Crime Pays

According to the Mslexia article on the growing popularity of crime novels, in the past decade the list of the 10 most borrowed titles has been dominated by gritty police procedurals. With Barbara Taylor Bradford and Catherine Cookson being replaced by Patrica Cornwell and Kathy Reichs.

And, it seems that literary writers are also turning to crime. For example Kate Atkinson’s follow-up to Case Histories features her detective Jackson Brodie once again. Some crime writers welcome the competition while others are a bit more cynical and think that literary writers just want to cash in on a good thing.

While the authors fight for territory, I was excited to discover names of crime writers I hadn’t heard of before. Some writers the article mentions are Andrew Taylor, Natasha Cooper, Danuta Reah, Cathi Unsworth, Stella Duffy and Martyn Waites. Anyone read any of their books and can offer some suggestions on where to start?

The other good tidbit in the article was a side note of novels that leading writers in the genre felt should have been on the Booker shortlist.
Barbara Vine, A Dark Adapted Eye
David Peace, GB84
Bernard Hill, On Beulah Heights
Ian Rankin, Black and Blue
Minette Walters, The Sculptress
Susanna Moore, In The Cut
John Harvey, Flesh and Blood
Derek Raymond, I Was Dora Suarez
Val McDermid, A Place of Execution
Frances Fyfield, The Nature of the Beast

I can’t wait to discover some of these writers.