Why I Write (and love to read) Crime Novels \| Author Post by Lisa Hartley

I never planned to become a crime writer.

I’d always dreamed of being an author, but had never given any real thought to what I would actually write. I assumed it would just happen – that I’d be struck by the perfect idea, and it would flow effortlessly onto the page.

Not exactly.

I’d always loved reading – Enid Blyton’s books were huge favourites of mine as a child. The Secret Seven, and the slightly less annoying Famous Five especially. As I grew up and began to study English Literature, firstly at A Level and then at university, I found more authors whose work really spoke to me. Jane Austen, Sylvia Plath, Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy, E.M Forster, and many more. I even began to understand the appeal of Shakespeare after studying Hamlet, King Lear and the sonnets. I aspired to be one of those writers – someone whose books would become classics, read by students who felt as though these words, often written hundreds of years before, were speaking only to them.

Quite an ambition. And pretty much impossible.

I can’t remember the first crime book I read. It was probably an old Agatha Christie of my mum’s. And I was hooked. I went to the library, came back with armfuls of books by Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, and loads of other brilliant writers. As I read, I began to realise that these writers were doing everything I had aspired to do, and more besides. They were making political points, they were giving people voices, they were creating characters who were unashamedly themselves. Their books contained romance, action, and yes, a gory murder or three. They were telling stories that appeal to people because we can see ourselves on the pages. We all have good and bad inside us. We all feel fear, love, pain, joy. Books transport us away from our chair, and into another world. You can follow a detective through twenty years of their life in a series of novels. They become like old friends, and you want to catch up with the next chapter in their life. You might never get to see a crime scene in real life, and most of us wouldn’t want to. Books allow you to watch over the shoulders of the people who have these experiences daily. You feel admiration and respect for them in the same way you do their amazing real-life counterparts. Crime books allow you to experience the worst and best of human nature, all from the safety of your seat.