Patricia Cornwell at the Black Museum

The invitations to Patricia Cornwell’s fundraising dinner at Scotland Yard instructed us to wear ‘lounge suits’, which caused some debate amongst the Little, Brown attendees and their guests, especially those of a female nature. But we all managed to scrape together a nice outfit and make our way to London’s premier policing venue. 

I’d been wanting to see the Crime Museum – or as it used to be called, the Black Museum – for ages, recently fuelled by a friend having been because he works for the Met. It’s not open to the public – you have to be invited, and I was wondering if I’d ever be able to go there. My friend had described the horrors within and said I’d be scared – but I was fascinated and not put off by the grislyness of exhibits being potential evidence, ie having all the blood and nastiness left on the weapons in case they were needed down the line. The museum is not only fun for those who get to see it, it’s also used for training new police officers, keeping evidence that might need to be re-examined and helping forensic types with their work. So it was fitting that Patricia Cornwell was throwing the benefit in its honour. M’colleagues Emma and Sara were paticularly taken with the frying pan that had come from the 2004 cannibalism case, and we all oohed at Denis Nielsen’s bath and oven, peered at the Jack the Ripper letter and photos and were lectured by the proud curator, Alan McCormick, on the many guns that were on display. There were hangman’s nooses and IRA bombs, and spooky death masks that looked down on us from shelves in the entrance room, over the gun cases.

We then convened at the bar - with everyone pointing out that Jeremy Beadle, a longtime true crime fan, was in attendance – and there was enough time to settle our stomachs in time for dinner, where I enjoyed mixing my courses between pescatarian and vegetarian with the result of a smoked salmon starter and pasta main. There was a very rich chocolate mousse for after and a cheese plate – perfect. We had goodie bags that involved a signed copy of Book of the Dead with PC’s fingerprint on – a rare item; plus a DVD about the museum. As a grisly touch, the menu was set against a picture of the museum’s ropes (one of which hung Ruth Ellis). After the food and talking and David Shelley panicking that everything was OK, which it was. Patricia Cornwell gave a talk about her collaboration with the museum and then took some questions – expertly parrying, I must say, a selection of odd heckling and probing queries.

And I didn’t have nightmares. If it had been a ghost museum, then that would be a different matter altogether.

Posted 18/12/2007 16:09:35 by Thalia Proctor, Crime Desk Editor with 0 comments.