QUIBBLES AND DELIGHTS: CRIME FEST 2009

The intervals at Crime Fest were too short. 

Thirty minutes is just not long enough to collect your thoughts, get a book signed by an author or translator, or chat with old friends and make new ones. The pace becomes just a bit frenetic as you try to remember which panel or interview you planned to attend next. When it comes to a mere thirty minutes for a lunch break this is ridiculous. While I can understand the organizers want to pack as much as possible into the convention if I want to socialize during the intermissions how much more important a little more time would be for the professionals cultivating their contacts. 

During one of the intervals I had the shock of paying full price for a hard back book at the Blackwell stall. £16.99 as opposed to the Amazon price of £9.34 with free postage. 

No wonder bookshops are closing.

One of the great delights of Crime Fest is that the ordinary fan gets to meet up close and personal some of the famous authors and translators. 

Photograph on the left is of author Hakan Nesser, in serious mood, deep in discussion with star blogger Maxine Clarke of Petrona.

On the right the group consists of from  left to right, Lady Petrona, Don Bartlett [translator of Jo Nesbo and K.O.Dahl's books], Peter Rozovsky award winning blogger from the USA, and Karen Meek, creator of that great encyclopedic resource Euro Crime and surely a future award winner for services to translated crime fiction.