Crime
Crime stories are usually called "whodunits", because what we want to know is "who did it" (i.e. "who is the killer ?").
This literary genre covers a wide variety of books,
from pulp fiction (such as The Case of the Runaway Corpse on the right-hand side)...
to intellectual mystery novels (such as The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, where, in 1327, a priest goes to an abbey where a crime has been committed, a crime that could be connected to the existence of a secret book)...
and of course modern thrillers like the novels of John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark or Ruth Rendell.
Lately, a new trend has surfaced : crime stories where the hero is also the killer, such as Dexter, the conflicted and lovable serial killer created by Jeff Lindsay.
As always, when reading, think of a "murder grid" to quickly identify the common elements of such stories (victim, suspects, witness, detective, weapon, location, hints, evidence, alibi, motive, etc.). Writers like changing one of these elements to surprise readers; for example, they could write about a murder with no suspect, or no apparent cause of death, or where no one is even dead yet !
If you're interested in this genre, go to your local library and borrow a book by one of the authors mentioned above. If you have difficulties with English, you could also try The Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. A fifteen-year old autistic boy sets out to find the murdered of his neighbour's dog, with surprising and funny discoveries along the way.
If you're interested in this genre, go to your local library and borrow a book by one of the authors mentioned above. If you have difficulties with English, you could also try The Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. A fifteen-year old autistic boy sets out to find the murdered of his neighbour's dog, with surprising and funny discoveries along the way.
Wanna play?
Check how good a detective you are here.
You have to be quick and try to solve the case in less than 48 hours.
You have to be quick and try to solve the case in less than 48 hours.
Help Dexter solve a case:
Watch the video and investigate.
