An exhibition dedicated to 20th century British crime fiction has opened at Cambridge University Library. The artefacts on show range widely through the history of the genre, from items associated Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Conan Doyle right up to modern exponents of the form, Val McDermid and Ian Rankin.
Lurking somewhere in many of us is the awful capacity to commit the worst of crimes
What’s surprising about the exhibition in a way is that it’s so relatively unusual – when, after all, was the last time you heard of a show dedicated to crime fiction? It remains the biggest seller by genre and continues to inspire some of the most popular television and film.
As I write, Ripley, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr Ripley starring Andrew Scott, is riding high on Netflix while over on Disney+ you can find Kenneth Branagh sporting the world’s most implausible moustache – more Forth Bridge than facial hair – in at least three big screen adaptions of Christie’s tales involving her Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot.
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