The List #47: Three You Might Have Missed

When Genre Becomes Art

Working in the crime genre, I sometimes find myself in conversations about whether a mystery story can be a work of art. And of course, it can. Crime and Punishment, The Woman in White, The Big Sleep — if you do the crime story well enough, it can stand among the greats. Where the confusion comes in is this: a mystery story can be a terrific mystery story without being a work of art. If it fulfills the requirements of the genre in a creative and entertaining way, we really can ask nothing more of it.