Sarah's Detective Fiction Blog

The first mystery book I ever read was in fifth grade, and it was Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock. My sister had a large collection of all the 1959 editions on a shelf in her room. The only reason I read it was because I was required to pick a mystery novel for a book report. Honestly, I don't remember much about it and I don't recall thoroughly enjoying it. My second mystery read through came about in a similar way. In 7th grade, we also had to pick a mystery novel to write an essay about, but this time we got to choose from a large variety of Agatha Christie's works. I chose Murder on the Orient Express because it sounded intriguing. I remember enjoying this one slightly more than my previous read of Nancy Drew, but unfortunately, I can still barely remember the plot. I do remember that it featured Christie's recurring character Hercule Poirot. Another experience that stands out to me was exploring Edgar Allan Poe for the first time in middle school. Short...

After reading The Maul and the Pear Tree and beginning to watch Sherlock on Netflix, I had a good idea for an essay topic. I decided that I would write about society's fascination with crime and how it has advanced or changed through the years. I started off by talking about how death has always been romanticized in literature. Lots of Emily Dickinson poems have death as a theme, and the same goes for Edgar Allan Poe. Although I think death and dying was handled differently over one hundred years ago, certain people still seem to have a fixation on the idea. The focus of my paper would trace today's fascination with serial killers and unsolved mysteries to the idea of death as it was hundreds of years ago.  Poets like Emily Dickinson almost romanticized the idea of death, regarding it as a peaceful experience. This contrasts heavily with how death is portrayed in modern media. Death is now the most tragic thing that can happen to our favorite characters in movies and T.V. shows...

I really enjoyed Dr. Reed's video introducing the Victorian Period as it's one of my favorite things I've learned about as an English major! Many iconic writers emerged from this era, including Charles Dickens and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Dr. Reed mentions the geographic expansion of England and the sudden explosion of wealth during this time period. It's true, this era was one that was obsessed with class standings and they were very self conscious with how this caused others to view them. Something else I'm interested in was how the Victorian era was important to women. "The Woman Question" asked what a ladies' role in society should be, as it seemed to be moving toward a change. In addition to this, some very famous female writers define this period, such as the Bronte sisters and George Eliot.  Of course, Dr. Reed talks about Queen Victoria in the video lecture. This is appropriate considering she is an essential figure in this era. As Dr. Reed put it...

The Maul and the Pear Tree is an account of the Ratcliffe Highway Murders of 1811 written by P.D. James. She wrote the book in 1971, exactly 160 years after the crimes took place. The Ratcliffe Highway Murders involve two separate break-ins and murders that happened 12 days apart. The first victims were a young couple Timothy and Celia Marr, and their just months-old baby. The second victims were a pub owner named John Williamson, his wife Elizabeth, and their servant Bridget Anna Harrington. The principal subject for the murders, a man named John Williams, seemingly had no connection to the families. He was declared guilty after he committed suicide by hanging in his cell.  As we can see from this poster, the language used when talking about a crime was much different than the language we use today! However, our attitudes towards murderers and unsolved crimes seems to be the same. Lynchings, for example, used to be public events and seen as entertainment. While we may not take it...

This morning I watched the first episode of the Sherlock TV series while I did my laundry. I had seen the first couple episodes a few years back, but I wanted to refresh my memory. I'm glad I did! This time I paid more attention to the different camera angles, shots, and POVs and what they added to the scenes. I really enjoyed that the episode started by introducing us to John Watson. It makes us more familiar with him and it makes Sherlock Holmes seem more mysterious. I also really love how the show portrays Sherlock's thought process when he's at the crime scene. The text that pops up on screen makes the audience aware of exactly what Sherlock is thinking. Once I watch more of the show, I'll make a more in depth post comparing the original works by Arthur Conan Doyle to the TV series.

Hello students of Detective Fiction! I am Sarah Reed, a 21 year old English major who needs to create a first blog post. So without further ado, here are some facts about me. I absolutely LOVE Harry Potter and have read each of the books about five times. However, my favorite book of all time is probably Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Sallinger. My favorite color is purple, especially a dark, plum purple. I love watermelon and anything watermelon flavored or scented. I used to write fiction stories all the time, but since I've been in college I don't have much time or energy for it anymore. I spend most of my free time watching Youtube videos, scrolling through social media or playing video games. The last fun fact about me is that the professor of this class is my father. Just a warning: he has tons of dad jokes up his sleeve. I'm really looking forward to continuing this class. It seems like it'll be a lot of fun!