Deconstructing True Crime Literature

"Charlotte Barnes has put together a thoroughgoing and provocative study of true crime narratives, examining every aspect of the form with impressive insight and originality."—Barry Forshaw, author of British Crime Film and Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide 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. Charlotte Barnes is a Lecturer in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Wolverhampton. Charlotte has primarily researched crime fiction through practice-based means, and has since published ten novels in this genre. Charlotte explores representations of female violence, and the ways in which this area can critique and contribute both to creative writing and gender studies.