Now that my book written with Stuart Gibbon -The Crime Writer's Casebook - is almost out, I'm asking myself again, why crime and investigation fiction is so dominant. I was reminded of this line of thought when I came across a writer I have always admired, John B. Keane's books. Years ago I saw his play Big Maggie at the Abbey in Dublin and I saw then just how much we need writing to amuse us. I followed this by reading The Chastitute and laughed aloud. For all my enjoyment of true crime, I have to say that we need humorous writing more than ever. So how about a combination of the two? Surely Leslie Thomas and his 'Dangerous Davies' is the signpost to a solution here? What about Dalziel as well?
Our new handbook will help all kinds of crime writers, but please, please. you aspiring rivals to Dexter and Rankin, put the humour in as well! I guess it relates to our obsession with murder. There are hundreds of other offences, by the way, most suitable for fictional treatment.