking off the opening night, on Thursday 11th July, I joined the throng in NFT 1 to see the new Morgan Freeman film ‘High Crimes’, which is based on the best selling novel by Joseph Finder. Directed by Carl Franklin and also starring Ashley Judd, this film certainly set the right tone for the start of the festival. Morgan Freeman is excellent as the eccentric, alcoholic, former military attorney, Charlie Grimes, who is persuaded by successful defense attorney, Claire, to help defend her husband against charges in a military court. For those who have not read the book or seen the film, the dénouement at the end will be well worth the wait.

The following day, on the Friday, there were a number of events that I was interested in but since most of them were on at the same time I had to bite the bullet and decide which one I really wanted to attend. I ended up going to see The Unusual Suspects ‘Pushing the Envelope’ which was the first event that officially started off the festival. There were between 40 and 50 people in the audience who listened to Natasha Cooper, Leslie Forbes, Andrew Taylor, Laura Wilson, Michelle Spring and Manda Scott (who acted as moderator) discuss the ways and means of expanding beyond the limits of the crime genre. Those of you who have never heard The Unusual Suspects give a talk you really should do so. The interplay between all of the authors is excellent and because they have been doing this for quite some time they quickly got into the swing of it.

My second event was ‘Four Tough Guys and an even Tougher Woman’. The panel was billed as Ken Bruen, Pat O'Keefe, Mike Phillips, Gary Phillips and Val McDermid but we were informed that regrettably Val wasn't feeling very well and wouldn’t be attending. Part of me regretted going to this panel. The plus part was getting to hear the extremely sexy voice of Gary Phillips, the author of one of my all time favourite P.I series set in Los Angeles after the riot. (If you haven't read any of the Ivan Monk series, then please do. They are very true to life and spot on and it is such a shame that he hasn't received the recognition here that he should.) However, the panel was to a certain extent a let down because it had been billed as ‘crime writers of the hardboiled variety on engaging reality and society’ and while they did talk about the topic, it could have been much more interesting. As it was, I got the impression that the only panellists that had bothered to do any work prior to the start of the panel had been Ken Bruen, Pat O'Keefe, and Gary Phillips. I was also disappointed by the way in which Mike Philips monopolised it; I am sure that if Val McDermid had been present she would have shaken it up a bit.

On Friday evening in NFT1 I attended the TV preview of Val McDermid's ‘Mermaids Singing’. This has been a long time coming and many of her numerous fans have been wondering whether or not the book would ever be made into a feature film. I have got to admit that it was well worth the wait. Robson Green was excellent and if I didn't know any better I would not have recognised him - he certainly had to use more than just his boyish charm this time around. They had managed to incorporate all the tenseness that is found in the book and even though I have read it more than once, some of it still came as a bit of a shock. Watching ‘Mermaids Singing’ was for me one of the highlights of the weekend. Luckily for all of us present (and as far as I am aware the event was sold out) Val had managed to make it to the preview. After the showing of the film Val, along with Robson Green and other members of the production team, were on hand to answer questions from the audience. It was a good feature film and I plan to watch it again when it is shown on television.

On Sunday I had decided to go and listen to Steven Saylor (who is one of my top three historical crime writers) being interviewed by the entertaining Fidelis Morgan. Softly spoken Steven Saylor is well known for his Sub Roma series and Fidelis Morgan certainly did the interview justice. The questions asked ranged from the serious to the sublime: she had the audience in fits when she asked Steven whether or not he wore much while he wrote and his response was most amusing. Steven also told a delighted audience about how he started writing and his interest in Rome which led him to start writing the series featuring Gordianus the finder. The interview was one of the best that took place during Crime Scene and it benefited from the fact that it was apparent that the members of the audience were fans of the genre.

To me the atmosphere at Crime Scene this year appeared to be a bit subdued than in previous years. It would be nice if they could have a few more American authors to complement the homegrown authors. Now that they have done Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, I wonder whom they will choose for next year?

My only regret? The fact that I didn't manage to get to see Rogues and Vagabonds I hear it was a hoot!