The importance of crime/thriller fiction…
Our Crime Reading month is packed full of fun events and speakers so if you haven’t already, please book your tickets now! Bradford Libraries event tickets from TicketSource.
Today we hear from crime writer, Scott Hunter who asks the question… Why does crime fiction continue to fascinate? And murder in particular…
I have several theories about this.
As human beings, we are all guilty of convincing ourselves of one thing: death is for other people, not us.
We go about our daily lives as though we are going to live forever; intrusive thoughts concerning our mortality are rapidly confined to the ‘open much, much later’ storage area in the back of our minds.
I’m sure you’ll agree that, in our culture, death is very much a taboo subject.
But here’s the paradox: we love to read about it, albeit in a fictional context, and especially if we’re talking murder – the most violent way for a life to be ended.
Why?
Is it, perhaps, because fictional crime allows us to process the subject matter, to wrestle with the implications of a terminated life without fear of the scary parts intruding into our own? To ease us into thoughtful speculation about the inescapable and alarming prospect of our own eventual demise?
In the pages of a book we can experience the ramifications of the broken sixth commandment from the comfort of our armchairs, as we join the protagonist on the journey towards resolution and exposure of the perpetrator, hopefully learning a few home truths along the way, enjoying the excitement of the chase, the characters’ emotional ups and downs, even perhaps getting to know and understand the villain – how they came to a point where it was possible for them to commit such a terrible crime, or crimes.
I began writing crime fiction through the necessity of requiring a police detective for one of my first novels, an archaeological adventure called ‘The Trespass’. Although DCI Brendan Moran was a supporting character in ‘The Trespass’, I felt that there was potential to develop his character.
I’m very glad I did.
The DCI Brendan Moran series was born in 2010, and currently comprises ten books with the eleventh in progress as I write.
In the series I wanted not only to expose and examine the flaws and failures so common to our human nature, but also to celebrate our ‘better’ side and, of course, explore the treacherous and diverse arcs of the characters’ emotional entanglements. There has to be at least one love interest in a crime novel, agreed?
In DCI Brendan Moran, we meet a man in his later years who has experienced it all: personal loss, with all its accompanying sadness and grief, a good measure of success in his career, the inevitable clashes with seniors and colleagues alike, and a series of criminal cases ranging from the convoluted and violent to the cold and mysterious.
I am very much looking forward to introducing DCI Brendan Moran to you all at the City Library on 29th June. I’ll be reading from the first book in the series (Black December) and will also have the series books available to buy at the event.
Thank you for inviting me, and I do hope that you enjoy the evening – with James and Liz Mistry on board, it promises to be not only forensically fascinating but also criminally good fun!
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