The Lure of Good Crime Fiction: "The Wrong Side of Goodbye" by Michael Connelly
I used to feel that I shouldn't like reading Crime Fiction, like I did in 2014, in what I always remember as my Crime Fiction Year; it was in that year that I sensibly decided that a well written Crime Fiction novel has as much "intrinsic value" as any other book, however much the literary snobs may turn their noses up. Good writing is good writing, whether it's a spy or a SF novel. After 2014 I haven’t read much Crime Fiction. My bad, but as soon as a new Michael Connelly, or Ian Rankin comes out, I’m already moving them to the top of my TBR Pile, like I did with this “The Wrong Side of Goodbye, as I’ll do with “I’ll Rather Be the Devil” by Ian Rankin, coming out on the 1st of November. I love a good Crime Fiction Novel. This is due to my teenage years, when I was reading detective fiction by the bucket-load as if there was no tomorrow (Christie, Sayers, Stout, Allingham, Ambler, Block, P. D. James, Chesterton, Hammett, Simenon, Rendell, Marsh, Innes, Chandler, Dürrenmatt, Westlake, Camilleri, Highsmith, Burke, Thomson, Higgins, Crais, Spillane, Leonard, etc.). And then, in more recent years I discovered Rankin, Connelly, C. J. Samson and Scandinavian Fiction, and a few other stray Crime Fiction writers like Ken Bruen. Scandinavian Crime Fiction is still one of my favourites all round.
If you're into Crime Fiction, read on.