Why Authenticity Makes Great Crime Fiction From Crime Writer Natalie Moss
All excellent novels are transportative. With nothing but the twenty-six letters (if you’re reading in English), a sprinkling of punctuation marks and a little magic, a good book can deposit you in the middle of a fantastical forest, an office next to that swoon worthy colleague, or, my personal favorite, right into the heart a murder investigation.
While all authors must cultivate and nurture their (often overactive) imaginations to craft a good story (I, for one, have not participated in any good murders despite writing about them), authors who write from experience have the whetstone to get their stories to cut that much deeper. It underpins the old adage: write what you know.
Writers who have walked across the settings of their books, and who have experienced some of the same adversities they subject their characters to have a special way of making those characters, and their readers, squirm. When I wrote my debut, The Night Hunter, I didn’t just tell my readers that the South African Savannah was hot; I detailed how the air smells of rot when you stand by a specific tree, I laid out each of the different calls of the birds and what times of day they could be heard, and I described that existential feeling of awe of looking into the eyes of an elephant on foot.
The devil’s in the details.
These writers are more likely to create a world that breathes outside of their story. They linger on the specifics an outsider might not notice. And by leaning into authenticity, create a feeling of deeper nuance that fosters empathy and understanding. Setting becomes more than just the backdrop on which the story is set, it drives the story forward, and in some places, it becomes a character itself.
And this really matters. Research into brain scan imagery shows that readers recreate fictional worlds in their minds as they read, which can include simulations of the sounds, images, tastes and even movements that are described. When we read, we are putting ourselves into the simulation of the world. So don’t you want to be guided by someone that’s actually been there?
For this list, I look to the authors that write from their experiences, family stories, and twist that world within the exhilarating context of a good crime.
Discover the Book
To ease the pain of their homecoming—and the tension between them—each sister invites two friends on the two-day journey into the bush. What starts as a safari adventure, turns into a nightmare when one of them is murdered the first morning at the campsite. In the chaos that follows, they crash their vehicle, stranding them, with no way to call for help.
Now, with dwindling supplies and only one rifle, Danielle must lead them on foot across miles of merciless savannah. They have days of walking ahead…if they survive that long. As the group navigates land where every rustle could mean death, a truth emerges: someone is sabotaging their escape.
