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The guide discusses key crimes and criminals, victim perspectives, shifting narrative threads across decades, and the climactic rescue, emphasizing Atkinson’s boundary-pushing “literary hybrid” approach.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/elements-of-crime-writing-when-will-there-be-good-news/623232/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/elements-of-crime-writing-when-will-there-be-good-news/623232.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"hdkawk","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-20",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"Why is “When Will There Be Good News?” considered crime-writing genre work?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"It involves murder, violence, kidnapping, drug dealing, victims, criminals, and detectives. It also focuses on effects of crime and how people cope, while pushing genre boundaries through a broader “literary hybrid” style.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What is the novel’s narrative structure around its major crimes?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"It begins with a shocking crime occurring about thirty years before the main narrative, then moves forward to multiple threads, including investigations, disappearances, and a train crash that connects incidents through coincidences.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"Who are some key victims and how does victimhood shape the story?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"The novel includes murder victims such as Gabrielle, Jessica, and Joseph Mason, along with victims of accidents like Reggie’s mother, Ms Macdonald. The story also treats Joanna Hunter and her son as central figures whose disappearance creates danger and suspense.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},623232,1793038309,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,94,99,104,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},70,"exam",{"id":95,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":33,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":100,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},3985747859855,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Elements of crime writing: Text overviewWhen Will There Be Good News?  \nThis resource is an explanation of some of the ways this text can be considered in relation to the genre of crime. This overview is intended to provide a starting point for teachers in their thinking and planning about how the text can be considered through the lens of the genre. There are some brief comments on how some elements of the genre can be linked to the text, although teachers and students may well think of other relevant ideas. We haven’t covered every element of this genre. Instead, we hope this guide will provide a springboard to help you plan, and to get you and your students thinking about the text in more detail.  \n‘Run, Joanna, run,’ she said and Joanna ran into the field and was lost in the wheat.  \nOverview  \nIn many ways it is obvious why When Will There Be Good News? is in a category that explores elements of crime writing since it is about murder, violence, kidnapping, drug-dealers, victims, criminals and detectives of various types. Atkinson herself has called her novel crime fiction and it is part of a series of novels featuring the character of ex-army, ex-police turned private investigator, Jackson Brodie.  \nThe novel starts with a crime of shocking violence and ends with the solving of the novel’s main mystery, the kidnapping of Joanna Hunter, after which there is a happy resolution for its two main victims. It is important to note the nature of Atkinson’s text. It is not a typical crime novel. The New York Times calls her novels “literary hybrids” and she certainly pushes the boundaries of the crime writing genre in this text. What she does here is carefully interweave the crime story with the love story (though even as a love story, she does not offer a straightforward take on the genre) . There is little mystery about who commits the crimes in this text, though there is mystery and attendant suspense about what happens to Joanna Hunter. Atkinson seems particularly interested in the effects of crime in this text, how individuals cope with crime in modern Britain and how the grim world can be softened and redeemed by love. In spite of the  \nnumerous crimes committed, this is not ultimately a dark text like Brighton Rock: it is buoyed up by its humorous narrative voices and focalisations, its coincidences and improbabilities, and its canine heroes. In this respect and in away that typifies the crime fiction genre, When Will There Be Good News? is an entertaining read.  \nCrimes and criminals  \nThe novel begins in a time frame thirty years before the main narrative with a shocking crime which recalls the real life crime of the Chillingden murder of Lin and daughter Megan Russell and their pet dog. A second daughter, Josie Russell was brutally attacked but survived the crime. In Atkinson’s novel, Joanna is the child who survives, though unlike Josie she is not attacked but hides in a field of wheat while her sister, baby brother and mother along with their dog are violently stabbed to death by loner Andrew Decker wielding a carving knife. Rather unusually for crime fiction, this crime is given little further prominence in the narrative in terms of investigation. Atkinson takes the story thirty years forward, and gives attention to the imminent release of the man convicted of the murders and the impact this release might have on the now adult Joanna Hunter. But this is only one thread. As the story progresses, in a somewhat piecemeal narrative structure, the focus shifts to a number of other crimes and events: the search for murderer David Needler, on the loose having shot themother and sister of his estranged wife at one of his children’s birthday parties, whose wife and children live in terror of his return; the shady business arrangements of Neil Hunter; the drug dealing and intimidating acts of Billy and his connections; the sudden disappearance of Joanna; and the Edinburgh train crash which draws together a number of different i","cbCaikLagoUl9O2E","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikLagoUl9O2E","pdf",170941,"English","# Elements of crime writing\n## Overview\n## Crimes and criminals\n## Victims","[{\"question\":\"Why is “When Will There Be Good News?” considered crime-writing genre work?\",\"answer\":\"It involves murder, violence, kidnapping, drug dealing, victims, criminals, and detectives. It also focuses on effects of crime and how people cope, while pushing genre boundaries through a broader “literary hybrid” style.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the novel’s narrative structure around its major crimes?\",\"answer\":\"It begins with a shocking crime occurring about thirty years before the main narrative, then moves forward to multiple threads, including investigations, disappearances, and a train crash that connects incidents through coincidences.\"},{\"question\":\"Who are some key victims and how does victimhood shape the story?\",\"answer\":\"The novel includes murder victims such as Gabrielle, Jessica, and Joseph Mason, along with victims of accidents like Reggie’s mother, Ms Macdonald. The story also treats Joanna Hunter and her son as central figures whose disappearance creates danger and suspense.\"}]","Elements of Crime Writing - When Will There Be Good News? | PDF",1792467943,15]