Nowadays, one published novel in four is a "roman noir", a "thriller" or a "detective story". How did crime fiction come to be so popular that it is now a universal language everyone can understand? 
 
Through interviews with present-day creators of crime fiction, Part 1 of Anatomy of Crime Fiction analyses the fateful trio of the victim, the murderer and the detective, piecing together a profile of the 3 emblematic figures who provide the starting-point for all good whodunnits, while Parts 2 and 3 explore locations and plots.