Ross McDonald is one of my favorite crime writers.

On the covers of some McDonald books is a quote from a review: “Ross McDonald doesn’t write about crime. He writes about sin.”

This strikes me as both true and important, and here’s why:

Crime is done by people for a variety of reasons that usually appear, at least in crime fiction, obvious and understandable once the crime is solved.

Sin is something based in the natures of us all, and is to me a far more intriguing mystery than “whodunit” or why he done it.

When we confront in stories the issue of sin, we also may be prompted to grapple with questions such as who we are and why all of us are capable of committing hideous crimes.

Mystery readers are drawn to books that detail how crimes are solved. Many of them choose as their favorite books those that show what life-circumstances turn a person into a victim or a criminal. Most mystery writers set out to please these readers.

But some of us readers who enjoy being gripped by the tension and the puzzles crime fiction offers also hope to encounter issues that will provide us with something to think about even after we finish the book.

I don’t see how any story that could legitimately be described as Christian noir could fail to shed light on, and require introspection about, the issue of sin.