>
– for the alphabet in crime meme –
I know that several of you agree with me that engaging, credible characters are what make you read one volume after the other year after year once you have stumbled on a new crime series.
Now there are different crime genres, but have you thought about the similarities between the structure of a traditional crime novel and a Renaissance drama?
A serious crime takes place, most often a murder, and the structured, predictable world of the bereaved falls apart. The police or detectives appear on stage, and over a couple of hundred pages they solve the crime. Order is restored, the relatives achieve a feeling of closure, and the reader can relax in her comfortable armchair.
Which genre do you prefer? The traditional (conservative) mystery or the darker thriller which may seem more realistic, and where you don´t quite know which kind of ending to expect?
Personally, I like varying my reading, but I don´t necessarily buy the idea that modern, fast-paced crime novels convey a more real picture of our society. The darker setting and the brutality may be true of many places of the world, but not the tendency to escalate the number of bodies or the spectacular endings that are in vogue nowadays. Crime fiction is just fiction, a few hours of entertainment or escapism, and though some questions may be left open, I am sure most readers want to know who, how and why.
djskrimiblog 