Deconstructing True Crime Literature

Barnes, Charlotte (2023) Deconstructing True Crime Literature. Crime Files (Electronic ISSN 2947-8359 Print ISSN 2947-8340) . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland. ISBN Hardcover ISBN 978-3-031-41044-4 Softcover ISBN 978-3-031-41047-5 eBook ISBN 978-3-031-41045-1

Abstract

This book provides a critical discussion of True Crime literature, arguing for the deconstruction of the genre into subgenres that better reflect a work’s contents. In analysing seminal and lesser-known works, the areas of authenticity, accuracy, and author proximity are considered to form a framework on which an individual publication’s subgenre (re)categorisation can be assessed. The book considers the likes of Ann Rule, Truman Capote, and Maggie Nelson, among other notable authors. Their works – those that fit into True Crime and those that defy categorisation within the genre as it exists – are reviewed, and their defining features critiqued. Topics such as narrative methodologies, figurative language, and utilisation of research are considered in support of this. These strands combine to a larger discussion regarding a deconstruction of True Crime, and the ways in which this will improve the social responsibility of the genre, and encourage a more conscientious consumerism of it.

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