WHODUNIT?: Murder in Ethnic Communities
LIT2-10-Mon2
Marilyn Brooks
This course will take place in person at 60 Turner Street. The room will be equipped with a HEPA air purifier.
September 9 - November 18
(No Class October 14)
When we were young, many of us read novels featuring Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. As adults, why do we continue to read murder mysteries or crime novels? What about them satisfies us? Is it the plot, the characters, the setting, or all of the above? This semester we will contrast and compare the differences in the books that reflect the similarities and differences in ethnic communities. I am defining ethnic communities as groups sharing a common language, religion, and/or culture. We will read novels about the communities and the detectives in them who are African-American, Amish, Chinese-American, Hispanic-American, Mormon, Native American, and Orthodox Jews. The novels I’ve chosen feature police detectives, private detectives, and amateur sleuths. Is being an ethnic detective a help or a hindrance? Does the ethnic community itself work to solve the crime or hide it? Does being outside mainstream America make a group more or less vulnerable to attack—more because they’re seen as different, less because they’re somewhat hidden from view? We will share our viewpoints and hopefully introduce others to new authors and ideas. YouTube videos or online interviews will help give us a sense of the authors whose works we’re reading. We will act, in a way, as sleuths, examining the clues as to what makes a mystery worth reading and perhaps come to a solution that satisfies us all.
Roughly the same amount of lecture and discussion.
The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman, Invisible City by Julia Dahl, The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison, No Witness but the Moon by Susan Chazin, Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo, Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman, August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones, Family Business by S. J. Rozan.
Each book will take about four to five hours to read.
Marilyn Brooks has been a mystery fan since reading the Nancy Drew series in elementary school. Searching for the best books for her classes and her blog, she reads three or four mysteries a week. She admires police detectives, private eyes, and amateurs equally. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America. Her blog, marilynsmysteryreads.com, has appeared online weekly since 2010. Some of her posts have been reprinted in the BOLLI Banner under the titles Mystery Maven, and she has been a frequent contributor to the Mainely Murders Newsletter. Marilyn has taught twelve previous WHODUNIT? courses.