Crime Fiction & Me
I have been trying to write a romance novel. My heart calls out to write a romance novel. I can so easily imagine a novel with a rose on the cover, with my name as the author. Unfortunately, I am not a romantic person. I read romance novels, but I read them slowly. I don't gobble them up the way I would an Agatha Christie novel. When I want to be entertained, it is to crime fiction that I go. I am an avid fan of crime fiction in all forms of media. My favourite TV show is Columbo . My favourite film is Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (see poster above). If I spend so much time thinking about fictitious murder and murderers, what am I doing trying to write a romance? The answer is: I'm making a fool of myself. If I want to be realistic, if I want to play to my strengths, I should write a crime novel, whether that's a straightforward story of a detective or something more subtle (like Agatha Christie's novels Towards Zero and Ordeal by Innocence ). What do I h...