Why Use Detective Fiction in the AP Classroom?
Everyone loves a mystery story, probably for two reasons: The first is that the mystery story is the only literary genre that is written for the reader to follow and match their intellectual acumen with the protagonist. By doing so, the genre invites the reader into its own world as an active participant, not merely an innocent bystander (Pollock, 2003). Secondly, it instills a sense of enjoyment in readers wanting to know “whodunit” and infuses them with the desire to search out and find stories with ever-increasing complexity and excitement. Truly, mystery stories are, as Watson concedes in Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Scandal in Bohemia, “the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen.” This paper explains the reasons that teachers should teach mystery stories–along with the benefits for students, and briefly explains their use in the AP classroom setting. By using detective fiction, however, students can have a more enjoyable time in class and can be exposed to
