By Angela Kim
All of the classic “hard-boiled” detective novels depict similar features. The detective may be a police who is a ‘lone ranger’ type of person, someone who sticks to himself and doesn’t get involved with office politics. Throw in a death of a relative to make the case more personal for the detective. These a few cases, among many, that fall victim to the same old pattern of a detective novel. The author of the article introduces an alternative that he found much more exciting – detective novels written by women. While this comes close to generalizing, she discusses the fact that modern detective novels written by women these days do not always follow the hard-boiled detective fiction that we are so used to. She says these novels add a dash of “fabulism” and may even forego solutions to every mystery. These books don’t contain the typical murders in the alleyways and familiar scenes of bar fights or dark, musty offices. The authors add an emotional, personal flair by including conflicts between family, marriages, and friendships. These mysteries allow reading to become more of a personal affair rather than a predictable chain of events.
Authors that are mentioned in the article are Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl), Laura Lippman, Tana French, and Kate Atkinson. These authors break conventional detective story-telling and utilize more than just the same old crime in the same old streets, but create a better-rounded story that causes you to not only think, but feel. The author emphasizes that it’s not the “streets that are mean,” and that human nature as well as its “capacity for cruelty and evil” can do so much harm, creating a fantastic basis for a crime/detective novel.
To view the full article, click here: http://www.salon.com/2014/09/07/why_todays_most_exciting_crime_novelists_are_women/
All of the classic “hard-boiled” detective novels depict similar features. The detective may be a police who is a ‘lone ranger’ type of person, someone who sticks to himself and doesn’t get involved with office politics. Throw in a death of a relative to make the case more personal for the detective. These a few cases, among many, that fall victim to the same old pattern of a detective novel. The author of the article introduces an alternative that he found much more exciting – detective novels written by women. While this comes close to generalizing, she discusses the fact that modern detective novels written by women these days do not always follow the hard-boiled detective fiction that we are so used to. She says these novels add a dash of “fabulism” and may even forego solutions to every mystery. These books don’t contain the typical murders in the alleyways and familiar scenes of bar fights or dark, musty offices. The authors add an emotional, personal flair by including conflicts between family, marriages, and friendships. These mysteries allow reading to become more of a personal affair rather than a predictable chain of events.
Authors that are mentioned in the article are Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl), Laura Lippman, Tana French, and Kate Atkinson. These authors break conventional detective story-telling and utilize more than just the same old crime in the same old streets, but create a better-rounded story that causes you to not only think, but feel. The author emphasizes that it’s not the “streets that are mean,” and that human nature as well as its “capacity for cruelty and evil” can do so much harm, creating a fantastic basis for a crime/detective novel.
To view the full article, click here: http://www.salon.com/2014/09/07/why_todays_most_exciting_crime_novelists_are_women/