The mystery of our fascination with ‘cosy crime’

Cassie Martin  |  Comment
Date posted:  10 Oct 2024
Share Add       
The mystery of our fascination with ‘cosy crime’

As October arrives and the nights draw in, there’s nothing we Brits like better than turning to a bit of ‘cosy crime’.

Whether you are looking forward to Season in the 4 of Only Murders Building, avidly keeping abreast of Richard Osman’s filming updates for The Thursday Murder Club, or taking refuge in your Poirot box set, it seems we can’t get enough of murder mysteries.

George Orwell noted this (unhealthy?) fascination back in 1946 in his essay ‘Decline of the English Murder’ in which he identified all the elements which made a real-life crime appeal to the popular imagination. These were a domestic setting, an outwardly respectable perpetrator, an illicit passion and a clever method. He cites Dr Crippen or The Brides in the Bath as examples of this sort of murder.

Share
< Previous article| Comment| Next article >
Read more articles on:   film
Read more articles by Cassie Martin >>
Comment
From exams to everyday life - do we assume the worst?

From exams to everyday life - do we assume the worst?

The weather is (finally!) warming up, the days are lengthening as we approach the summer solstice, hay-fever sufferers are monitoring …

Comment
Can fantasy fiction point to Scriptural truths?

Can fantasy fiction point to Scriptural truths?

At the end of October, the British Library suffered a paralysing cyber attack which affected their website and many online …

Subscribe

Enjoy our monthly paper and full online access

Find out more

Looking for a job?

Browse all our current job adverts

Search