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A review by booksuperpower
The Secrets of Great Mystery and Suspense Fiction by David Schmid
5.0
The Great Courses – The Secrets of Great Mystery and Suspense Fiction- taught by Professor David Schmid, Ph.D. , is a 2016 The Great Courses publication.
I discovered ‘The Great Courses’, believe it or not, via my parents, who always challenge themselves by learning new languages or just taking courses on anything they find interesting.
I stumbled across a few of the courses on Hoopla a while back, but, it seems they have now been removed from their catalog, or had been the last time I checked, anyway. One reason may be that ‘Courses’ is offering a new streaming service subscription, which gives you unlimited access to many of their courses for a monthly fee.
I’ve been thinking about learning a new language and boning up on my sentence structure and vocabulary skills, so I decided to give the service a try. Lo and behold, while browsing through the various offerings, I found this gem.
The thirty-six- installment course, is taught by David Schmid, an author in his own right. The course takes the viewer through the beginnings of the mystery genre, starting with Edgar Allan Poe, naturally, and then touching upon every type of detective/ mystery/ thriller sub-genre you could imagine.
This is a very interesting and entertaining course that is informative and thought-provoking. Any lover of crime fiction will enjoy these lectures, as well as those who may be considering authoring a crime novel.
The usual suspects, if you will, are examined and studied, such as Poe, Christie, and Holmes, but more obscure authors are looked at as well, as are niche genres or themes, such as Noir, Cozy mysteries, Legal Thrillers, and many others.
Keep in mind, these are lessons, just like those you would take in school, and employees little visual aid. Each lecture is about thirty minutes long, so they are easy to fit into a busy schedule.
I enjoyed the professor’s analysis, and had a lot of fun learning about vintage crime stories, the progression of women in mystery and crime fiction, the various popular themes through the years, and the discoveries new authors and even a few sub-genres I have yet to tap into.
The courses are available via audible, on CD or from the streaming service I mentioned previously. I enjoyed the course immensely and do recommend it!!
I discovered ‘The Great Courses’, believe it or not, via my parents, who always challenge themselves by learning new languages or just taking courses on anything they find interesting.
I stumbled across a few of the courses on Hoopla a while back, but, it seems they have now been removed from their catalog, or had been the last time I checked, anyway. One reason may be that ‘Courses’ is offering a new streaming service subscription, which gives you unlimited access to many of their courses for a monthly fee.
I’ve been thinking about learning a new language and boning up on my sentence structure and vocabulary skills, so I decided to give the service a try. Lo and behold, while browsing through the various offerings, I found this gem.
The thirty-six- installment course, is taught by David Schmid, an author in his own right. The course takes the viewer through the beginnings of the mystery genre, starting with Edgar Allan Poe, naturally, and then touching upon every type of detective/ mystery/ thriller sub-genre you could imagine.
This is a very interesting and entertaining course that is informative and thought-provoking. Any lover of crime fiction will enjoy these lectures, as well as those who may be considering authoring a crime novel.
The usual suspects, if you will, are examined and studied, such as Poe, Christie, and Holmes, but more obscure authors are looked at as well, as are niche genres or themes, such as Noir, Cozy mysteries, Legal Thrillers, and many others.
Keep in mind, these are lessons, just like those you would take in school, and employees little visual aid. Each lecture is about thirty minutes long, so they are easy to fit into a busy schedule.
I enjoyed the professor’s analysis, and had a lot of fun learning about vintage crime stories, the progression of women in mystery and crime fiction, the various popular themes through the years, and the discoveries new authors and even a few sub-genres I have yet to tap into.
The courses are available via audible, on CD or from the streaming service I mentioned previously. I enjoyed the course immensely and do recommend it!!