The crime novel isn't getting better all the time

I recently read two articles on the history and status of the crime genre which followed an all-too-familiar pattern. You could call it "the whig history of the crime novel". The supposition is that the crime novel has constantly moved on, evolved and left the time of dusty whodunnits behind in favour of new, better and braver ideas. It's hard to deny that crime novels in general have changed, though there are still whodunnits to be found, and some of the "exciting new ideas" may have been around for longer than fans of modern crime writing realise. The concept of serial killers wasn't unknown to Christie, for instance, and she used it - though in a typical, twisty way - in "The ABC Murders". But yes, the focus seems to have shifted from the human drama with a puzzle element to other kinds of crime stories. It doesn't follow, though, that they are superior to the old whodunnits.

What then, according to the admirers of modern crime fiction, are these great new influences that have revolutionised the genre?

1) The psychological crime story. It gets almost ridiculous when the writer of the articles I mentioned names P.D. James as an example of a new, "psychological" sort of crime story. It is not new. P.D. James writes squarely in the tradition of Dorothy L. Sayers. Yes, there is a crime that needs to be solved, but the characters involved in the mystery and their feelings and reactions are at least as important as the mystery itself. I have a lot of time for Sayers, as long as his lordship Peter Wimsey isn't too flippin' annoying with his supposedly engagin' aristocratic manner. (You feel that if he had been born in the Regency period, he would have been of those who judge people by the manner they tie their cravats.) I have just finished re-reading "Gaudy Night", which is surely the psychological crime story at its finest: it's got interesting characters, a touching, complicated love story and a cracking good mystery all rolled into one book. This kind of crime writing has its pitfalls, however: in the case of P.D. James, she handles the psychological part beautifully, but the crime story tends to disappoint in contrast. I would be interested to read a "straight" novel without a crime element by her.

2) The serial killer plot Is it actually possible to see the random motivelessness of the serial killer in a murder mystery as a good thing? Figuring out the motive is one of the most enjoyable things with reading crime stories. You may of course be aware of it, or elements of it, from the start, but then you ask yourself: what was the trigger of the crime? What made the murderer go from, say, mere dislike of the victim to actually killing him/her? I don't pretend to be any more moral than fans of the serial killer yarn, as I have a weakness for the "themed" murder mystery: a string of murders where clues are left at the scene of the crime. The clues should point to a motive which explains why the killer wanted the victims - the victims personally, not something they represented - dead. The difference between the "themed" murder mystery, which I realise is rather cheap and best kept to TV mysteries like "Midsomer Murders", and the serial killer plot is that the serial killer targets strangers. He/She may have something against blondes/businessmen/horrid people who have escaped justice generally, but there's no interesting history of personal grievances, which makes the murderer's motive, frankly, boring.

3) The gore-fest If you like your mysteries bloody you like'em bloody. But since when did a talent for turning the reader's stomach amount to a flare for High Quality Literature? Gory, sadistic murders are not necessarily more realistic than the one-hit-with-a-blunt-instrument-kind. If the writers really wanted to make a point about the nastiness of murder in real life, they could write about the sense of loss experienced by the victim's nearest and dearest. Too bleak? I should think so.

4) The forensic crime story Great if you've always wondered what a drowned corpse's entrails look like. Less great if you haven't.

5) The "social criticism" crime story One shouldn't knock preaching to the converted. The converted need a sermon now and then to lift their spirits. But one should see the "social criticism" in crime stories for what it is: fictionalised rants by authors with decided opinions but no more political expertise than the reader (often less - writers are infamous for being political idiots). These crime stories are no more wholesome than reading your favourite political blogger just to get that lovely feeling you're not alone in the world. If you share the writer's opinions you will have a whale of a time. If not, probably not. The dominance of this kind of crime story in Sweden is the reason why I have read remarkably few Swedish crime writers. I would only touch a Mankell in extreme circumstances, like at gunpoint. I lived in the halcyon days of "The Swedish Model", sonny, and it wasn't as wonderful as all that.

The modern trends aren't all bad, though. I do like a sub-genre not mentioned in the whig-history articles: the historical murder mystery. Unsurprisingly, these mysteries are as often as not - whodunnits.