Editing Crime fiction (section)

== Categories ==
* [[Detective fiction]] is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—either professional, amateur, or retired—investigates a crime, often murder.
* The [[cozy mystery]] is a subgenre of detective fiction in which profanity, sex, and violence are downplayed or treated humorously.
* The [[whodunit]], the most common form of detective fiction, features a complex, plot-driven story in which the reader is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed at the end of the book.
* The [[historical whodunit]] is also a subgenre of [[historical fiction]]. The setting of the story and the crime have some historical significance.
* The [[locked-room mystery]] is a specialized kind of a whodunit in which the crime is committed under apparently impossible circumstances, such as a locked room, which no intruder could have entered or left.
* The American [[hardboiled]] school is distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of sex and violence; the sleuth usually also confronts danger and engages in violence.
* The [[police procedural]] is a story in which the detective is a member of the police, thus the activities of a police force are usually convincingly depicted.
* [[Forensic]] crime fiction is similar to the police procedural. The investigator whom the reader follows is usually a medical examiner or pathologist; they must use the forensic evidence left on the body and at the crime scene to catch the killer. This subgenre was first introduced by [[Patricia Cornwell]].
* In a [[legal thriller]], the major characters are lawyers and their employees, and they become involved in proving their cases.
* In [[spy fiction|spy novel]]s, the major characters are [[Espionage|spies]], usually working for an [[intelligence agency]].
* The [[caper story]] and the criminal novel are stories told from the point of view of the criminals.
* The [[psychological thriller]] or psychological suspense, a specific subgenre of the [[Thriller (genre)|thriller]], also incorporates elements from detective fiction, as the protagonist must solve the mystery of the psychological conflict presented in these stories.
* The [[parody]] or spoof uses humor or sarcasm.
* {{anchor|Crime thriller}}The crime thriller has the central characters involved in crime, either in its investigation, as the perpetrator, or less commonly, a victim.
* The “nocturnal picaresque” explores the secrets obscured in a city at nighttime.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Raczkowski |first=Chris |title=A History of American Crime Fiction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781316442975}}</ref>
* The [[city mystery]] showcases the investigation of nefarious circumstances within a city.<ref name=":2" />
* The gothic mystery incorporates paranormal activity into the story, including other beings such as ghosts and vampires.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=Deborah |title=Cultural Studies Approaches to the Study of Crime in Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-026407-9}}</ref>
* In the [[gallows]] subgenre, the story revolves around the hanging of potential criminals at hand.<ref name=":2" />
* In the criminal confession subgenre, character motives and admittance are discussed.<ref name=":2" />

=== Pseudonymous authors ===
In the history of crime fiction, some authors have been reluctant to publish their novels under their real names. More recently, some publish pseudonymously because of the belief that since the large booksellers are aware of their historical sales figures, and command a certain degree of influence over publishers, the only way to "break out" of their current advance numbers is to publish as someone with no track record.

In the late 1930s and 1940s, British County Court Judge Arthur Alexander Gordon Clark (1900–1958) published a number of detective novels under the alias [[Cyril Hare]], in which he made use of his profoundly extensive knowledge of the English legal system. When he was still young and unknown, award-winning British [[novelist]] [[Julian Barnes]] (born 1946) published some crime novels under the alias Dan Kavanagh. Other authors take delight in cherishing their [[alter ego]]s; [[Ruth Rendell]] (1930–2015) wrote one sort of crime novels as Ruth Rendell and another type as [[Barbara Vine]]; [[John Dickson Carr]] also used the pseudonym [[Carter Dickson]]. Author [[Evan Hunter]] (which itself was a pseudonym) wrote his crime fiction under the name of Ed McBain.