Do I Detect A Crime Fiction Book?

If you enjoy figuring out who did it, and how and why he did it, a crime fiction book might be a perfect match for you.

Rather than living a life of crime, you can write one. Much safer. Much less chance of going to jail. And your mom will be much prouder than if you robbed a bank.

Does that make this genre legal robbery? Heck no! Your readers will adore you and shell out their hard-earned cash in droves if you can write good crime fiction.

And if you happen to have a background in police work or a similar venue, all the better. You can create authentic details other authors would have to research. All without lifting a finger. Except to type your manuscript, of course.


Crime Fighting... Er Writing 101

Crime's been around as long as man (and woman) has. Running off with the neighbor's haunch of mammoth is just as much a crime as nicking your neighbor's computer these days.

So to write a good crime fiction book, you only have to watch the news, read the papers or the police blotters to find heaps of great crimes to base your novels upon. (Just be sure, as always, to avoid creating characters who are too much like real life people. Or you'll be committing a crime!)

Early crime fiction seems to have begun in Arabia, with the tales Scheherazade told. It wasn't until the 19th century, though, that the crime fiction book took its more modern day form.

Nowadays there's usually a detective or police trying to solve the case, figure out motive, eliminate alibis and such. Scheherazade just told what happened. Not how, why or sometimes even who.

Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first "modern" crime writers. If you've never read any of his stories, I suggest you do. Even by today's standards, he's a pro.

He's credited with creating the first detective character (when the word detective was not yet in use). A character we were much more interested in, especially to see if he could follow the clues to solve the crime.

His "Locked Room" series was quite popular, giving the reader a chance to try to solve the crime before the end of the story.

Poe was very important to the crime fiction genre. According to William L. De Andrea (Encyclopedia Mysteriosa, 1994):

"...Poe seems to have anticipated virtually every important development to follow in the genre, from the idea of a lesser side-kick to the detective as narrator (later epitomised in the Dr. Watson of the Sherlock Holmes stories) to the concept of an armchair detective to the prototype of the secret service story."

Not long after Poe came a detective nearly everyone's heard of. Sherlock Holmes. Along with his friend Dr. Watson, who invariably helps Sherlock solve the crime by talking through the clues.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created an icon when he wrote his novels about Sherlock Holmes. And many an author used a similar basis to write their own crime fiction.


Different Cultures, Different Formats

Read an early Chinese crime fiction book and you'll have an entirely different viewpoint and emphasis than if you read one written by the early British authors like Agatha Christie.

The Chinese writers usually used a judge for their viewpoint character and introduced the criminal right off, describing his crime and the reasons he committed it in detail. They often had a ghost explaining much of the situation, and might include complete legal texts (making them huge books) as well as a cast of hundreds.

Oddly (to me), they spent much more time describing the criminal's punishment and torment in hell than in delineating the crime itself.

In contrast, British authors who wrote in the early 1900s wrote what became called a "cosy" (due to their typical settings). While they often had their sidekicks like Dr. Watson, they followed many conventions and cliches, leaving much of the mystery out of the crime.

Yes, there were twists and turns, but they led to the murderer very neatly, Sometimes without much surprise. But the best authors of the 1920s and '30s led their readers on a chase, finally pointing a finger at the least likely suspect of the lot.

Other "conventions" of a typical British crime fiction book were things like the maid finding a stranger's body when she just happened into a room to dust, a few guests arriving for a weekend getaway at the secluded English country house where the story was set, and the police being incompetent or unavailable to solve the mystery.

(If you've ever seen the movie Clue, you'll see a very funny take on the British crime fiction book.)

We Americans decided to ignore British convention and make our own way (sound familiar?). Authors like Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett (to name only a few), created their own set of "rules". And gave birth to what is commonly called the "hard-boiled" crime fiction book.

The protagonist is a tough loner PI (private investigator), usually between 35 and 45 years old, and known as a troublemaker. He frequents shady bars where he meets his informants, drinking heavily without ever becoming impaired. He always has his gun in tow, and will shoot criminals if necessary, or take a beating if it helps him solve his case.

He tends to be a female magnet, being sought to follow plenty of blonde beauty's husbands to catch them being unfaithful. While he knows he's working on the same side as the police, he prefers to take matters into his own hands when corruption on the force gets in the way of fighting crime.

The plot can seem simple on the surface, but generally takes the detective all over his urban landscape in an effort to solve the crime.

So while there are differences, American crime fiction just has (or had, at least) its own cliches and conventions to follow. Making it not so different after all, huh?


What's Getting Read Today

Things have changed (have you noticed?). These days a crime fiction book has much more latitude in its format.

While we still have whodunits and private eye stories (albeit updated to use fewer cliches), authors have branched out while writing their crime fiction (closely related to suspense and mystery fiction books , by the way).

Now we see everything from spy thrillers to psychological suspense (where we delve into the criminal's mind - scary thought). The James Bond movies became popular in the 60s and are still going strong today. So done right, you clearly have a market in spy fiction.

Another newer sub-genre is courtroom dramas. Scott Turow, formerly a lawyer, writes in this style, and became well-known with his first hit, Presumed Innocent published in 1987. Other authors have followed in his footsteps.

Then there are historical mysteries, set anytime from the Roman era to the recent past. Or, for a twist on history, you can find futuristic crime fiction.

A favorite crime writer of mine, Nora Roberts branched out in this area under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. While her series defies easy categorization, it includes another popular trend, and that is a female lead (though more often the female lead is a private investigator).

Ms. Robert's futuristic fiction blends in one of the most popular areas of modern crime fiction; that of the police procedural. In this sub-genre, we follow the police step by step as they solve a crime. While most of these tend to be less dramatic because the lead is generally not threatened, J.D. Robb's heroine ends up in peril occasionally.

Besides J.D. Robb, another of my favorite crime fiction authors is Dick Francis. After retiring as a jump jockey, he got into journalism and eventually fiction. His character-driven novels are a great example of modern crime fiction, even though they don't fit neatly into a specific sub-genre, either.

If you have an interest in writing a crime fiction book, you clearly have a wide choice of styles to choose from. Just study the writing in the sub-genre you want to read, and you can write a winner, too.

Do I detect the next bestseller?