Conference article

The aim of this article is to discuss the role and function of crime fiction as a contemporary medium of popular science. In the last few decades; crime fiction has become an increasingly dominant genre in the cultural sphere – in literature; film; and television. Indeed; in many senses it could be said to be the most dominant fiction genre. A great deal of contemporary crime fiction displays a strong scientific presence; and it is reasonable to assume that many readers and viewers gain a substantial part of their scientific knowledge from reading crime fiction. In this article; Swedish crime writer Åsa Nilsonne (b. 1949) and her series of police novels (1991-2006); as well as the promotion and reception of these novels; are examined in order to assess how the crime genre depicts and mediates scientific theories and knowledge. The conclusion is that even though Swedes show a strong interest in science-heavy crime fiction; the crime fiction novels produced in Sweden involve only a very limited use of science. Nevertheless; crime fiction does function as popular science in many ways; the most important being that it contributes to spreading knowledge about scientific reasoning and methods. This article is part of my research project “Science in the Crime Genre”.

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