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10/01/2003: "More Than a Crime Writer"
I noticed that the advertising blurb for Ian Rankin's new novel A Question of Blood includes the description of Ian as 'more than a crime writer' which I suppose is meant to indicate that he deals with grander and greater issues than just crime. Well, it is my experience that all crime writers do this. While a death - a murder - may be at the heart of a crime novel (and it isn't always) many other themes are embraced along the way: sex, religion, adultery, betrayal, politics, self discovery, mental illness, and race relations et al. You will find all these themes and more in novels lodged on the crime fiction shelves of your local Borders, W.H. Smiths, Ottakers or Waterstones.
It is true to say that many crime writers did not specifically set out to write about crime but had other messages to convey and it just turned out that involving crime was the most effective of doing it. In a recent conversation with Hilary Bonner, the current Chairman of the CWA, she told me that when her first novel was published she was contacted by Peter Walker (aka Nicholas Rhea of Heartbeat fame) who was a past Chairman of the CWA. He encouraged Hilary to join the CWA which she was happy to do but admitted, 'I didn't know until Peter contacted me that I had actually written a crime novel'.
The crime novel has evolved and developed since the war. Today the scope is greater than ever. All periods of history seem to be covered by the crime writer from Ancient Egypt through to the dark days of the Second World War and on to the 1950s and the emergence of a new national cultural identity. Modern crime writers reflect the conscience, the mores and the moral attitudes of the time in which they set their tale. In this sense they are indeed 'more than a crime writer.' They catch the essence of the times in all its facets whether it be Elizabethan England, 19th Century New York or present day Edinburgh. Their canvas is rich, broad, and perceptive.
It is interesting to note that in America crime writers are called 'mystery writers' which perhaps is a more apt description. Life is certainly a mystery which ends with the greatest mystery of all - death. It would seem to me that crime writers/mystery writers attempt to illuminate many aspects of our journey to that dark conclusion.
One of the greatest plays in the English language concerns the death of a father, an adulterous relationship, poisoned weapons and, finally, murderous revenge. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. I think you will agree that Mr Shakespeare 'more than a crime writer.'
David Stuart Davies on Monday, October 1st 2003 @ 03:35 PM GMT [link]