Backstories, love them or hate them?

Let’s talk a little bit about television first. I admit - I am a true crime addict. I time my hour long cardio session at the gym to coincide with a true crime episode showing on the television in front of me (yes I get remote privileges) in order to pass the time. Why do I watch true crime? I love being taken through the investigative process. But what I do not like, is for them to spend twenty minutes delving in to the victim’s history and how great and kind they were. I’m sure they were great and kind and yes it’s a sad story, but you can summarize the relevant information in about thirty seconds. Oh, and special rant - when you already know who the bad guy is, and it’s fifty minutes of watching the character degrade in to increasing violence culminating in an unspeakable act. Again, I don’t watch these things to be horrified, I like to follow the investigative process.

But what about novels? Backstories are important - or at least they can be important. They serve two roles; to enhance the plot, and for character development. We know Bruce Highland is a private investigator. But what makes him tick? How did he get there? What are the stories behind these seemingly improbable assignments? We read novels for entertainment. Properly done, backstories are entertaining. Even my increasing collection of short stories have some backstories embedded within them, but obviously less so than a full length novel.