Up now on the front page is a question I've been meaning to ask for some time now, and it could be almost as controversial as the recent sexiest writer poll, but I've always been interested in having a breakdown of member's tastes on Crimespace.

It's not exactly scientific, but don't fret too much over your answer. Rather than racking your brains over your all time favourite, I'd like it if y'all went for the sub-genre you're enjoying the most right now, thus the inclusion of the words 'At The Moment' in the poll title.

And for those of you that haven't noticed, I stopped doing the 'Post-Of-The-Month' poll due to much lower numbers of votes. I'll try to come up with more exciting and general polls more regularly, so's all you crime kiddies can have a bit of clicky good fun with 'em.

If there are any glaring omissions in the sub-genres, let me know, but I do want to avoid going into the detail of separating cat / cooking / crochet as sub-sub-genres. There are already plenty of answers to choose from.

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What poll? And I don't fit. I write historical novels, but I read mostly police procedurals. Overlapping is possible -- in that you may have historical police procedurals or PI novels. My series falls into either category (depending on the protagonist's function), but I'm currently working on a historical thriller.
The poll should be showing up on the main page of Crimespace. And of course one of the dangers of even listing sub-genres is that plenty of novels don't easily fall into any single category.
How about literary mysteries? I know that people will start throwing tomatoes on that subgenre, but what would you call books by Walter Mosley, Alexander McCall Smith, and Louise Penny?
I don't know about Walter Mosley, but the other two are cozy/PI and cozy/PP.
I guess I don't view them in the same category as hobby (cooking/knitting/cat/etc.) mysteries. But you're right, Sandra.

Walter's stuff would probably go under either hard-boiled or noir.

Maybe we should start another thread on books/authors that defy easy categorization.
That could be an interesting thread! And I notice PI isn't one of the categories on Daniel's poll. Maybe the PI subgenre really is dead (tee hee, I'm chuckling, and Daniel should know why!).
I almost put the PI on the poll, but then I couldn't really think of a novel that didn't fit under one of the other categories. But I'll add it anyway, as I know there are people who do have it as a favourite.

And yes, I have the same secret PI knowledge as you. Tee hee. :)
I think that literary crime is generally a particular way of presenting through the use of language one of the sub-genres already there.

But if you can't tell me which one of these sub-genres to classify Dennis Lehane's MYSTIC RIVER as, then I might just have to add another answer.
I think Mystic River can qualify as Noir, or Crime, or even Police Procedural. I suppose for that matter, it could even be called suspense. The subgenre is in the eye of the beholder...
I thought it was going to be tough since my 2 equal favourites are noir and humourous, but since the poll didn't have humourous I was more than happy plumping for noir :o) It would be interesting to see a 'least favourite' running alongside it.
Interesting, yes, but it would only prove that readers and writers have distinct preferences and rarely cross the line. And let's by all means include the literary mystery -- as for example Umberto Eco and Perez-Reverte (?) and Liss, etc. And thrillers are a separate category also. Actually, I have a notion that noir and hardboiled merely describe setting and atmosphere and can apply to PI novels or to police procedurals or amateur detective novels. Cozy also has a lot to do with atmosphere. There seems to be a clear demarcation line between cozy mysteries and hardboiled/noir types. That is where you will find opposing viewpoints. Although there may also be readers who would never touch a literary mystery.
Okay, that's another vote for literary, so I'll add that one. And thriller. And humour. And PI. Hopefully that should do it.

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