Family Relationships in Contemporary Crime Fiction

Family Relationships in Contemporary Crime Fiction
Author: Bill Phillips
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2019-04-23
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 152753359X

Behind every crime novel there is a family. The author’s, the hero’s (or the heroine’s), and that of the villains themselves. Some families organise themselves into crime syndicates, controlling drugs, prostitution and illegal gambling. Others are simply dysfunctional, tearing themselves apart, fathers against sons, mothers against daughters, sisters against brothers, husbands against wives. Not everyone escapes alive. However, families do not exist in a vacuum. They are an important part of our society—for many, one of its most essential building blocks. That being said, society itself can impinge disastrously on personal relationships. War, that greatest of crimes, leaves children bereft of parents. Generations of children are stolen by cynical, racist administrators in supposedly civilised countries. Religion requires its followers to flourish and multiply, while abandoning all—including family—for their faith. All of these issues and more are explored in this collection of essays about crime fiction and the family.

Contemporary Crime Fiction

Contemporary Crime Fiction
Author: Charlotte Beyer
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2021-03-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1527566862

This unique and timely book presents nine compelling essays on contemporary crime fiction, bringing innovative and fresh perspectives to the analysis of this most popular and vibrant literary genre. Investigating contemporary crime fiction and the critical debates surrounding its reception and production, the introductory chapter sets the scene for the subsequent analyses of distinct crime fiction topics, themes and authors. The topics include the experimental detective narrative, race and ethnicity, historical crime fiction, domestic noir, feminism and crime, environmental crime, and the poetics of place. Authors examined here range from Ian Rankin, Gillian Flynn, Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Robert Galbraith, Nancy Bilyeau, and Martha Grimes, to Tana French, Dale Furutani, and J.G. Ballard, and more. Informed by the latest critical debates and theoretical perspectives in the field, this volume presents an invaluable source of information and criticism on crime fiction for students, researchers and academics alike.

Mum & Dad

Mum & Dad
Author: Joanna Trollope
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2020-03-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1529003415

A Richard & Judy Book Club Pick, Mum & Dad is a heartwarming family drama set in the vineyards of Spain. From the number one bestselling author of An Unsuitable Match, Joanna Trollope, and told with all her trademark wit and wisdom. 'Trollope’s bestselling novel brings elegance and warmth to a painfully familiar dilemma' – Daily Mail What happens when family roles are reversed and the children must look after mum and dad? It’s been twenty-five years since Gus and Monica left England to start a new life in Spain, building a wine business from the ground up. However, when Gus suffers a stroke and their idyllic Mediterranean life is thrown into upheaval, it’s left to their three grown-up children in London to step in . . . As the children descend on the vineyard, it becomes clear that each has their own idea of how best to handle their mum and dad, as well as the family business. But as long-simmering resentments rise to the surface and tensions reach breaking point, will the family finally fall apart? 'No-one dissects the intricacies of family relationships quite like Joanna Trollope' - Good Housekeeping

The Woman Before Me

The Woman Before Me
Author: Ruth Dugdall
Publisher: Arcade
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2013-05-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781611458350

Emma has everything Rose lacks: a faithful husband, beauty, and a healthy baby boy. Rose meets her in the hospital after her own baby dies from premature birth, and when Emma’s child dies in a suspicious house fire shortly after, the obsessive and unstable Rose is the primary suspect. Now, after almost five years in prison, Rose is up for parole, but probation officer Cate Austin must first decide whether this accused murderer can be released or if she really is a threat to society. The answer seems obvious at first, but as Cate delves deeper into Rose’s disturbing past—a suicidal mother, a distant father, on her own at a young age—the probation officer becomes entangled in the inmate’s dark world. Winner of CWA Debut Dagger Award and the Luke Bitmead Bursary, The Woman Before Me is a poignant psychological thriller that explores relationships, dysfunctional families, and the penal system with depth and sensitivity that culminates in a shocking conclusion. Did she really do it? Where does the line between love and obsession lie? Can justice be served?

The Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology

The Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology
Author: Nathan Ashman
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 642
Release: 2023-10-27
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000984516

The Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology is the first comprehensive examination of crime fiction and ecocriticism. Across 33 innovative chapters from leading international scholars, this Handbook considers an emergent field of contemporary crime narratives that are actively responding to a diverse assemblage of global environmental concerns, whilst also opening up ‘classic’ crime fictions and writers to new ecocritical perspectives. Rigorously engaged with cutting-edge critical trends, it places the familiar staples of crime fiction scholarship – from thematic to formal approaches – in conversation with a number of urgent ecological theories and ideas, covering subjects such as environmental security, environmental justice, slow violence, ecofeminism and animal studies. The Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology is an essential introduction to this new and dynamic research field for both students and scholars alike.

Serial Authorship and New Directions in Spanish Female Detective Fiction

Serial Authorship and New Directions in Spanish Female Detective Fiction
Author: Inmaculada Pertusa-Seva
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2024-10-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1036411974

This collection of essays expands our understanding and appreciation of the body of work by established female authors of Spanish crime fiction series by analyzing recent narratives that, in some cases, contribute in novel ways to the ongoing reformulation of the genre and, in others, provide readers with a temporary hiatus from it. The studies offer students and scholars of crime fiction new perspectives on the works of well-known authors, as well as analyses of their often less-known narratives that may not fit within the genre. Readers will engage in an exploration of gender dynamics and sexuality, a variety of psychological and social issues, and the consequences of the indiscriminate consumption of media and abuse of the environment and animals in narratives that exhibit the versatility of these outstanding authors. The volume will appeal to a wide audience of literary and cultural studies critics, as well as crime fiction enthusiasts and newcomers to this popular genre.

Intersectionality and Decolonisation in Contemporary British Crime Fiction

Intersectionality and Decolonisation in Contemporary British Crime Fiction
Author: Charlotte Beyer
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2023-01-24
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 152759159X

Intersectionality and decolonisation are prominent themes in contemporary British crime fiction. Through an in-depth critical and contextual analysis of selected contemporary British crime fiction novels from the 1990s to 2018, this distinctive book examines representations of race, class, sexuality, and gender by John Harvey, Stella Duffy, M.Y. Alam, and Dorothy Koomson. It argues that contemporary British crime fiction is a field of contestation where urgent cultural and social questions are debated and the politics of representation explored. A significant resource which will be valuable to researchers and scholars of the crime genre, as well as British literature, this book offers timely critical engagement with intersectionality and decolonisation and their representation in contemporary British crime fiction.

Swimming at Night

Swimming at Night
Author: Lucy Clarke
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2013-03-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1451683421

People go traveling for two reasons: because they are searching for something, or they are running from something. Katie’s world is shattered by the news that her headstrong and bohemian younger sister, Mia, has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Bali. The authorities say that Mia jumped—that her death was a suicide. Although they’d hardly spoken to each other since Mia suddenly left on an around-the-world trip six months earlier, Katie refuses to accept that her sister would have taken her own life. Distraught that they never made peace, Katie leaves her orderly, sheltered life in London behind and embarks on a journey to find out the truth. With only the entries in Mia’s travel journal as her guide, Katie retraces the last few months of her sister’s life and—page by page, country by country—begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death. . . . Weaving together the exotic settings and suspenseful twists of Alex Garland’s The Beach with a powerful tale of familial love in the spirit of Rosamund Lupton’s Sister, Swimming at Night is a fast-paced, accomplished, and gripping debut novel of secrets, loss, and forgiveness.

Life Is Short and Then You Die

Life Is Short and Then You Die
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Imprint
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2019-09-10
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 125019640X

Life Is Short and Then You Die is the Mystery Writers of America's first teen anthology, edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. Adolescence is a time of “firsts.” First kiss. First love. First loss. First job. The first taste of adult responsibilities, and the first look at an independent life away from both the restrictions and the security of home. And in this case, a very different type of “first”: murder. This short story collection of murder mysteries adds a sinister spin to the joy and pain of firsts that have always been a major part of life, whether it be high school cliques who take the term “backstabbing” too seriously, stumbling upon a body on the way home from school, or receiving a Snapchat message that promises something deadly. Contributors include Barry Lyga, Caleb Roehrig, Emmy Laybourne, Jonathan Maberry, R.L. Stine, Rachel Vincent, Y.S. Lee, and more! An Imprint Book