In times of crisis what do you do to make yourself feel better? You pick up a crime novel.
Crime fiction is not the 24-hour news cycle blasting ad nauseum from the television; it’s fiction and as such, might seem unimportant to some. But if you find yourself reaching for more than your usual allotment of Christie or Chandler or French or Flynn right now, then remember you have superlative reasons for doing so. And that in doing so, you are far from alone.
In 2017, Nielsen Bookscan reported that crime fiction was for the first time outselling general-literary fiction. As in, simply put…fiction fiction. A single genre had surpassed its entire parent category in dividends. Beemgee estimates that in the western world, 25%-40% of all book sales land in the crime basket depending on region. In 2015, according to Statista, nearly half (47%) of readers copped to having picked up a crime novel in the past year. Not only are you not alone, you’re a member of a vast community composed of every gender, color, and creed, gobbling up nefarious goings-on as if they’re part of a nutritionally balanced breakfast. The motives for this are powerful and based in multiple human urges, none of which need be shameful or even mystifying.
Read More at Crime Reads
Read the rest at Crime Reads