It Would Be A Crime To Dislike Fiction Books

RSS Author RSS     Views:N/A
Bookmark and Share         
Crime and thriller fiction is not easy to classify bearing in mind that it may be awkward to isolate where crime fiction begins or where it ends. The central and essential elements of crime and mystery fiction books are death, danger and love. It also comprises of a few sub-genres that incorporate detective novels (such as the whodunit), legal or courtroom thrillers.

Crime fiction is a book genre that fictionalises crimes and the detection of them, not forgetting those comitting the crimes and their reasons for them. Crime fiction is in the main distinguished from mainstream fiction genres, for example historical or science fiction, but in the majority of instances the boundaries can be unclear.

Agatha Christie is a very popular detective (whodunit) novelist, the creator of Miss Marple and Poirot no less, however crime fiction today more often than not contains the most ghastly or hideous of acts. It's also possible to relate to the characters or heroes in these type of books and doing so helps readers to enjoy them more and more and empathising with a detective who has to overcome a number of obstacles or difficult conditions means they are extremely fascinating to crime fiction readers.


Certain readers could consider detective fiction a bit tame as they’ve developed an interest in knowing how the darker side of humanity may present itself. Maybe the reason women especially are attracted to this genre is that crime fiction gives people an opportunity to discover the criminal motivations of a killer, whilst in the confines of the pages of a book.

For hundreds of years British books of fiction, especially crime, has advanced from being a humble celebration of reason to become the precise opposite. This might have a great deal to do with transformations in civilization as a whole and the fair and incorruptible British justice, that resulted in criminals unsurprisingly receiving the punishment they deserve with killers being sent to the gallows. It would be fair to say that as the laws of the land changed, like the abolition of hanging during 1964, so too did crime and mystery fiction stories since each one of these changes will have been mirrored in this genre and by taking into account the time period in which the tale was set.


Thankfully, crime fiction and the film and TV industries have complemented each other very well through the years. Both indulge the need of the average audience to travel into a world of fantasy, in which the hero reaps the rewards and the baddie incurs the punishment. Adaptations of crime fiction into films most often are hugely profitable, such as the books of mystery fiction authors such as The Client and A Time to Kill by John Grisham.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is generally thought of to be one of the earliest detective books with the novel's hero, Walter Hartright, relying on most of the investigation practices we very often associate with later detectives. This novel also provides a desirable look into the origins of the genre.

Crime fiction readers worldwide are fascinated by novels set during the Victorian era. These books allow us to take a look into the way the police worked in those days and the techniques they applied to solve the crimes of the day. Because mystery fiction novels nowadays can be, and quite often are, determined by criminal profiling, pathologists, databases, DNA etc, it can be a pleasure to return to the simpler techniques, to put it another way, villain versus hero, brains against strength and the demanding work of the unaided detective.

Crime fiction is designed to get your attention inside the first couple of pages and it's this component that makes crime and mystery fiction books the reads you'll never forget.


Shop 4 Books is an online bookstore for everything books. We have a diverse range of categories covering all genres and in all major formats. We can also make it easy for you to obtain calendars, diaries, stationery, music CDs and downloads, DVDs, personalised books and much more. We have the lowest price books online so check us out and take advantage of all our frequent special offers.

Report this article

Bookmark and Share



Ask a Question about this Article