True Crime Vs. Fiction

Bones. Law and Order: Criminal Intent. CSI. Criminal Minds.
It’s the Crime sensation gripping the nation. America is obsessed with crime, and it seems that as the crime rates rise in the world today the number of shows devoted to crime rise as well. All throughout literature crime has been making its mark, from Agatha Christie’s amazing work to children’s series such as “Encyclopedia Brown”. Crime shows have been on for a number of years now as well, with series such as “Law and Order” spanning over many years. And all the crime has been immensely popular.
Crime is one of those things we as a culture are captivated by. Grisly murders give us the chills, but we can’t rest until we figure out the whodunit; we want to know more. Like a horror movie (or a train wreck) we can’t look away.
But, a thought occurred to me as I was reading an old article in TVguide magazine about the fascination America has with crime. Which is more popular, True Crime (real events which happen to real people) or Fiction (crimes written by authors, where everything from the crime itself to the people involved is created by the author)?
If you go to your local bookstore or perhaps library and find the crime section you’ll notice that both these…genres, have well developed sections, with many kinds of crime books. Books by such authors as Ann Rule explore the chilling details of real life murders and murderers, while books such as those by Max Collins focus on fiction cases involving characters from well-known TV shows. I’ve read books by both authors, and enjoyed them equally.
I recently set up a poll on fanfiction.net, asking which the voter preferred, true crime or fiction. So far, there haven’t been enough voters to give a conclusive response to which is more popular (you can find the still open poll at www.fanficiton.net/~missmila). So far, however, voters tend to lean towards Fiction, since it isn’t as ‘creepy’, since it isn’t real. Which is reasonable. As much as we love crime we don’t want it happening to or near us. We want to distance ourselves from it, and reading works of fiction give us the ability to do just that while still enjoying the crime aspect.
On the other hand, I talked to a person who didn’t vote on the poll, but prefers True Crime. They argue that True Crime is real, and that’s why it appeals to them. Everything is portrayed accurately. Things don’t always fall into place, and the reader (or author) doesn’t always know the end result. Everything is told how it happened (hopefully).
As for me? I don’t mind much. If there’s a decent crime or murder and amazing Detectives it can be real OR fiction and I’ll read it. Though with True Crime I’m often amazed by the real actions of amazing, hardworking Detectives who do all they can to find a person, or to bring closure to a family.
The poll is still opened, and if you have time to visit the site (though I recently found out you have to have an account on the site...I think), please do so. Or, leave a comment right here in the comment section below. I’m interested to hear what you think.

All the best,
~Mila