Detective Fiction: Murder in Faraway Places
Led by B. J. Rahn
The theme for this fall’s class is Murder in Faraway Places. Human nature is the same all over the globe, so crimes and crime solving occur worldwide. Detective fiction also flourishes abroad. In addition to exciting puzzle plots, whodunits set in faraway places often offer evocative descriptions of foreign locales and interesting insights into the indigenous culture— including the customs, values, attitudes, livelihoods and amusements of the local people.
This autumn we will observe how crimes are investigated in Italy, Australia, Japan, Sweden and/or Russia. So become an armchair traveler and satisfy your wanderlust vicariously following the literary trails of Michael Dibdin and/or Donna Leon, Peter Temple, Sujita Massey, Henning Mankel and/or Boris Akunin.
Reading List
Donna Leon's ACQUA ALTA
Peter Temple's BROKEN SHORE
Adrian Mathews' THE APOTHECARY'S HOUSE
Henning Mankell's BEFORE THE FROST
About B. J. Rahn
B.J. Rahn has been teaching, researching, and writing about crime fiction for over two decades. She has published articles in journals and reference books such as The Armchair Detective, St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writing, Scribner's Mystery and Suspense Writers: The Literature of Crime, Detection, and Espionage, The Dictionary of Literary Biography, and The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing.
The Detective Fiction class has ended.
Professor Rahn lead walking tours and other groups as part of the Mercantile Library
Center for Fiction's
Big Read programming in April 2008.
Click here for more information on The Maltese Falcon and all of the exciting Big Read events.
New Mystery & Suspense Acquisitions at the Merc
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Ink