Braithwait’s novel My Sister, the Serial Killer is a “critically acclaimed and darkly comic thriller about a woman caught between love for her sister and love for her sister’s next victim”. Crime novels often, perhaps indirectly, help readers psychologically deal with unpleasant themes — such as death, which many people had to face more than ever before because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Braithwait said.

“Death is always there, so I think it depends on how you want to engage with the fact that this ‘thing’ is just around the corner. Sometimes the easiest thing to do, maybe, is to laugh with it, so it doesn’t grip you … If you don’t laugh, you cry, so you have to figure out where you’re going to be.”

Jarlvi, referring to instances of ‘humour’ mixed with crime in her book, said: “For me, it’s about the character, getting inside her head and her life and trying to look at a depressing situation in a humorous way; it just makes it easier. We do that anyway in life, we try to find humour to make light of something difficult.” Her latest psychological thriller, ‘What Did I Do?’ deals with mental health and human trafficking.

The two writers were speaking during a morning session titled ‘Criminality Begins at Home’ at the LitFest Pavilion set up at the InterContinental, Dubai Festival City hotel.