Rumour has it that crime doesn’t pay but judging by recent bestseller lists, film sale rights and even library loan figures, the fiction of crime really does seem pretty lucrative. To celebrate the diversity, quality, breadth and energy of British crime fiction, this issue of Literature Matters plays homage to the genre and features articles by a wide range of critics, novelists, booksellers and publishers, discussing the strengths, weaknesses and quirks within the genre. Issues around translation and crime fiction are huge right now, and Maxim Jakubowski and Christopher MacLehose discuss this with eloquence and passion. Denise Mina explores the complicated and emotive subject of the status of crime writing while Simon Brett and Nicholas Blincoe both offer insights into how crime fiction came to be both revered as serious literary fiction and dismissed as light genre fare. Carla Banks and Margaret Murphy offer a splendid overview of the current greats and the newbies of the crime fiction world. And as far as everything else goes, the regular features are with us too – Writers Talk Books, Writers Abroad and Plat du Jour.
By Catriona Ferguson
The European Influence
The British Crime Writer’s Association has recently excluded novels published in translation from being included in their prestigious Golden Dagger award. Bookseller and critic Maxim Jakubowski and publisher Christopher MacElhose discuss this and other issues around translation and the influence of international writing on British crime writing.
Carla Banks and Margaret Murphy are both highly respected writers of crime fiction. In Changing Crime Carla Banks explores where the genre is going, the influences that might dictate new developments and who the new queens and kings of the crime novel will be. Margaret Murphy offers a wonderful overview of the cream of the current crop of crime writing.
P. D. James is one of the most well known and enjoyed of British crime writers. Here, she discusses the moral universe in which her characters operate. Natasha Cooper’s novels feature a dynamic female barrister. Her plots are engaging and compulsive and the detail behind the legal knowledge formidable. Here she discusses the expertise required when writing a crime novel.
Malcolm Pryce is an innovate and bold writer who writes humorous adventures featuring the private detective Louie Knight. Here he explores his own complicated feelings towards the genre. Lauren Henderson has enthralled readers with her cool heroine Sam Jones and discusses the meaning of tart noir and the sassy women who feature in contemporary crime fiction.
Stella Duffy’s series of novels featuring the irrepressible Saz Martin are adventurous and bold. She also writes intriguing fiction, marketed as straight literary fiction. Here she discusses the differences between the forms she is working in. Meanwhile Denise Mina, a writer of extraordinary depth and insight, explores the politics of writing a British crime novel.
Simon Brett is one of the most familiar and loved names in crime writing. Here, he outlines the history of the British crime novel and discusses the forefathers of the genre that have influenced the current crop of writers. Nicholas Blincoe is a writer whose enjoyable romps often have serious political undertones. Here he looks at the position of crime writing within the tradition of British writing.
Louise Doughty, who once wrote a sort of crime novel (Honey-Dew is a novel about a couple murdered in a small village) writes about her experiences on a British Council trip to the Walberberg seminar.
