Murder 101

This collection of essays examines how college professors teach the genre of detective fiction and provides insight into how the reader may apply such strategies to his or her own courses.
Multi-disciplinary in scope, the essays cover teaching in the areas of literature, law, history, sociology, anthropology, architecture, gender studies, cultural studies, and literary theory. Also included are sample syllabi, writing assignments, questions for further discussion, reading lists, and further aids for course instruction.

Edward J. Rielly is a professor emeritus of Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, where he created and directed the Writing and Publishing program. He is the author or editor of 30 books and lives in Westbrook, Maine.

Edited by Edward J. Rielly
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 252
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3657-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1224-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Introduction
Edward J. Rielly      1
Exploring the Origins of American Detective Fiction: Teaching Poe and Dime Novels
Pamela Bedore      3
Detective Fiction, Cultural Categories, and the Ideology of Criticism
Stephen Brauer      13
Teaching International Detective Fiction
Patricia P. Buckler      25
Undergraduates and Hispanic Sleuths: The Importance of University Cor(ps)e Requirements in a Liberal Learning Curriculum
Benjamin Fraser      38
Contemporary Detective Fiction Across the English Curriculum
Genie Giaimo      51
Holmes Is Where the Art Is: Architectural Design Projects
Derham Groves      61
Southern Crime: The Clash of Hero and Villain in a Writing Course
Mary Hadley      70
Adding Some Mystery to Cultural Studies
Steve Hecox      79
Teaching Detective Fiction from a Feminist Perspective
Ellen F. Higgins      87
Fixing and Un-Fixing Words: Nastiness, Fidelity, and Betrayal in Chandler’s and Hawks’s The Big Sleep
Alexander N. Howe      96
Historical Mysteries in the Literature Classroom
Rosemary Johnsen      106
African Crime/Mystery Stories: Triggering Provocative Classroom Topics
Virginia Macdonald      115
Murder in the Classroom: Teaching Detective Fiction at the Graduate Level
Lois A. Marchino and Deane Mansfield-Kelley      126
Introducing Literature through Detective Fiction: An Approach to Teaching Online
Meg Matheny      137
Mysteries of O’ahu: Local Detective Fiction in the Composition Classroom
Stanley D. Orr      145
1930s-1940s Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction and 1940s–1950s
Detective Noir
Christine Photinos      157
Anthropologists as Detectives and Detectives as Anthropologists
James C. Pierson      166
“Just the Facts”: Detective Fiction in the Law School Curriculum
Robert C. Power      178
Margaret Coel’s The Story Teller in a Literary Criticism Course
Edward J. Rielly      187
Women Detectives in Contemporary American Popular Culture
Deborah Shaller      194
Reading Students Reading Detectives
Rosemary Weatherston      206
Detective Fiction in the First-Year Seminar
Robert P. Winston and Judy Gill      217
The Mystery of Composition: A Detective-Themed Composition Course
Chris York      227

Notes on Contributors      235
Index      241