The genre you are studying is not static.

It has changed over time to reflect its context.

Types of crime fiction:

Below is seven different sub-genres:

• Private Investigator - Mickey Spillane
• Cozy - Agatha Christie
• Suspense - Mary Higgins Clark
• Police Procedural - Ed McBain
• Crime Novels - Donald Westlake (Richard Stark)
• Legal Thriller - John Grisham
• Amateur Sleuth - Jessica Fletcher 'Murder, She Wrote'

There must be some features that link all these texts to the original genre of crime fiction.

Obviously there are some key conventions that constitutes the 'typical' crime fiction.

Some texts will focus more on one convention than another.

You cannot dispense with every convention. There has to be enough left of the genre to make it recognisable.

The Future of Crime Fiction

Visions for the future of this genre is continued domination by female writers.

Talk that the isolated by choice, 'lone wolf' fighter for justice detective is fading.

Heroes becoming less common, as audience becoming more insistent that characters are realistic.

Suggested the 'hero' will develop into more of an anti-hero. Instead more likely to be rejected by society.

The current trend of precise technical detail will continue. Technology and forensic science are important parts of any investigation.

Most are set in contemporary settings.

Police industry has not shed its reputation for corruption. Possibly our critical modern society is more prevalent on this view.

It is still believable that someone outside the law will see what the police cannot or will not.

Always a market for larger than life characters.

People read fiction - to escape the reality of life.

The current fantasy boom questions arise as to what will happen to the crime fiction genre?