Mystery-reading differences between the sexes

[Amy Z]

Pig wrote:

> Quoting from the article: <<<Ms Hartley found that the men had 
tended 
> to choose shorter books, which could be contributed to low boredom 
> thresholds. 
> 
> They also preferred UK novels centred on the family. 
> 
> The women were more interested in crime stories and books with a 
> strong love interest.>>>
> 
> 
> I was interested with the crime stories more often in the females 
> section. I did not know what to make of this as I personally would 
> have expectated them to be more likely to be read by males (having 
> said that I do not read many crime novels so maybe it is true).

I don't know what to make of this either, but if "crime novels" means 
mysteries, as opposed to "true crime" (rising genre in the USA, where 
we have many TV shows also devoted to relating accounts of real 
arrests, investigations, etc.), it's a genre in which women authors 
have been more celebrated and successful than most others.  Some of 
the very best, acclaimed all around, have been women:  Christie, 
Allingham, James, Tey, Sayers, Rendell.  This might be a reason women 
read them, or it might be that whatever attracts women to mysteries 
makes them more likely both to read and to write them.

It would be interesting to break it down to subgenres: whodunnits, 
spy novels, private eyes, thrillers, etc. etc.  There is a very funny 
piece in either Murder Ink or Murderess Ink, two books I own that 
celebrate mysteries, but I can't find exactly where it is, about the 
stereotypical female mystery (Miss Marple--English, tea, knitting, 
deduction from the rocking chair, good manners, etc.) vs. the 
stereotypical male mystery (Mickey Spillane--U.S. American, hard 
liquor, lots of swearing, sentences like plays on words, etc.).  At 
the end of the dialogue, true to form, he shoots her and she poisons 
him.  I wonder if women do prefer the Christie/Sayers/Allingham 
tradition and men the Chandler/Hammett tradition.  And what about 
people like James and Rendell, two of the best currently writing IMO, 
who don't seem to me to fit either genre?

One could also ask why the British excel at mystery writing.  Someone 
has surely done studies of all these things.

Amy Z