Why do women read crime fiction?

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I've been thinking about this a lot.
Women read far more than men full stop. And the two genres that sell the most are romance and crime.
Now romance I kinda get (tho that's a different discussion) but crime?

I'm a crime writer myself and the majority of my readership is female, which always makes me wonder why.

Does anyone have any ideas/theories? Is there any research out there?

Thing is, crime doesn't necessarily mean violence.
Ok, it is often involved, but not all crime means murder.

I read a lot of crime fiction as well as quite a few modern classics.
Quite why, I couldn't really say, but do like it to be well written with strong characters of either sex. A think it is also the puzzle/suspense aspect and although you do normally get a 'tidy' ending, it's by no means always happy or 'right' (Thinking particularly of the Simon Serrallier novels by Susan Hill).

The lack of romance may also be a factor!

Because deep down inside I know I should have worked in forensic detective!

I should have been a forensic detective not worked in!

Posie's friend's novel looks great. I was especially tickled by the reviewer who warmed to the main character because she "is human and has floors"

I have bought it - one-click ordering is dangerous!

Me too- only £1.53 on Kindle

They don't want to read about crime. They want to read about the solution to the crime. It's a pleasing fantasy that there is always an answer to chaos and disorder. It's satisfying and we can convince ourselves that it's true.

Romance on the other hand - who is stupid enough to beleive that ?

I still want to know if women read proportionally more or less crime than men.

I think I read somewhere that men are more likely to read non-fiction.

This article and the comments are interesting

Ooh Posie that looks good, have also just bought it, damn you 1-click!

Agree about Posie's friends novel. That's three sales she's got now!

I think the lack of romance and woman doing things rather than having their life revolve around a man and what they look like, is great and big reasons why I read them.

And surely everyone enjoys a good puzzle!

Interesting response from the only man there LeBof

I like reading books in which the lead character is a woman and has an interesting job, and is really good at it.

I like my job. I really enjoy getting stuck into it mentally. Satisfying work is an important part of my happiness. So I suppose I enjoy experiencing that vicariously through the characters of stories I read.

Doesn't have to be detective/crime, it can be anything. But in a lot of other genres of novels with female leads the work stuff is background to her big emotional revelation/growth regarding a man or a child or her past or something. In crime fiction that stuff is there but the story is about a woman working hard and (eventually, usually) being good at her job. I think that's also why I like to read 'genre' fiction - fantasy, detective, scifi - strong plotting and women actually doing something instead of just being.

You also get more women in crime/detective leads roles in books than on telly. I hate the Law and Order SVU series, which is basically exploitative of crimes on women's bodies and psyches.

I agree on the SVU series. They spout all the rape/DV myths too. Last week (over here) they were trying to prosecute a woman with HIV for bfing her child and murdering her. They need to read the Politics of Breastfeeding because that is just plain wrong!

Sorry massive tangent. Agree with the rest if your post too blackcurrants .

Scallops

I hadn't scrolled down that far.

I agree with blackcurrants' points there.

Trills statisticallt women read far more than men period.
Books aimed at women aged 25-45 always sell far more than any others.

The two genres that sell the most are crime and romance. Both continued to increase sales whilst all other genres worsened during the recession. E publishing has proved even more successful for crime and romance.

And yes, statistically of people that read crime regularly, the majority are women. Not as big a majprity as for romance of course, but still the majority.

I thought for one moment you were accusing LeBof of being a man there Handdived

I know that women read more than men, and that most crime is read by women.

I was asking a different question. Of reading done by men, is more or less of it crime than reading done by women?

e.g. If women do 80% of all the reading, and men only 20%

If 100 books are read

Women read 80 books, 40 of which are crime

Men read 20 books, 15 of which are crime

Women are reading more, and reading more crime, but men are proportionally reading more crime - half of all woman-reading is crime, but 3/4 of all man-reading is crime.

Incidentally I heard that e-books are great for Mills&Boon and similar because you can read them on the train and not be embarrassed by the cover - nobody knows what you are reading so you can read what you like :)

Kellamity.

Wouldn't dare!

I know, Trills. I just thought that article was interesting.

I love crime fiction but really don't like explicit violence. I think my imagination is quite active enough to fill in the details without having to read the words [wimpy emoticon].
As a young teen, I physically couldn't bring myself to pick up a copy of Mrs McGinty's Dead because the cover photo was a rather disturbing picture of a foot in an old lady's shoe with wrinkly stockings - sticking out of a trunk.
And I've had to stop reading Val McDermid since she stopped writing the Brannigan books and went all gory.

I think I'm interested in the relationships really - which is why I love the long series.

Just wondering, that's all. Think it would be interesting to know. I like data.