Speculative Lunch: Investigating cosy crime friction and the Golden Age

The event will explore potential areas of research and collaboration around the development and growth in the sub-genre of cosy crime fiction.

Abstract
Recent decades have seen a surge in the publication of what is known as ‘cosy crime’ fiction, a sub-genre which draws on the tropes of British ‘Golden Age’ detective fiction for inspiration and tone. Many writers reference these earlier novels directly through setting their narratives in Britain during the interwar period. Despite the global popularity of such contemporary reworkings and series’ continuations they have tended to be ignored by the growing body of scholarship on interwar fiction and the middlebrow.

The lunch will explore potential areas of inter- and cross-disciplinary research and collaboration around the development and growth of this sub-genre. Possible areas for exploration include the economics of the genre, its relationship with heritage industries in Britain and America, memory and commemoration of war, place and space, history of the book and the publishing industry, literary imagination and historical authenticity, authorship and readership, sociological and cultural understandings of crime, punishment and violence, and representations of trauma.

We will be joined at lunch by Frances Brody, author of the Kate Shackleton mysteries (set in Leeds), who will initiate discussion with a presentation on her work and research methods.

Bookings
To reserve a place at the event please email LHRI. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Location details

LHRI - Seminar Room 1