def read_party(fname=None, read_detection_catalog=True):
    """
    Read detections and metadata from a tar archive.

    :type fname: str
    :param fname:
        Filename to read from, if this contains a single Family, then will
        return a party of length = 1
    :type read_detection_catalog: bool
    :param read_detection_catalog:
        Whether to read the detection catalog or not, if False, catalog
        will be regenerated - for large catalogs this can be faster.

    :return: :class:`eqcorrscan.core.match_filter.Party`
    """
    party = Party()
    party.read(filename=fname, read_detection_catalog=read_detection_catalog)
    return party