Crime author Jessie Keane celebrates the publication of her more recent book Lawless this month. We have the pleasure of announcing that she has written an exclusive piece for Female First on why ladies like a bit of blood and gore when it comes to a crime scene in a novel! Take it away Jessie……
I’ve been asked why women seem to love a gritty crime scene many times, and have come to certain conclusions; I think it’s rather like when we’re being thrown around on the Waltzers at a fairground or travelling full-speed on the Runaway Mine Train at a theme park – we love to be terrified, but only when we know it’s safe.
Like ghost stories, murder on the page is scary, but it’s manageable, it’s a puzzle, it’s intriguing – but above all, it’s not threatening: we can turn the TV off, put the book down, and there we are in our cosy homes, and everything is OK. And when we turn the TV on again to watch more of The Bridge or Game of Thrones, when we pick up another Val McDermid or the latest Jessie Keane and settle down to read, we go back into that dangerous world again…but only for a little while.
See? It’s safe as houses. And that’s the key.
Tagged in Lawless