Lisa: OK Laura Example of amazing (then terrible)Īlex: I think I mentioned this to you in our initial exchange, Lisa, but an unfortunately big chunk of sex scenes in crime fiction are cringe-worthy because authors often fall into the same kind of language they use for fight scenes or arguments-the times I’ve read good sex scenes that feel natural and (gasp) fun is more rare, so that’s why I went with five. Laura: In my experience as a reader, crime fiction sex is either amazing or terrible. A lot of crime fiction is like a pre-code movie. Layne: Even the non-sex scenes, there’s still that tension. Layne: Oh yes, Jennifer Hillier is amazing at incorporating sex into her books. J.: There are times I feel like the good stuff is withheld-Citing Nothing. Layne: A lot of crime fiction includes sex as a motivator for characters (either pursuit of sex or avoiding/investigating sexual violence), but there’s not a ton of on the page sex. Lisa : Yes! Female thriller writers use it a lot. Robyn: Jennifer’s sex scenes are pretty intense Robyn: Jennifer Hillier and Roz Nay include sex. Lisa: (not being snotty, just interested in how you formed your opinion) Layne: I’ll split the difference and say 6! Lisa: That’s higher than I would give it, Robyn Let’s start with a poll: On a scale of 1 being cloistered and 10 being in Eyes Wide Shut, where would you put crime fiction? Lisa Levy: Hi everyone! OK, settle down class. “What a great day! New Taylor Swift and sex chat with my favorite writers.” And goddess of the zeitgeist, Taylor Swift, dropped her new album the day we chatted. Alex Segura’s Star Wars novel, Poe Dameron, had just come out. Ford ( Cottonmouths), Layne Fargo ( Temper, and the forthcoming They Never Learn), and Laura Lippman ( Sunburn, My Life as a Villainess), were all enthusiastic yeses.īrief scene-setting: Robyn Harding’s latest, The Swap, debuted at number one on the Canadian bestsellers list. Our esteemed panel of Robyn Harding ( The Swap), Alex Segura ( Pete Fernandez series, and now Star Wars Poe Dameron: Freefall), P.J. Since a short list equals a roundtable for me, I started issuing invitations to writers who don’t shy away from sex. So I was troubled when I tried to think of crime fiction with exciting or provocative sex scenes and I came up with a very short list of writers who write sex well. Hell, I’ve talked about those things for years: here, and here, and here, and here. We talk plenty about stranger rape, and stalking, and sexual assault about domestic violence, and toxic masculinity, and rape culture and predators, perverts, and power games.
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Let’s talk about sex! Let’s talk about why we don’t talk about sex in crime fiction.