Crime Fiction

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hat is crime fiction? Well, put simply, it deals with crime: the solving of the crime and the circumstances of the people involved with the crime, both criminal and not. However, there are so many subgenres that nailing down any further definition is not possible.

In the most common detective fiction, we follow a detective, professional or amateur, as they investigate a crime

In the most common detective fiction, we follow a detective, professional or amateur, as they investigate a crime. A typical inversion of this is the aptly-named inverted detective story, in which we see a crime committed at the start and the detective try to catch the culprit. The courtroom drama is somewhat self-explanatory: the crime is solved in the court, normally by a lawyer (think Perry Mason). You can also read hard-boiled fiction, which is more realistic and gritty crime fiction, normally with a tough-talking PI like Sam Spade.

A lot of the thrill of crime fiction is in the puzzle. In a whodunit, the reader is presented with the same clues as the detective and invited to try and solve the crime, almost always a murder. The tale then becomes a battle of wits between the author and the reader, with a great deal of satisfaction to be found in cracking the case.

In a whodunit, the reader is presented with the same clues as the detective and invited to try and solve the crime, almost always a murder

Certain writers have demonstrated an incredible ability to mislead the reader, the most obvious being our ‘Queen of Crime’, Agatha Christie. As author of the best-selling mystery ever, And Then There Were None, Christie’s credence is beyond doubt. She truly defined the whodunit, writing more than 60 crime novels and inventing the iconic Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Any crime fan should check her out – I would recommend her Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? and Murder on the Orient Express.

Some of the first crime stories ever published were Edgar Allen Poe’s three Auguste Dupin tales, which helped push the evolution of the locked-room mystery – a crime committed in a locked room such that the perpetrator could not have done it and escaped. Another iconic example is Sherlock Holmes, whose stories and solutions, as exercises of reasoning, remain as ingenious today. Another detective from the era is Chesteron’s Father Brown, who adopted a similar method to Holmes but concerned himself more with spiritual and philosophical truths.

As a genre, crime has always gone from strength to strength, with an incredible back catalogue to delve into

Nowadays, crime fiction could not be more in abundance, and has remained a consistently popular genre since its inception. My picks of more recent crime fiction include Colin Dexter’s Morse books and Henning Mankell’s Wallander series. I would be remiss to not also mention hits such as Steig Larsson’s The Girl series and Gone Girl. As a genre, crime has always gone from strength to strength, with an incredible back catalogue to delve into.