In defence of true crime

I recently listened to a 13-part podcast called Who Killed Emma?. It’s a gripping piece of work – a BBC investigation into the murder of 27-year-old Emma Caldwell in April 2005. Emma was a heroin addict and a prostitute on the streets of Glasgow. She was strangled and left for dead in a remote wood.

I’d recommend the podcast to any fan of true crime. And I’d also expect the scorn of those who deplore this highly successful genre. People who are inclined to say things like: ‘How can you be so voyeuristic? Why do you care about these monsters who kill? I want nothing to do with those despicable programmes and podcasts.’ Most definitely, there’s a tendency to be high-minded, snooty even, about these explorations of evil. It’s bad enough that the crime happened, and it is deemed awful to exploit it for profit or some perverted form of pleasure.