Why Do I Like to Read Crime Fiction?
The short answer is because it's the first genre I read as a kid. You alway fall the hardest for your first love. I devoured books on the Hardy boys, the Three Investigators, the Happy Hollisters, though I never became Nancy Drew fan. I don't remember why. She was always trim and attractive on the front covers.
Conflict always makes for the best plots, and crime fiction has all that and more. Plus there are a lot of top-notch titles getting published right now. Stuart Neville is one author to watch. Plus my old standbys like Bill Pronzini and Ed Gorman are going stronger than ever. I'm itching to dive into Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire. But this blog is about the why, not the who.
Look, when I start a good crime fiction title, and get wrapped up in it, the time just flies by. That's when I'm transported. And that's where every reader yearns to be. I just finished up the new George Pelecanos title The Cut and I had to chill out for a bit before trying to fall asleep. Wow. My heart pounded, my blood raced. I kid you not. So, what better reason do I cite for why I read crime fiction?
Happy reading to you and yours!
By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Definitely recommend you take a fictional journey to Lake Charles."
Elizabeth A. White's Musings of an All Purpose Monkey
Conflict always makes for the best plots, and crime fiction has all that and more. Plus there are a lot of top-notch titles getting published right now. Stuart Neville is one author to watch. Plus my old standbys like Bill Pronzini and Ed Gorman are going stronger than ever. I'm itching to dive into Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire. But this blog is about the why, not the who.
Look, when I start a good crime fiction title, and get wrapped up in it, the time just flies by. That's when I'm transported. And that's where every reader yearns to be. I just finished up the new George Pelecanos title The Cut and I had to chill out for a bit before trying to fall asleep. Wow. My heart pounded, my blood raced. I kid you not. So, what better reason do I cite for why I read crime fiction?
Happy reading to you and yours!
By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Definitely recommend you take a fictional journey to Lake Charles."
Elizabeth A. White's Musings of an All Purpose Monkey
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Alan wrote: "lol! Ed I wrote a very similar blog post a week or so back. It's here: http://tontowilliams.posterous.com/th...For me it started with Sherlock Holmes though, but The Har..."
Nancy Drew was a girls' book. Now I find out. Right, Sherlock was an early read for me, too. Those Baskervilles gave me the creeps. Still do.
Alberto wrote: "When I was a kid there where Three Investigators books around, but my dad had got Ellery Queens, Cornell Woolrich and anthologies in spanish of detective short stories, I think from EQ Mystery Mag...."EQ and AC I can remember, sure, but not Woolrich so much as maybe Spillane and Prather. My grandfather passed those sorts of paperbacks on to me. What fun. Thanks for your remarks, Alberto.
I didnt become a reader for real, read my fav authors, genres until i was 23 years old. I like crime genre simply because i was drawn to amazing writers of noir, PI crime. My first crime authors was Michael Connelly Bosch books which is good but not special. After that i went back to old greats. I read The Killer Inside Me, The Continental OP collection, The Big Sleep and i was hooked for ever. Look at my bookshelf i have read more old crime than modern crime books.Im glad i wasnt a kid when i read crime, i could as an adult appreciate both great authors and fun crime series to read.
Mohammed wrote: "I didnt become a reader for real, read my fav authors, genres until i was 23 years old. I like crime genre simply because i was drawn to amazing writers of noir, PI crime. My first crime authors..."Yours is a different perspective, Mohammed. As a kid, I'm sure a lot of the material goes over a reader's head. That's bad, too. I've reread books as an adult. Sometimes I'm surprised by how badly written the books are. Jim Thompson is a true original writer.
I must tell you its feel so refreshing not to have nostalgic memories of books. Not to be afraid that after a re-read the book was so badly written, the author not as you thought.I dont need to re-read when i can almost remember my first books in fav genres because it was like 6 years ago.
I use to envy people who read as kids because they have read more books when they are adult. But not anymore, i dont have to re-read, no nostalgic favs. All my favs are adult reads and the ones i dont respect as much is because i have read better authors afterward.
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For me it started with Sherlock Holmes though, but The Hardy Boys and The Three Investigators were in there too. Nancy Drew was for girls!