Good News For Murder Mystery Writers

[Pauline Rowson]

There's good news in the midst of all the doom and gloom recession - for murder mystery writers like me that is (I hope)! According to an article in the Saturday Telegraph Review section today, 'Misery memoirs will nosedive in favour of romances and murder mysteries.' Yes, I hear you all cry.

The article, written by Helen Brown, examines what kind of books we'll be buying through a recession. Most publishers agree we're likely to turn away from the grimmer stuff including misery memoirs and 'suicidally bleak' literary fiction and seek refuge in the covers of a romance or murder mystery.

It states that the thirties gave us the golden age of crime fiction - of which I am an avid fan- with the likes of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham, so here's hoping that the the next decade will see the growth of the murder mystery novel where the reader can immerse him or herself in an entertaining, thrilling read, and at least have the satisfaction of seeing justice done on paper, and of solving ( or trying to solve) a complex but gripping murder case.

So, here's to Inspector Andy Horton and his gang and the marine mystery, and to all my readers I say, 'thank you' for being so loyal. There's more to come - Dead Man's Wharf is published on 30 April 2009 in hardcover visit http://www.rowmark.co.uk/dead_mans_wharf.php

[I. J. Parker]

Nice. But that isn't necessarily what will happen in the U.S. This is the country where people buy only non-fiction, either to become better than others or feel that they are better than others.