Abstract
In ‘Connecting Cosy, Gritty, and Cricket: Crime Fiction Reconciled and Reconceived’ I seek to unite the cosy and gritty ends of crime fiction, and provide evidence that the two styles can be successfully amalgamated with in the same series, or even a single text.In the introduction, I clarify my definitions of cosy and gritty, highlight how Raymond Chandler’s essay ‘The Simple Art of Murder’ drew up battle lines between Golden Age and hardboiled crime fiction, and introduce the critical lenses of Muscular Christianity and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus.
In ‘Cricket and Colonialism in Culture and Crime Fiction’, I explore the relationship between the British Empire and the sport of cricket, along with textual analysis of Flashman’s Lady by George Macdonald Fraser, Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers, Playing for the Ashes by Elizabeth George, and City of Tiny Lights by Patrick Neate, interspersed with a detailed look at my novel, Six Over Long On.
In, ‘Brit Grit – Belinda Bauer’ I explore her sometimes controversial award-winning success, analyse the novels Blacklands, Rubbernecker, Snap, and Exit, along with her latest, and last novel The Impossible Thing. Through the latter two books I follow her moves into cosier territory, and identify other formerly gritty authors who have done the same.
In, ‘Murder at the Village – Richard Osman’ I show how his success has sparked a paradigm shift within the genre, with more and more hitherto gritty authors ‘going cosy’ in their latest projects. I also analyse his novels The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet that Missed, and The Last Devil to Die, showing that their emotional resonance defies a cosy categorisation.
Finally, I conclude that a hybridised cosy and gritty crime fiction is the future of the crime fiction genre, and provide Six Over Long On as an example.
| Date of Award | Mar 2026 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |