Logging Detective Mysteries

Dr. Orley K. Marron - 2013

A sudden scream split the night.Detective Gilgamesh sat up in the narrow hotel bed. He tried to switch on the light, but it didn’t work. Minutes later, he heard the sound of footsteps outside

his door - quick, running, light steps. “A young man?” He wondered, “or a woman,

perhaps?”

Why Detective Mysteries?

Why do we like this sort of stuff???

• Detective stories present the reader with a mystery: a problem or riddle that needs to be solved.

• What is special about mysteries is that no character (except perhaps the detective!) is reliable.

• Readers have to suspect everyone, and distrust anything any character says.

• This is a very unique situation in literature, because we usually want to trust the characters and identify with them…

Therefore readers must be in “a constant state of vigilance” (as Lisa Zunshine terms it ) - constantly suspicious – just like the detective investigating the mystery.

Reader mistrust is at the basis of the detective story

Problem Solving & Reader Mistrust

• Readers enjoy the suspense, they like putting clues together, and they even enjoy being tricked by the author.

• They are not as emotionally involved with the characters – we rarely cry in a murder mystery!

So the focus is on solving the riddle / mystery – by :– uncovering motives– Inferring– distinguishing different perspectives– making connections– …….

Sound familiar?

Problem Solving & Reader Mistrust

From “Why We Read Fiction” – Lisa Zunshine (2006)

“ In other words, we open a detective novel with an avid anticipation that our expectations will be systematically frustrated, that we will be repeatedly made fools of, and that for several hours….we will be fed deliberate lies in lieu of being given a direct answer to one single simple question that we really care about (i.e., who done it?)”

Frustrating our Expectations

Ellen R. Belton (Brooklyn College) observes that the reader of the detective story is motivated “by two conflicting desires: the desire to solve the mystery ahead of or at least simultaneously with the investigator and the desire not to solve it until the last possible moment in order to prolong the pleasures of the mystery situation.”

She says that this state of tension is fine in a book, but not in life: “I do not think that many of us would find such a suspended state particularly delectable in real life. “

Constant State of Tension

• Because the pupils LOVE it.• Because they watch Sherlock

and a variety of other mysteries and are interested in the genre

• Because they become sensitized to generic differences, and really exercise their analytical skills – especially in discovering HOW THE AUTHOR tricks us

• Because it encourages them to write creatively and descriptively

Why Log It?

The Speckled Band – Arthur Conan Doyle

• There are many detective stories worth reading• Some are even anti – detective – like “Lamb to the

Slaughter” – where the murderer tricks the police!• “The Speckled Band” is set in Victorian England and is rich

in cultural and historical information

The Speckled Band – Victorian Culture

• The story mentions British colonization of India• It mentions the Doctors – Murderers of the period• It deals with inheritance laws, the status of women and

violence in the family• It makes us aware of the limitations of forensic science at

the time• It is an excellent piece to use for the extended bridging

project!

The Speckled Band – Teaching Logistics

Prepare a handout for your students that includes:

1. A neat and easy to use checklist & unit evaluation according to which you will grade the log (This will serve as a guideline for the students as to how to order the pages)

The Speckled Band – Teaching Logistics

2. Work pages for the 7 components in a logical order• Pre Reading • Basic Understanding & Analysis for each

section of the story

The Speckled Band – Teaching Logistics

• Literary terms - Explicit instruction pages• HOT Skills – Explicit instruction pages• Bridging questions / material

The Speckled Band – Teaching Logistics

• A post reading task (or two for different student personalities ) with rubrics• Visuals that create an interest• Background material / historical / biographical context that can be part of the

pre-reading, bridging and even PRT• And possibly a reflection…

The Speckled Band – Teaching Logistics

• Your students can keep the story and handouts in a plastic envelope. • Whenever they come to class, they need to bring this envelope; everything you

hand out relating to the unit is kept in it This save A LOT of aggravation, lost papers etc…

• When the unit is complete, you hold a “log day” and all the material in the envelope is inserted into a soft binder, the temporary unit log, according to the checklist

• You grade the log unit according to the checklist, and save until all the units have been completed… and then all are compiled into one big binder.

The Speckled Band – How do we teach it?

• Do a pre – reading on detective mysteries: What is special about this genre?• You can discuss character reliability and reader’s tendency to

trust characters (see handout)• Mention Edgar Allen Poe, the father of modern English mystery,

and his detective, C. August Dupin…

The Speckled Band – Understanding & Analysis

• go through basic understanding steps (vocabulary, LOTS questions) making sure the pupils understand what is happening

• Perform little bits of dialogue to bring the text to life

• Adopt a “deductive” approach, looking at the clues provided and trying to make sense of them [step in the shoes of the detective]

• Work through some analytical questions that explore how the author creates suspense and what inferences & predictions readers make as more clues are uncovered

• Read the story part by part • For each part:

The Speckled Band – Opening

It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits.

"Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you."

“knock you up” ???What does it mean now, and in the story? (get someone pregnant, vs.

summon or arouse…)

The Speckled Band introduction

A Lady in Distress… her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened eyes, like those

of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances.

Holmes shows his Detecting Abilities "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left arm

of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you sit on

the left-hand side of the driver."

The Speckled Band

What Could Ladies Do?… "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to

speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged

The Murder“I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending misfortune

impressed me...It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew that it was my sister's voice.

The Speckled Band

Holmes Suspects but we don’t know… "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a

thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide upon our course of action…. “

… It's a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of all…

I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he roused himself from his reverie.

"It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should absolutely follow my advice in every respect."

The Speckled Band – Analysis – Literary Terms

• Spiral terms related to short stories, emphasizing the climax & resolution

• Introduce and Discuss • “Theory of Mind” • character reliability • reader distrust

• other terms ? (irony – “this beauty” in reference to the murderer… etc.)

The Speckled Band – HOTS

Introduce (or spiral) : Uncovering Motives• Why does the wolf ask LRRH where is she going?• Why does she tell him? (after she was warned not to…)• Why would Dr. Roylott want his step-daughters dead?

The Speckled Band – HOTS

Introduce (or spiral) : Making Connections• What does the fact that Dr. Roylott, in India, beat his native

housekeeper to death tell us about his personality?• What can we understand from the marks on Helen’s hand?• Why does Dr. Roylott have a leash and container of milk by his

safe?

The Speckled Band – Bridging

The Victorian Era is the context – so many things to connect to the story!• What forensic science techniques existed at the time• How colonization affected the British• What the status of women was…

The Speckled Band – Post Reading Task

Performance – students can turn the text into a dialogue to performBook cover / poster for a movie / illustrated bookA new murder mystery based on the characters and events Helen’s story – 20 years later…A display of Victorian Era facts and everyday items described in the

story (dog cart, poker, etc….)

The Speckled Band – Post Reading Task

The Speckled Band – Post Reading Task

PRT

The Speckled Band – Reflection

Besides the regular reflection questions,this piece can be used to reflect on how the HOT skills students have

learned up until now,Are employed by the CHARACTERS (as well as readers) to reach the

solution of the mystery

Watch Out! (and thanks for watching!)