Death Becomes Them

The current issue of Newsweek has an essay by senior editor, Malcolm Jones on this subject.

Jones recalls that in 1945 Edmund Wilson wrote a scathing put-down of detective stories titled “Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd” – a ‘snide way of saying crime fiction was worthless.’

Jones feels that Wilson would not do so now (except in Ireland – maybe!) because ‘writers such as James Ellroy, Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, Donald Westlake, Walter Mosley, Laura Lippman, James Salis, Megan Abbott and George Pelecanos have managed to infuse crime novels with a quality of writing not seen since the days of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain.’

The crossover to crime fiction by literary authors may have started with William Faulkner (Sanctuary) and Theodore Dreiser (An American Tragedy), continued by Norman Mailer, Truman Capote and Cormac McCarthy and the up to date examples of Denis Johnson (Nobody Move) and Thomas Pynchon (Inherent Vice). John Banville (Booker Prize winner) not mentioned in the article (US bias) but he would be another example of the crossover.

Jones reflects that when literary fiction authors write crime/noir fiction they may not be as authentic as the true greats of crime fiction. He gives several examples of this including Mailer, Pynchon and Johnson. So no one is safe!

Jones maintains that because of so much exposure to crime drama, true crime and cross over authors joining the crime fiction writing camp the distinction between literary and crime fiction is very blurred and indeed he concludes that noir isn’t a genre any longer!

This issue of Newsweek also has other essays such as True Crime: The Roots of an American Obsession by Walter Mosley, The Haunting by James Ellroy and The Manson Murders at 40 by Vincent Bugliosi (Author of Helter Skelter – the biggest true crime seller to date).