As I put the final touches on the novel I started in March of this year I started researching people's opinion on what they felt made a great crime novel and seeing if my work met their expectations. Believeable characters, twist, suspense, action...there are a lot of different types of crime novel's, thus a lot of different opinions on what makes them so great. What is your favorite crime novel and what made it so great to you as the reader?
I tend to prefer crime novels with rich characterization and a focus on human nature rather than on bullets and battery climaxes. As a result, I often gravitate toward mysteries authored by women and with strong female leads. That isn't to say there aren't lethal showdowns, but they are rarely resolved by brute force and high caliber weapons. I like Sue Grafton's alphabet novels for an example of good first person writing. But I also like Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels. I won't name those two authors as my favorites, because I don't generally choose favorites.
What he said. Those kind of novels are fascinating and really got me hooked on the genre. What I like about crime novels is exactly the emotional part of it, not the bullets, or guns or action or or... You get my point.
