Crime fiction

Photo: Siw Haugnes Artist: Derek Askem

I can hardly think of a genre where a terrible memory fits me better than when I'm reading a crime fiction over again. I like the genre because it's thrilling to read (if the story is a good one), it's relaxing to read (suits fine on vacation) while still challenging (can I find the solution before detective?).

I feel there's a difference between crime fiction and thrillers. Not all thrillers are crime fiction, but a good crime fiction should be thrilling. In my world, a crime fiction should not give away the murderer until the end. That's not saying I find a novel where the offender is known as boring, far from it. I often find it very thrilling to see if the offender get caught or not. It's only that I define that in a crime fiction you have to search for the criminal.

Wikipedia has an article about crime fiction, here the writers discuss the difference between a crime fiction and an "ordinary" fiction, or if there is any difference at all.

Last updated May 2007