Entries by category: Readers advisory

Greed, lust and revenge are just some of the motives for the murders that have been committed in Australian crime fiction.

Australia’s first crime novel, Henry Savery’s Quintus Servinton, was first published in 1830. Only three sets of the original printing of this three volume work survive, one of which can be found at the State Library of NSW. Since the early efforts of Australian writers working during the Colonial era, crime fiction has become one of the most popular genres of fiction in the country. Today crime novels, with their stories of murderers, and the men and women who catch them, crowd the shelves of libraries across Australia and around the world.

The next theme for #readit2011 is WhoDoneIt making July a month to read crime and mystery books, both fiction and non-fiction. With nearly one in every three new books, published in English falling within the crime fiction category, there is plenty to choose from.

So, pick up a pulp, a page-turning thriller or a cozy cat mystery and find out not only who done it but who was done in and why.

An illustration for a cover by Woollett, published by Frank C Johnson, held at SLNSW.

A quick guide to the different types of crime fiction that are available can be downloaded here: http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=990082541924074;res=IELHSS

Rachel Franks

#blogeverydayofjune