Not mere cosy escapism …

… Linking Christianity to classic crime - Catholic Herald. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Many people have wondered about the link between Christianity and classic crime. The great poet WH Auden wrote an essay on the subject entitled The Guilty Vicarage. There is a lot of truth to his argument that detective stories tend to reflect an orderly, law-governed world which can be disrupted, spoiled and attacked by the forces of evil, but not overcome. They therefore closely reflect the Christian understanding of the universe.