Sarah's Detective Fiction Blog

Fiction, Crime, and Empire by Jon Thomson was a pretty useful tool when thinking about the essay. It explores the nature of crime fiction, describing how it tells the story of a real crime but in a slightly modified way. We view these true crime stories as non-fiction, but are there elements of fiction within them? He says something happens similarly when crimes are reported through the media, it almost seems like they're run through some sort of filter. In his video lecture where he talks about Fiction, Crime, and Empire, Dr. Reed talks about how our interest in crime raises the more knowledge we have about that crime or criminal. Overall, the article observes how criminals are viewed in various mediums and the difference in how we view fiction and non fiction stories about murder. 

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...