Can someone please explain to the difference between crime fiction and a Mystery?

[Bethany]

Can someone please explain the difference between a mystery and crime fiction?

I have been seeing crime fiction popping up more and more as a genre and i am a little uncertain about what is included under that umbrella.

I thought it was referring to true crime at first but have seen a number of fictional books classified as True Crime.

[Randy]

At its simplest, crime fiction centers around a crime. There may or may not be a focus on who-dun-it and the detectives trying to figure out who-dun-it, and there may be some exploration of the consequences of the crime on the community in which it occurs. I think of Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, George V. Higgin's The Friends of Eddie Coyle and even an oldie like Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett as crime fiction rather than a mystery. (And some would see the distinction as pointless, the general usage of "mystery" covering anything with a crime in it.)

For me, a mystery is initiated by a crime, but really centers on the solving of who-dun-it. Other considerations may be included in the solving, but time and again the author's attention, and so the reader's attention, comes back to the question of who the culprit is.

I think you could argue that the recent HBO show, Mare of Easttown combines both. Probably could argue the same for Mystic River, so the the distinction may lie more on emphasis than on content.

[Aditya]

The focus of a mystery is always the who-dun-it. The focus of crime is wider. A mystery book is always a crime book but a crime book need not be mystery. My favorite crime author is James Lee Burke, there are mysteries in his book but they occupy a secondary place in the narrative. The primary focus is on the characters primarily the protagonist Dave Robicheaux. But Sherlock Holmes is undoubtedly a mystery.

Famous examples of crime books that don't involve a mystery would include The Choirboys, it's a satire of LAPD or The Killer Inside Me, a character study of a sociopath. Among modern authors George Pelecanos writes crime which don't have a mystery whereas James Ellroy combines mystery and crime. More the focus shifts away from the who-dun-it, more the book edges into crime fiction territory.

[Bethany]

Thanks that's the clearest explanation I have seen.