Gary Jubelin reveals why Australians can’t get enough of true crime
Former top cop Gary Jubelin explains what is behind the public’s fascination with Australia’s most terrifying crimes and the descent into the dark side of the human soul.
True Crime
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Crime doesn’t pay, but it absolutely sells – and in many forms.
The consumption of true crime stories – through books, TV and podcasts – is ever-evolving, as producers find new ways to tell tales of the human psyche’s darker side.
Former top homicide Detective-turned-News Corp Australia author Gary Jubelin gripped audiences with stories from his time working on some of Australia’s most terrifying crimes in theI Catch Killers podcast; and his just-published book has become a surprise runaway success.
After just three days on the market, I Catch Killers: The Life and Many Deaths of a Homicide Detective exceeded publisher HarperCollins’ expectations by debuting in the Nielsen BookScan Top 10 and holding bestseller status on Booktopia.
“I feel people’s fascination with true crime is based on their natural curiosity of a world most do not get to see,” Jubelin said.
“It’s the dark side of humanity where sometimes the goodness shines through. I am excited about the interest in my memoir because I think it gives an honest and raw account of what it’s like to be a cop and how that changes you. It also gives the reader a sense of the price everyone pays when someone’s life is taken.”
MORE: Australia’s most compelling true crimes revealed
Until 2008, more readers consumed crime fiction than nonfiction. But the Underbelly phenomenon changed everything, with the book by John Silvester and News Corp’s Andrew Rule the first true crime title to seize the top slot, giving the genre its strongest recorded year in BookScan history — helped no doubt by the hit TV adaptation.
That same Melbourne gangland war is the setting for the next true crime blockbuster expected to fly off shelves: Lawyer X, by News Corp journalists Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, is due out on Monday.
In more recent years, BookScan has seen fiction and fact fluctuate in popularity as consumer tastes change.
Since launching the Crime + Investigation channel in 2005, Foxtel’s head of Factual and General Entertainment Jim Buchan said analysing the trends is a fascinating aspect of his job and it is clear that women are the main audience.
“People sometimes think crime should be male because it’s about violence, but generally true crime is about motives, grief, suffering, morality and the reasons for crime, not just the violence,” Mr Buchan said.
“Male viewers generally respond to crime subjects and stories involving broader themes like law enforcement teams and structures, crime systems and history.
“The female demographic is quite opposite. To target the female demographic, we need to be targeting personal stories, analysing the emotions and psyche of individuals.”
Series with real life and relatable protagonists such as Debi Marshall Investigates Frozen Lies and its subsequent podcast proved immensely popular, Mr Buchan said.
HOW TOUGH TIMES AFFECT CRIME
He said it was interesting to note the drop in appetite for true crime when consumer confidence is low.
“When COVID hit, things changed quite dramatically. History [as a genre] jumped substantially in popularity, especially turning points in history and stories that are quite optimistic,” Mr Buchan said.
“The darkness that we find in the crime genre, people don’t gravitate to it when life is more stressful. There’s enough news coverage that satisfies all the things true crime does. We are seeing crime bumping up again in the past few weeks.”
So what is driving our desire to read, watch and listen to the horrific acts and terrible misfortunes of others and does our obsession have a deeper, more sinister meaning?
Griffith Criminology Institute deputy director Associate Professor Danielle Reynald has dedicated much of her working life to understanding and analysing many aspects of crime.
Having worked as a crime reporter for print and TV media, she trained in both psychology and crime science before completely a PhD in criminology. Her current focus is crime prevention through studying decision-making and behaviour of offenders, victims and bystanders or witnesses of crime.
“True crime podcasts, true crime books and true crime series have the potential to expand our understanding of various types of crime events and therefore improve our abilities around self-protection and the protection of others,” Dr Reynald said.
“People seem to be most fascinated by crimes that are extreme and perceived as being shocking, horrifying or chilling.
“Statistically speaking, crime events are rare. The fact these types of crime events are uncommon in most people’s everyday lives makes them all the more compelling.”
Dr Reynald said while there were many reasons for women making up a larger portion of the true crime audience, personal safety was a common theme.
“Research suggests that part of the explanation why women may be drawn to true crime stories is to gain knowledge about self-protection and self-preservation by developing a better understanding about what risky situations might look like,” she said.
“For a lot of people, I think the appeal in understanding the mind of an offender stems from the assumption that people who commit serious crimes think in a fundamentally different way to themselves.
“For others the appeal might come from a desire to better understand their own criminal tendencies.”
A DIFFERENT PAGE-TURNER
Like crime, historical fiction is a booming genre — hence our Book of the Month: The Women’s Pages, by Victoria Purman.
It’s yours for a 30 per cent discount at Booktopia with the code PAGES.
And tell us your favourite genre at The Sunday Bookclub Facebook group.
LEADING CRIMES
Top five true crime titles according to Nielsen BookScan from the start of the year to August 15.
1. Missing William Tyrell by Caroline Overington (HarperCollins)
2. Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow (Hachette)
3. Drugs, Guns & Lies: My Life as an Undercover Cop by Keith Banks and Ben Smith (Allen & Unwin)
4. Cops, Drugs, Lawyer X and Me by Paul Dale and Vikki Petraitis (Hachette)
5. Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar by Steve Murphy and Javier F. Pena
Originally published as Gary Jubelin reveals why Australians can’t get enough of true crime