How politically-correct can historic crime fiction ever be? Musings from the sofa.
Writing historical fiction poses an interesting challenge. If you are into fancy terminology you could call this ‘deliberate values dissonance’, if not, you could simply ask: How well do morals and values travel through time? When creating characters who lived in the past do you portray them accurately or give them modern attitudes to make them more appealing to contemporary readers? Not so long ago there was a debate at Oxford University about Cecil Rhodes and whether or not his statue should continue to grace the campus. According to some, Rhodes was an ideological coloniser and racist, perhaps even a mass murderer, to others he was a statesman and philanthropist who held opinions common to many during his life time. It has been said that Churchill was a racist too. In 1937 he told the Palestine Royal Commission: "I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has...