required texts
		online texts
		recommended reading
		finding other books you'll enjoy: web resources

texts used in this course
Books for English 231 are available for purchase from the St. John Fisher College Bookstore or online (click the corresponding link below) from amazon.com. Most are also available at area bookstores and from the Monroe County Library System. Fisher's Lavery Library also has copies of these texts, but given the number of students enrolled in 231, you would be lucky to find a copy to use for the course.

required texts and recommended editions
Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely (Vintage Crime)
Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Harper Mystery)
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Penguin)
Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca (Avon Books)
Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs (St. Martin's Paperbacks)
Edgar Allan Poe, The Gold-Bug and Other Tales (Dover Thrift Editions)

read or download texts online
The stories of Poe and Doyle are in the public domain and can be freely accessed, read, and downloaded online. (Works of other course authors are still subject to copyright law and thus are unlikely to be found on the web.) See the author resources page, or try the following links:

		The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Online
		The Online Works of Edgar Allan Poe

recommended texts
The Crime-Lover's Casebook (NAL/Penguin)  This inexpensive paperback anthology of short stories will introduce you to the best writers in contemporary detective and mystery fiction.

Students often ask me, "How can I find mystery novels that I will enjoy reading - some day when I actually have time to read for pleasure?" ;-) Here is a list of my favorite web resources that will help direct you towards books you may enjoy reading.

AllReaders.com - Mystery Precision Booksearch
Check out this hilarious mystery fiction search engine offering hundreds of options to assist in finding the right novel for almost any taste.  Specify the characteristics of the book you'd like to read - cause of death, personality of detective, use of gadgets, etc. - and then search the database to find novels and stories that match your criteria.  A hoot.

Great Mystery & Crime Books
For hard-boiled detective fiction fans, a short annotated reading list of classic and contemporary works, though, for some mysterious reason, only those by authors with Y chromosomes.

Gumshoe Site
Don't let the title of the site mislead you into thinking this website deals only with hardboiled fiction - it is comprehensive.  From a reader in Japan, much information about a wide variety of classic and contemporary authors, a list of mystery-writing awards past and present, and many links to other resources.

Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction Writers
Limited overviews, including comprehensive bibliographies, of hard-boiled writers including women and contemporary writers.

Hardboiled Heaven
Offers an extensive index of authors of hardboiled detective fiction, plus links to additional resources.

MacGuffin Guide to Detective Fiction
Database of mystery provides details about authors, sleuths of fiction, and mystery genres. Find a reading list and the definition of MacGuffin.  Offers a searchable database of authors and characters with bibliographies, author pseudonym connections,

awards, and a few True Trivia questions.

Mysterious Home Page
Comprehensive, accurate, and intelligent guide to crime and mystery fiction authors, characters, conventions, publishers, and magazines.  The author pages are especially good, with links that are hard to find elsewhere on the net.

Mysterious Strands
Directory of less-famous and emerging mystery authors, reference sources, events, and organizations. Features links for newsletters and bookstores.  If you're looking for information on an author who is just getting started, is underappreciated, or whose books are out of print, start here.

MysteryGuide.com                  
A frequently updated database of original book reviews --- 700 and counting.  Also offers an author interview series, and some detective-fiction-oriented games.  Reviews are linked to similar titles, so one way to use the site is the enter the title of a book you enjoyed and then click the links to find 5 books that may be similar to it.

Selective Index of Detective Fiction
Just what it says - an index of classic detective fiction with an overview of various authors' works.  No frills, but a good starting place.