Edgar Allen Poe is often credited as one of the first crime writers, but as scholar Rachel Franks points out, stories of violating social norms are as old as Oedipus. She observed about early crime stories: “these early tales were designed to help establish a common ethical framework for how we should live with one another and inform us that there are consequences when the rules of that framework are broken.” While the modern world has brought more complicated crimes, our fascination with crime and its consequences remains evergreen. My list of crime sub-genres is nowhere near comprehensive, but it provides a sample of the ways fiction explores crime and its consequences. Many of these sub-genres, like mystery and thriller, are nesting dolls of their own sub-genres. Use this list as a jumping off point to explore sub-genres that spark your interest. Let’s dive into some of the deliciously deviant sub-genres of crime fiction that explore why people risk everything to break the law and keep us asking: Will they get away with it? For more great takes on crime fiction, check out 20 Must-Read Crime Novels To Keep You Up At Night. For more sub-genre priming, check out The Layer Cake of Science Fiction: A Sub-Genre Primer.
