Why we read crime fiction

I was very pleased to receive an invitation from BBC 3 Counties Radio this week to discuss the popularity of crime fiction live on air. This was in response to a recent report from the library service that crime novels have overtaken romance as the most borrowed genre in 2011.

The 10 most popular authors on the list were crime writers, with James Patterson at number 1 and two of Lee Child’s titles in the top 10. Most of the authors live in the US, Ian Rankin being the only UK resident author in the top 10.

I had an earlier inkling of this when a Hertfordshire librarian kindly emailed me to let me know that I was the second most borrowed author at that library for 2011, second only to James Patterson.

The question the BBC presenter posed was why has crime fiction increased in popularity in recent times?

In Victorian times people were uneasily aware of high profile killers like Jack the Ripper. Equipped with little more than bicycles, whistles and good intentions, the police in those days were ineffective. Sherlock Holmes captured the public imagination as a precursor of superman as much as of Poirot and Rebus, because it was immensely reassuring to read about a detective guaranteed to outwit the evil villain. It still seems incredible that many people thought he really existed, but we believe what we want to believe.

In the wake of 9/11 and with growing problems of recession, we are increasingly conscious of the battle for survival, on a global and an individual level. Add to this the decline in religious belief, and it is hardly surprising that so many people are turning to crime fiction as an escape from an unjust world where very little seems to make any sense.

However disturbing crime novels are, we know some sort of moral order will be restored in the end. That is the reason for their appeal. The less the world around us makes sense, the more popular the genre is likely to become, as library borrowings demonstrate.

Libraries in the 21st Century

Posted by Leigh Russell

I was pleased to be invited to talk about my books at the relaunch of Bushey library. Before speaking about my own books, I decided to say a few words about how fantastic it is to see a refurbished library in the current climate.

With over 430 libraries closed or under threat, the professional body of librarians CILIP are forecasting another 600 more will soon be under scrutiny. That’s around 20% of our libraries threatened with closure.

Under the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964 local authorities have a statutory obligation to provide a library service. But the government are changing the rules, claiming attendance has been dropping since 2005, although children’s visits have remained steady.

Libraries, on the other hand, report increased use since the start of the recession. In the past year around 50% of adults in England visited libraries. They go there for free books, information, learning resources, work and ICT. New communities seek help with English, material in their first language, and help with citizenship procedures.

But whatever the true picture, there is no question that funding is a problem, provoking a lot of debate about what can be done. Reducing opening hours would only make visiting more difficult; reducing stocks would have an adverse effect on users’ satisfaction; and replacing staff with volunteers would, in my opinion, be disastrous. Part of the value of libraries is the expertise of the trained librarians. Introducing any of these measures would inevitably hasten the demise of any library, in my opinion. You can’t rescue a good service by making it mediocre or worse.

The question should not be solely about money. As US Publisher’s Weekly says: ‘‘The value of libraries should not be measured in economic terms alone’’, although of course economic considerations can’t be disregarded. We have to decide what we want from libraries in the 21st century, with our 24/7 culture, cheap books, ebooks, and almost limitless information accessible to all without having to stir from our homes.

What kind of society do we want?

Borders closed, the whole Waterstones chain has recently been bought for price of one footballer, and the past 15 years have seen an increase of over 1,000% in lap dancing clubs in London alongside a 6% decline in libraries in the capital.

As book lovers, we should all care about libraries, even if we don’t use them ourselves. Perhaps it’s time for all of us to speak up in support of our struggling library service, because without pressure from the reading public, libraries as we know them may not survive for much longer. To paraphrase Burke: “All that is necessary for the disappearance of libraries is for readers to do nothing.”

Leigh Russell writes the Geraldine Steel crime novels:

Contact Leigh on  http://leighrussell.co.uk/

CUT SHORT (2009) - shortlisted CWA Dagger

ROAD CLOSED (2010) - top read Eurocrime

DEAD END (2011) - bestselling kindle detective

DEATH BED (2012)

by Matt Lynn

The Curzon Group was, of course, set up to revive the great tradition of British thriller writing. Judging by the latest public lending rights figures, which measure the most borrowed books from libraries, we’re doing a great job. Of the 100 most borrowed books, about two-thirds are crime and thrillers.
Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. We can’t claim any of the credit for that. James Patterson and Dan Brown would have topped the list anyway. But it is gratifying to know that we are all working in the nation’s most popular genre.
The PLR figures give you an interesting take on what the country actually reads. Of course, the demographics aren’t really representative. Older and younger people use the libraries a lot more than most of the population. But it does give you an idea of what people enjoy away from the hype of the publishers and the deals done with the big supermarkets chains. So, for example, Stieg Larsson, despite all the publicity only managed to get one book in the library chart, and that was at number 76.
The message, surely, is that people like gritty, fast-paced crime and adventure stories more than anything else. Which is lucky, because that is precisely the kind of stuff we write.

Books and Bookshops

by Leigh Russell

I’m not convinced that initiatives to give away free books encourages a perception that books have value. I understand the rationale behind these initiatives which seek to engage new readers and promote particular authors. But I suspect the consequence of giving books away for free is that books will just become further devalued. Many readers say they never pay full price for a book – even though the average book will set you back the price of a couple of cups of coffee, or a couple of pints in the pub, and without revenue from readers, publishers and authors will largely disappear.
Bricks and mortar bookshops face huge competition from online suppliers, charity shops, supermarkets and free book campaigns – and that’s before considering the impact of ebooks. I’m passionate about the survival of bookshops and spend a lot of time in different branches of the major chains, and in libraries, talking to readers. I wish more authors would support bookshops and libraries in this way.
And just in case the situation here continues to deteriorate, I’m building my intergalactic fanbase (You can see a few of them in the picture).
But there is a more serious concern which is not how books will be delivered in future, but whether people will continue reading on a significant scale, with all the other forms of entertainment on offer. Today’s youngsters spend their time in front of television, computer or mobile phone screens and bookshops have their work cut out to attract them. But it’s a campaign worth fighting and one they must win if they are to survive.

Leigh Russell is author of the bestselling Geraldine Steel series of crime thrillers.
CUT SHORT (2009) shortlisted for CWA New Blood Dagger
ROAD CLOSED (2010)
DEAD END (2011)

In The Bookshops.

by Leigh Russell,

Peter Stuart Smith mentioned the Society of Authors’ survey on authors’ appearances. Once again, I seem to be out on a limb on this as one of a rare breed of authors who doesn’t suffer from what my fellow authors have called ‘snub fatigue’. It doesn’t faze me when I visit a bookshop and meet customers who aren’t interested in my books. Crime fiction isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and why would a reader who doesn’t like the genre consider buying my books? I very rarely sign a book for a sci-fi fan (daleks and storm troopers excepted – one of my fans is famously a dalek. I’m even included in his public album of celebrity encounters.)
Science fiction is escapist literature. My novels are as plausible as I can make them, give or take a few liberties I take with reality. In real life DNA tests take around 6 weeks. In urgent cases results can be obtained in a week. At the end of Road Closed, my detectives get the result of a DNA test within 24 hours - but I can hardly keep my readers hanging on for 6 weeks, or even for a week, at the end of the book. When faced with a choice between realism or serving my story, I have to serve the story. I write fiction, not a text book on police procedure and none of my large cohort of fans in the police force has ever queried my forensics (yet!) My choices seem to be perfectly acceptable; CSI use this kind of artistic licence all the time.
So while I don’t welcome rejection it doesn’t put me off, as I’m driven by my passion for supporting bookshops. The demise of Borders happened very suddenly. We had hoped Borders would survive to the end of the year but with half a dozen events booked in branches of Borders for December 2009, they were all pulled right at the last minute as Borders suddenly closed down. I was grateful to WH Smith’s who stepped in at the last minute and booked signings at such short notice. Now HMV are starting to close branches of Waterstones.
So book signings for me aren’t only about selling my books. Obviously my visits are more enjoyable when the books sell well, and I’ve signed between 40 and 100 books at each event so far. I do worry this might peter out as more people use ereaders, and the reading public declines in general, but that’s a discussion for another post. All this only encourages me to spend more time in bookshops, as they struggle to survive. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. Borders went, just like that, and the writing for Waterstones is, I fear, on the wall rather than the page.
As for ‘standing up on my hind legs and making a fool of myself in front of a jeering crowd’, as Peter puts it, over 200 adults turned up to hear me talk recently, and they were a piece of cake compared to a class of teenagers!
Giving talks is enjoyable, but what matters is doing what we can, as authors and readers, to support our bookshops and libraries (yes, I spend time talking in libraries too). Because bookshops need our support now more than ever.

Why Libraries Matter....

by Leigh Russell

Recent figures show the number of active library users has dropped by over 2% while visits to library websites increased by almost 50 per cent. In 1849 William Ewart introduced a Public Libraries Bill. Conservatives objected, concerned that the middle and upper classes would pay for a service used only by the working classes. One MP announced "people have too much knowledge already: it was much easier to manage them twenty years ago; the more education people get the more difficult they are to manage.” Nevertheless the Public Libraries Act was passed in 1850.The 19th century MP who complained that reading makes people more difficult to control had a point. Setting aside powerful arguments about the arts, culture and the advancement of knowledge, reading is essential if we are to have a population able to think for themselves. Because reading gives the individual access to all the information (and misinformation) in the world.

Over the past four centuries we have established a largely literate society in the West but literacy is losing its appeal. Today’s children feed their imaginations playing interactive games where their parents’ need for stories was supplied by books. We have the technology to move towards a largely post-literate society. All the text we need can be recorded with voice activated software for a listening audience rather than a readership. It’s easier. Already we access much of our knowledge from the television or online, and we see more stories on the small screen than the page.

But watching or listening to stories or information is a very different experience to reading. Apart from the argument about using imagination, when you’re reading you can speed up, slow down, pause to reflect, reread and refer back to an earlier passage. There is no one else’s voice to influence or interpret the meaning of the words for you. As reader you control how you read and interpret the words for yourself.All of this makes books not only valuable but “an essential part of having and educated and literate population” as Wikipedia puts it. So it is worrying that libraries are not mobbed by people wanting to access free books.When Britain’s first public lending library opened in Manchester in the mid 19th century it was seen as an event so significant for literacy and democracy that Dickens visited, saying this was an institution “knowing no sect, no party and no distinction; nothing but the public want and the public good.”

He would surely be turning in his grave to know that libraries are losing their popularity. If enough people lose interest in books, we risk losing our independent access to knowledge and even our ability to think for ourselves.

More Library Events

Continuing the theme of library events... on 7th July Cyrus Moore, author of the brilliant controversial thriller CITY OF THIEVES, and Leigh Russell, author of runaway success CUT SHORT and her new novel ROAD CLOSED, addressed a packed house at Gayton Library, the central library in Harrow. The two authors introduced themselves and their books, talked about their diverse journeys to publication, and read extracts from CITY OF THIEVES and ROAD CLOSED. They talked about crime fiction, and answered a host of fascinating questions from a lively and supportive audience. At the end of the evening, while everyone enjoyed the refreshments kindly supplied by the library, Cyrus and Leigh were delighted to sign their books for most of the audience. It was a great evening and the Curzon Group would like to thank the librarians at Gayton Library, and the local audience, for their interest.
Here is a photo taken by a librarian at Kenton Library, with some members of the lively book group who came along to hear Leigh talking about ROAD CLOSED. Only about half of the group could stay behind for the photo, which shows what a thriving group this is. So if you haven't yet joined a book group at your local library - check it out!

See Leigh's upcoming library talks on http://www.noexit.co.uk/features/authortour.php