tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post7237811093664862007..comments2024-03-26T17:48:56.627+00:00Comments on 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?': Case Histories, Kate Atkinson and True CrimeMartin Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-67978349588554758482011-07-17T18:38:00.876+01:002011-07-17T18:38:00.876+01:00Margot, Deb, Dorte, thanks.
This is a subject that...Margot, Deb, Dorte, thanks.<br />This is a subject that fascinates me. Wilkie Collins was among those who used true crime as a source for novels. So did Sayers, Francis Iles and many others in the Golden Age. But I think it's less common now.<br />Deb, I still haven't read the George book. Of course, the Bulger case was a huge issue in Merseyside, and really still is.<br />Dorte, no, I haven't read it, do tell me more!Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-46715240564725440322011-07-17T15:48:10.268+01:002011-07-17T15:48:10.268+01:00Not many that I will have read, as it seems to me ...Not many that I will have read, as it seems to me that the concept of ´true crime´ is mainly for writers with no imagination of their own ;) <br /><br />Well, of course there are exceptions, such as you and Kate Atkinson. And have you read Megan Abbott´s absolutely brilliant Bury Me Deep? Old crime but new story. <br /><br />Dorte H.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-51923921925034205062011-07-17T14:02:05.448+01:002011-07-17T14:02:05.448+01:00I think it's a given that all fiction writers ...I think it's a given that all fiction writers tend to use real-life events for inspiration. It's not so much whether a writer uses a particularly heinous crime as inspiration, but how they use it. I think I've posted before about how disappointed ("shocked" might be a better word) I was that Elizabeth George clearly used the Jamie Bulger tragedy as part of her book THIS BODY OF DEATH. It wasn't so much that she based some of her book on the Bulger case, but that she used it in a rather throwaway subplot that could have easily been resolved another way without ever bringing the murder of a child by other children into the story.<br /><br />My reaction is different to Atkinson's book because, unlike George, Atkinson kept the Russell case (if indeed that was her inspiration) front and center to the story. The murders and their aftermath framed a major portion of the book, which I feel honors the victims much more than the way George used the Bulger case.Debnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-70854793012226109212011-07-17T13:51:25.304+01:002011-07-17T13:51:25.304+01:00Martin - Interesting question. I'm quite sure ...Martin - Interesting question. I'm quite sure a number of novels have been influenced by crimes that actually happened, even if those crimes weren't widely publicised. Thanks for getting my brain started up :-).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com