Crime author Pauline Rowson on what makes crime fiction so popular



Crime fiction is one of the best selling genres and the most borrowed from public libraries. So what is it that makes crime fiction so popular?  Well apart from being a cracking good read, in crime fiction we know that, generally speaking, justice will be done and the case will be resolved and that doesn’t always happen in real life.

In crime fiction the villain either gets caught or gets his/her comeuppance but in real life the evil and manipulative, the guilty can get away with it as in the case of the unsolved murder in my own family in 1959 that of my great aunt, Martha Giles.

Crime fiction can give us a resolution. It can also give us an insight into what makes people tick.
One of the reasons I believe crime fiction is popular is because people are fascinated by human behaviour. Sometimes we are warmed by the actions of others and at other times horrified and appalled by it.  I am interested in personalities, behaviour and motivation. What is it that makes people do the things they do?

I also enjoy a puzzle to solve, a crime to investigate and a mystery to unravel  and that's what I enjoy writing.  I also like plenty of action and tension. When reading a crime novel I like to pit my wits against the protagonist or the detective and see if I can solve the crime before he or she can. 

When writing my own police procedural crime novels featuring the rugged and flawed DI Andy Horton I often don't know  who did it, why, where or when  until I am writing the novel. As the characters begin to develop and their personalities and motivations become clearer then I begin to unravel the crime.


The same goes for my mystery thriller hero, Art Marvik. a fomer Royal Marine Commando, who becomes attached to work undercover for the UK's Police National Intelligence Marine Squad (NIMS) and for myScotland Yard detective, Inspector Ryga in my 1950s set mysteries .

Crime fiction covers so many facets of human nature.  The same for true crime. It’s a kind of voyeurism, the ghoul factor that causes people to stand and gawp at an accident or incident. Me though, I’m a real coward. I run a mile from reading true crime. Give me crime fiction any day where I can see that justice is served and my heroes triumphs!


The Art Marvik mystery thrillers


The Inspector Ryga Mysteries


DI Andy Horton crime novels 15 in the series

DI Andy Horton crime novels 15 in the series


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