Similar to other sections of ENWR 1510, this course has a specific theme we will be focusing on: Detective, Crime, and Mystery Fiction. In his infamous New Yorker article “Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?” Edmund Wilson writes, “The reading of detective fiction is simply a kind of vice that, for silliness and minor harmfulness, ranks somewhere between crossword puzzles and smoking.” From the early twentieth century until today, a debate has raged over whether detective fiction can be seen as “high literature”; its detractors have accused this popular genre of committing several literary crimes: formulaic plots, flat characters, and unrealistic scenarios. Its supporters have written spirited defenses of detective fiction in which they describe it as a legitimate form of art that belongs alongside Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, and Jane Eyre (which all contain elements of detective fiction!). Rather than simply dismissing it as “trash fiction,” I want us to consider this genre as a serious literary form that uniquely engages our critical thinking skills by asking us to solve the crime along with the detective. We will also investigate several questions about detective fiction: What sort of entertainment does it offer us? What role should the detective, sidekick, and love interest play? How does it handle issues such as legal justice, criminality, and social policing? What sort of attitudes does it reveal towards women, minorities, and religious groups?