If you think the shifting tectonics of world history might make for a juicy crime fiction backdrop, the last decade or so has proved you right.

Imagine a world, if you will, where crime does not exist. A startling proposition that seems outlandish, but our imaginations, of course, need not be bounded by the rules and restrictions imposed by realism. It would be a world, one might suppose, where equality reigned, where the thought of violence was so alien that it need not be practiced.

Britain proves to be an ideal setting for many a medieval-minded crime novelist, regardless of century.

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