The other day, an American interviewer
challenged me about the purpose of fiction; should it always contain a moral
message? Specifically, should crime
fiction?
My instant answer: No No No!
The purpose of crime fiction should be to Entertain, and nothing
should come before that.
Why?
We have countless other venues that preach morality. Religions seek to
teach us how to behave. Every day we are
bombarded by newspapers, radio and other nonfiction outlets, that expose us to
the ‘evil’ of greedy politicians, nasty world despots and out of control
celebrities.
If fiction – and crime fiction in
particular – was required to follow a moral code, we would miss so much. If the good guy always won – if the
bad guy always got caught – wouldn’t that make crime fiction lamentably
predictable?
Does that mean crime fiction can’t teach us
something? Of course it can! Put me in the mind of a serial killer for a
few hours. Let me know what it feels
like to experience the overwhelming greed of a con artist. Dress me up as a torch singer, with a black
heart and a gun in her stocking.
Let me discover something about how other
people think, if only for a little while.
But above all else, entertain me.
Don’t preach at me, even from a distance. I don’t want it from my fiction.
Just tell me a damn good story, thank
you. Take me out of the real world for a
few hours.
That’s the
purpose of crime fiction.
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