Following in Agatha Christie’s Footsteps - my thoughts on the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2024

Can you guess where the festival is held?

I’m a little late posting this but I do have a good excuse, honestly! Well, as some of you eagle-eyed readers might have realised, I’ve got a brand-new website, and it’s taken me ages to get it sorted - far longer than I anticipated. So I haven’t been able to post anything to my blog while I’ve been faffing around, sorting out links and verification and domain names and all that palaver.

Anyway, here I am, and I thought for my first post in this new blog I’d tell you about my recent trip to Harrogate. I expect you’ve already read loads of accounts and seen plenty of photos, and you might well be rolling your eyes at the thought of another post on the subject, but here we are. Put it this way, you’ve never read my account of the event, have you? So here we go.

I’d arranged to catch the train up to the Scarborough area early on Thursday morning, where Jessica Redland was meeting me. We were then going to drive to Harrogate where we had a hotel booked for three nights. We planned to be at the festival from Friday to Sunday, and we were going to the site on the Thursday afternoon to collect our tickets and passes (and swag!)

I didn’t nick it, honest guv! The swag from the festival - although Jessica actually got a third novel and I didn’t!

What I forgot on the way out

Imagine my despair when I woke up on Wednesday with back pain! Typical, isn’t it? My back hasn’t bothered me for years, but the day before I embarked on a major event where there was going to be a lot of walking and standing, it decided to remind me who’s in charge. Anyway, I refused to be put off and duly caught the train the following morning, where Jessica was waiting for me as promised.

We stopped off at a massive shopping development in York and called at Asda because I’d forgotten a few things (as usual). I’d forgotten my sun lotion. I’d forgotten my painkillers. And I’d somehow broken my sunglasses. Besides, we were hungry. Having purchased new sunglasses (only £7 - bargain!) sun lotion (factor 50 because I end up looking like a boiled lobster the minute the sun hits my skin), and a stack of painkillers to ward off the back pain, as well as snacks and drinks for a late breakfast, we continued on our way. We’d been hoping for cool but dry weather, but after weeks of rain and being chilly enough to actually put the heating on in July, the sun had decided to come out to play, and our greatest fear came true. It was boiling hot!

The Hills of Harrogate!

We arrived in Harrogate in plenty of time and found the hotel easily enough. The staff had told us we were allowed to leave the car in the car park, even though we couldn’t officially check in until three, so, smothered in sun lotion, sunglasses in place, and with me duly doped up on ibuprofen, we set off to walk into town.

That was when I got my first shock. Nobody had told me that Harrogate was so flipping hilly! I mean, we’ve driven through there loads of times on our way to Knaresborough, and I’ve been to the Christmas market there, and we even picked up our beloved and much-missed dog Tessa there when she was a little puppy (and joked that she was far too posh for us, coming from Harrogate!) but I swear I’d never noticed any hills.

Fortified by the drugs, I marched determinedly onwards, and do you know, I fairly cantered up that hill! I amazed myself. There’s no way I could have done that a year ago, so I guess twelve months of cutting calories and carbs is really starting to pay off.

How Much?

We’d arranged to meet up with Ann Cobb, who is a lovely lady who reads our books and follows us on Facebook. She lives in that area and had asked if it would be possible to have a catch up over coffee. We decided we’d find somewhere to get a drink and dinner (lunch if you’re posh) and then text Ann to come and meet us. We looked at a few cafes and read the menus outside, but we quickly decided to keep looking. Sixteen quid for a cheese sandwich! Er, no thanks.

Luckily, we spotted good old M&S nearby, and it had a cafe, so we were saved. It was very busy but we managed to find a small table, where we ate lunch (dinner!) and cooled off a bit. As the cafe quietened, we moved to a bigger table in the corner where we were soon joined by Ann, who turned out to be just as lovely as we’d imagined. We had a good old chinwag, then said goodbye and headed off to The Old Swan to pick up our tickets and passes for the festival.

Where Agatha Christie Walked!

To think, Agatha Christie walked through that front door!

I was so excited to see The Old Swan. Some of you may know that I love Agatha Christie’s books. Last year, on our way to South Devon, we called at a little church in Oxfordshire where she’s buried, and I take part, every year, in the Read Christie Challenge, which is great fun and a brilliant way to make your way through her books. The Old Swan is where Agatha was found after going missing in December, 1926. You can read more about the mysterious events of that time here.

Did you notice that someone’s hung a Poirot moustache on the headstone?

The Bells! The Bells!

We had tea (all right, dinner - so confusing!) in the hotel restaurant, then headed up to our rooms at around nine o’clock, worn out after a long, hot day. I had a shower and settled into bed to watch television.

I’d just drifted off halfway through a repeat of Gogglebox when suddenly my eyes flew open in horror. The fire alarm was going off! There was a knock on my door and when I opened it I found a bleary-eyed Jessica waiting for me. We headed downstairs and filed out of the hotel to the bottom of the drive, where we stood around with the other residents wondering what was going on and looking for signs of smoke. A fire engine turned up and some firemen headed indoors while the hotel staff checked our room numbers to make sure we were all out of the building.

By then my back was really hurting again, so we found a picnic table and sat down, only to hastily get back up again when we realised it was crawling with woodlice!

Finally we were given the all clear and returned to our rooms, but it was so difficult to get back to sleep after that, and in the end I think I only managed around four hours that night.

Nice to meet you all!

Day 1 of the festival

Anyway, onwards and upwards! The next day we had breakfast then headed back to The Old Swan, where we bumped into several friends, old and new, including author Cass Grafton, who I knew already, and blogger Jill Doyle of Jill’s Book Cafe, the first time I’d met her - both truly lovely people, and Jill’s from Hull so understood every word I said!

Jessica and me with the lovely Cass Grafton

Unfortunately, though, my back had really started hurting - not helped by sitting on a hard chair while we listened to our first event, an author panel called Welcome to the Mind Palace. By the time that had ended, I was in pain, and as Jessica was heading off to a lunch with some of Team Boldwood, I dipped out and headed back to the hotel. My reasoning was that we had nothing else booked for that day, while Saturday was going to be hectic as we’d bought a rover ticket with access to all events, so it was better if I rested my back on the Friday and hoped it would behave itself the following day.

Jessica got back to the hotel in the early evening, complete with sandwiches and snacks, and we ate our tea together in her room before finally bidding goodnight. We joked about the fire alarm and, really, it must have been tempting fate. There I was, sound asleep in bed, and suddenly the bloody fire alarm started blaring out again. I couldn’t believe it! I remember rubbing my eyes and muttering, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

I staggered out onto the landing where I found Jessica waiting for me. We didn’t say a word. The look we gave each other said everything! Downstairs we duly went again, solemnly heading to the end of the drive, waiting for the fire engine which arrived very quickly.

While we were waiting I had a message from our good friend and fellow Write Romantic, Helen Phifer. She’d booked into the same hotel that day and was sitting at a picnic table at the other side of the drive. We headed off to find her and, after checking for woodlice (!) we sat down with her and had a nice chat. Luckily, we weren’t outside nearly as long the second time, and headed wearily back to our rooms. I heard an irate guest playing merry hell with the poor receptionist about having his sleep interrupted two nights running!

If I look a bit hot, tired, and in pain, it’s because I was!

Day 2 of the festival

The next morning we had breakfast with Helen, then we all headed back to The Swan. Helen, who writes fabulous crime novels, had hosted a murder mystery table at dinner the previous evening, so she’d been given an author pass. Helen knows a lot more about crime writing than we do, obviously, and was more familiar with the authors at the festival, so we left her to go off and do her own thing for a while.

Jessica and I attended a panel event called Psycho Thrillers at 10.30, which we really enjoyed. We had a wander round for a bit and caught up with a few more people, then we went off to the town centre for - oh, let’s call it lunch to avoid confusion! We found a seat outside a pub called The Fat Badger, which we loved the name of! We had roast pork, stuffing and apple sauce sandwiches which were yummy (and less than £16! Cafe in town, take note), then we headed over to an independent bookshop and had a look around there. They had a brilliant air conditioning system and we spent a fair old time standing very close to the vent!

After lunch we headed back to the festival. Now, to be honest, the order in which we did things that afternoon are a blur. I know at some point we caught up with bloggers Anne Williams and Linda Hill, then had another wander which was when we bumped into the lovely Jennifer Page. The three of us settled down at a table (actually Jessica sat on the grass because you couldn’t get chairs for love nor money) with Anne and some of the Boldwood authors: Lynda Stacey, Rachel Dove, and Diane Saxon.

With Jennifer Page. Why do my sunglasses always look so lopsided?

I know Jessica, Jen and I headed up to the main tent for an event, but I can’t remember if it was for the panel talk called I Spy - which I hadn’t expected to enjoy much but in actual fact found it fascinating - or if it was for the penultimate talk of the day with Dorothy Koomson. It might even have been both! Anyway, we really enjoyed Dorothy’s event. She seemed absolutely lovely, and she was interviewed by Natasha Knight, who had the most fabulous voice ever! In fact, we both remarked on it as we were leaving the tent, and I slotted it into the filing cabinet in the back of my mind where I keep future characters’ traits!

Helen, me and Jessica.

Jessica and I headed off to find Helen Phifer again, and the three of us headed into town, where Helen had made reservations at an Italian restaurant for tea. We had the most delicious food. I had penne pollo, which was penne pasta with chicken and mushrooms in the most gorgeous creamy sauce. We’d have liked to try the puddings but, unfortunately, we didn’t have time. We had a date with Richard Osman!

Jessica was convinced the event started at eight, so we made our way back to The Old Swan and queued for ages while standing on a hilly path. Believe me, that did nothing for my back. Half an hour later I was in real pain and tempted to give up! It was only later that we discovered the event wasn’t due to start until eight-thirty, so we could have joined that queue half an hour later than we did. Never mind, because at least we got decent seats, and trust me, the event was packed!

In fact, it was so packed that Helen, who had an author pass and had to wait to see if there were any spare seats, gave up and went off to find something else to do!

Richard Osman was brilliant. As witty and charming as he is on the television, he answered writer Ruth Ware’s questions with humour and honesty. What impressed me the most about him was how much he clearly loves writing. You could hear the love for his characters and stories as he spoke about them, and the enthusiasm for his writing was obvious to us both. He had the audience in the palm of his hand. I loved him!

After that we went back to the hotel, keeping our fingers crossed that there’d be no fire alarm! There wasn’t, but you know when you’re half expecting something so you’re on edge? I found I couldn’t get to sleep for ages, even though I was really tired. Luckily, we were having breakfast a bit later than usual on the Sunday morning so it wasn’t so bad.

Day 3 of the festival

We joined Helen for breakfast again, then we said goodbye to her, and Jessica and I went up to our rooms to pack, loaded our luggage into the car, and handed in our keys before heading out to The Old Swan for our final event. We were a little taken aback to discover the event organisers and volunteers were already packing everything up! We were sitting on a fake blood spattered bench and found people hovering nearby as they were waiting to take it away! It did feel a bit like Sunday was a non-event in their eyes.

We were delighted to catch up with Cleethorpes writer Joy Wood, who we’ve met before on several occasions. Joy is so bubbly and lovely, and we had a great chat before she joined us for the event. Ellie Griffiths was in conversation with writer Stig Abell. I have a few of Ellie’s books on my Kindle and have heard nothing but praise for them. Somehow, I’ve never got round to reading them, but I fully intend to start, having heard her talk. She was really interesting and down to earth, and we liked Stig too. He made a great interviewer!

After that event, the festival was over. Jessica and I said goodbye to Joy, then headed back to our hotel to collect the car and start the journey home. It had been a long four days and it felt as if we’d packed a lot into it!

So what were my final thoughts on the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival?

Would you trust these women?

Good Things

• I was excited to be out of the house. So that’s always a positive!

• Harrogate is absolutely beautiful. Hilly, but beautiful. I would definitely like to go back and explore it again properly.

• It was fabulous to catch up with so many of my friends, and to meet new ones.

• The talks were brilliant, and I enjoyed every single one of them. And where else would you find so many crime writing superstars?

• The Old Swan Hotel! Agatha Christie, people! So exciting to be where she once was, even if it wasn’t the happiest time of her life.

Me with my Pepsi Max. Oh, the glamour!

Not-So-Good Things

• There was nowhere near enough seating. People were scrabbling for chairs. There were a lot of older people in attendance, and it was a very hot few days. People needed to rest. More chairs, please!

• The beer tent smelled awful! Not like beer (I actually love the smell of beer) but of rotting fruit or something. Not nice. And that was from day one.

• There weren’t as many food concessions about as I’d thought there’d be, and I have to say the bottled drinks were expensive!

• The website and the booking process were a nightmare. Trying to even book tickets to the events was like solving a crime in itself. I think Agatha, genius though she was, would have been stumped!

• Having to queue on that hill for events was not good for someone with a bad back. Nor was it good for quite a few of the more elderly attendees. In fact, anyone who had any sort of mobility problem would struggle. I do think there has to be a better place to position the events tent. Either that or ensure people can head straight in, because standing on a hillside for more than half an hour is painful!

• The weather. It was too hot! (Okay, not the festival’s fault.)

• I found out that Richard Osman’s wife, Ingrid Oliver, was at the festival, but only after I’d got back home. I missed her! And I wanted to ask her if she’s ever coming back to Doctor Who so I was gutted. Bring back Osgood! (When you know, you know.) (Okay, again, not the festival’s fault.)

• Somehow I didn’t see even half the people who I knew were attending, and I can’t imagine where they all were. (Still not the festival’s fault? Yeah, I’ll give you that.)

• It’s an expensive event. I understand why, but I’d have to really, really love it to fork out that much for three days again, and the truth is, I didn’t really, really love it. I really, really liked it, but that’s not the same, is it?

That’s not the event’s fault either. The fact is, I’m not a big crime reader. Apart from a few authors, I hadn’t heard of most of the ones there. I could have been sitting right next to a big name and I wouldn’t have known. I knew Richard Osman, Ellie Griffiths, and Dorothy Koomson obviously, but as for the others, nope, not a clue. Which didn’t stop me enjoying the panel events, by the way. I found them really interesting and I’m glad I went. But would I go again? I doubt it, although I did discover that at a previous festival Ann Cleeves, Brenda Blethyn, and Robson Green were there, and if that ever happened again you wouldn’t be able to keep me away!

But I think probably, if I ever did go again, it would just be for the Saturday. (Or whichever day you’d find Ann Cleeves, Brenda Blethyn, and Robson Green…)

Even so, I’m very glad I went to the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival 2024. It’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do and I’ve ticked it off my list. Listening to those authors enthusing about their writing made me feel more enthusiastic about my own, and I was reminded how much I love my job, and how lucky I am to do this for a living. And I still have that cosy crime series in mind, so you never know…

Have a great week!