ENG 28800 Detective/Mystery Fiction

Study of the detective novel from its origin with Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle through the immense and varied achievements of such writers as Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. "The first essential value of the detective story lies in this, that it is the earliest and only form of popular literature in which is expressed some sense of the poetry of modern life." -- G.K. Chesterton.