The strange comfort of CRIME

Scroll through any streaming service or podcast chart and a clear pattern emerges. Murders, disappearances, wrongful convictions, cold-case investigations, genteel English villages hiding deadly secrets. Whether it's forensic documentaries, courtroom dramas, investigative podcasts or cosy mysteries set in picture-perfect communities, crime stories dominate our cultural landscape.

- By SALLY SAUNDERS

The data bears it out. According to recent research, on the Readly app, 74% of users choose true crime, and they spend longer with it than any other genre. Readers linger for an average of 44 minutes per issue — far more than for TV and film coverage (27 minutes) or motoring (19 minutes). And it’s not just the darker end that’s thriving. Cosy crime — murder softened by charm — is enjoying a resurgence.

At first glance, this seems contradictory. True crime immerses us in the brutal realities of violence, while cosy crime wraps murder in warmth and eccentricity. Yet both are flourishing. According to criminologist Professor Donna Youngs and psychotherapist-turned-novelist Philippa Perry, the answer lies in how they help us process the complexities of human behaviour — and our own fears. Crime stories, it turns out, are rarely just about crime.

For many, the appeal of true crime begins with curiosity about the criminal mind. Readly’s research shows that 61% of audiences consume it to understand why people commit extreme acts.

Youngs believes this curiosity is bound up with how we manage fear. “True crime is often a way of dealing with the fear these crimes generate,” she explains. “We live in an increasingly civilised society, but the most horrific acts still break through. And the shock increases the safer we believe ourselves to be.” Such crimes disrupt the comforting idea that the world is orderly and predictable. True crime allows us to confront that disruption at a distance — examining danger without experiencing it. Youngs identifies a group she calls “psychological preppers”. “These are people who want to learn as much as possible about notorious crimes,” she says. “It’s a form of preparation: they believe knowledge will protect them.”