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- Anonymous is Nicole Esbach

For quite some time, I was the youngest member of my extended family. This meant that I was often on the periphery of "adult" conversation, and naturally, I wanted in.

So I plotted my way to the centre of 'big talk' by sneaking away family-owned books emblazoned with bold lettering and everyday settings made ominous by its abstract use of colour.

As a primary school learner reading about criminal activities that almost always resulted in death or began with death, I was probably exposing myself to information that I was not yet ready for. Nevertheless, I recall reading the works of Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman, who, incidentally, are married to each other. I often wondered how two writers could have a happy marriage - how did they navigate calling dibs on ideas?

I don't remember any specific crime book or character (had to use Google to jog my memory - memory remains unjogged). The only thing that I can recall is the smell of the old paperbacks. I loved their earthy and slightly woody scent. Now, in the age of everything leading to cancer, I wonder if sniffing books is a medical hazard.

My other introduction to fictional crime was two television shows: Law and Order and Medical Detectives. I'd watch the former with my grandparents, then bail on the latter because the intro music was too unnerving.

Now, the slew of true crime documentaries on Netflix acts as my accompaniment to household chores, though only in moderation, as too much negative material has a destabilising impact on my mind.

So, in short, crime fiction is not ordinarily what I would read. The desire to be part of grown-up talk has swiftly passed.

The closest literature I have read, post-primary school, that resembles crime fiction, other than our prescribed reading, is probably Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.

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"Amandla": A Bond Tested by Law and Trauma.

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"Amandla": A Bond Tested by Law and Trauma.

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I have watched a lot of crime movies; I understood some of them, but I didn't understand most. This might be because I'm not a fan, but that does not stop me from watching anyway.

So, there is this movie I watched recently, and it has captivated me. It's called "Amandla", and it's a heavy one if you ask me; and it really stuck with me. It is the story of two brothers, Impi (played by Lemogang Tsipa) and Nkosana (played by Thabo Rametsi). Watching what they survived as kids, the tragedy that bound them together, it just sets this dark, heavy shadow over the entire movie.

What really got me was seeing how that one horrific event, the brutal murder of their parents, split their paths so drastically. Nkosana tries to do the right thing, becomes a cop, but even he can't stay completely clean in that world. And Impi on the other hand just gets swallowed whole by the very darkness they tried to escape.

For me, the whole movie was about that bond. That desperate, almost suffocating loyalty between two brothers who are bound by trauma, even when they end up on completely opposite sides of the law. It felt so gritty and real. It doesn't pull any punches about the cycle of violence and how impossible it can be to break free, no matter how hard you try.

It's definitely not a 'feel-good' movie. It’s haunting. It left me thinking for a while afterward; and the question I asked myself was, "Do these things really happen in real life?" I answered myself yes after I conducted mini research about the movie. It is said to be a fiction about real historical events of apartheid in South Africa.

~Thandy Mankgodi Mokoale

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When I think about crime fiction, I can’t help but remember the evenings I spent watching Bones with my parents. It became our little ritual, dinner, tea, and then a murder case to solve! My dad used to get way too into it, especially whenever the characters used complicated scientific words. If I ever scraped my knee, he’d dramatically say, “Oh no, your patella!” instead of just “kneecap.”, and as an adult we still laugh about it and use these terms.

What I loved about Bones is how it made science feel exciting and human at the same time. Dr Temperance Brennan was so precise and logical, while Booth, her FBI partner, relied more on intuition and emotion. Together they balanced each other perfectly which proves that solving crimes isn’t just about evidence but also about empathy.

The show is based on the novels by Kathy Reichs, a real-life forensic anthropologist whose books inspired the character of Dr Brennan. Knowing that Reichs actually works in the field made the series feel even more authentic and the science wasn’t just made up, it came from real experience.

The show also made me appreciate how crime fiction can teach us things without feeling like a lesson. I learned more about forensic anthropology and human bones from that series than I ever expected to! Even though it’s all fiction, there’s something real about the curiosity it sparks and the idea that every mystery can be solved if you look closely enough.

So yes, maybe Bones wasn’t just entertainment for me, it was a little science class, a bit of family bonding, and a reminder that sometimes, even in fiction, truth really is buried in the details.

-Firdows Mahomed

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I can still sing the intro to this day! Talk about the impact music has!  

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My interaction with crime fiction, I would argue, started with Scooby-Doo on DSTV's Looney Tunes. I was, and still am, a big supporter. To this day, I am still outraged about how Looney Tunes sold out and Tom and Jerry took the time slots of Scooby-Doo.

My father enjoyed watching true crime documentaries. Often, I would sit and watch with him, which usually ended in an argument about the quality; both of us were always proven wrong in the end.

Then, in the middle of nowhere in Namibia, in Keetmanshoop, a small crafts shop had the Hardy Boys novels—two to be exact. I loved them! The Famous Five followed this, and I remember these novels as truly fascinating. Nancy Drew was, and will always remain, a detective icon.

To this day, I enjoy watching crime or murder documentaries and trying to solve the case before the truth is revealed by reading small clues, etc. When it comes to crime, I would argue that I enjoy watching murder documentaries the most. Thus, my interest in true crime developed.

Quite regretfully, and frightened by the response that may follow from Professor Allyson, I have not read a crime novel in a while. I wish I could find a novel that would bring me the pure, childlike joy that The Famous Five and the Hardy Boys did when I was a child! Thus, I come humbly to learn from the great master of Crime Fiction.

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As far as my experience with crime fiction goes, I can admit that much of the media I consumed as a child had a sense of crimey fictioney. More so than I thought at first. From Scooby Do, The Hardy Boys, Artemis Fowl (Fantasy Crime Fiction), etc etc. Surprisingly, looking back, much of my favourite narratives were crime fiction.

I think the formula of the narrative made it a safety watch / read. 9 times out of 10, you know that the crime will be solved, the thief will be unmasked and the protagonist will play a role in the unmasking. Thus, the conventions made it comfortable. Even when broken, say with an open ending, there was more than enough evidence throughout the text to come to a satisfying conclusion.

With the almost serialised nature of many of these stories, it also spoke to my love of different, fresh ideas being explored. Each new ghost in scooby-doo contained at once a reasoning for the criminal adopting the ghost persona, a set of crimes which compound into notoriety and the gang bringing interpersonal interactions or intentions INTO each investigation. As such, Crime fiction almost acts like a space wherein other narratives and relationships can play out...

All of that to say... I like Crime Fiction. I liked Young Blood and I am liking Harlem Shuffle so far. I am very excited, albeit s teeeeeeny bit scared, for this module!

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Crime fiction as a genre is one of the classics. Although as all things forever changing I cannot, in my very limited experience of the genre, see as much change in this genre of story compared to others. The basis is simple, there is a crime to be solved and someone needed to do that solving.

I first encountered it in a non book format in the show "Inspector Gadget" before I knew the word genre and when my focus was on being a mathematician and not an author. Times were simple, a goofy guy with a need to do good and means of doing so. Very soon after this my grandmother forever worrying that the TV rots the brain imposed the rule of equal time on TV is an equal time spent listening and reading book. I cannot for the life of me remember the book's name but it was a group of child trying to solve a series of clues to find out who stole this really important item. I gave it the same interest as I did any other read to me at the time and until one night I solved one of the clues of a ticking clock before the group of children in the book did. We were at least 50 pages in and suddenly my interest was peaked.

This for me is the very basis of crime fiction. A crime to be solved and someone to solve it. I could not be a princess, or the dragon or child who sat on the wishing chair but what I could be is the person to solve the crime. This for me separates the genre from others more than any other. Although fiction the novel needed enough realism to keep the crime bound enough for the reader to keep up and sometimes enough to jump ahead.

Since the book and the cartoon my experience around the genre hasn't grown as much as I had hoped. I didn't pose my mother's interest in the genre with books like the "Jack Reacher" series or my grans keen ability to pick up serval books and read them as a collective and somehow keeping up, I felt an exclusion as the genre hasn't been a defining genre as of the past many years and the last time I took interest in crime fiction was in Silence of the Lambs.

I cannot wait to get started and find my feet in the genre again and look forward to seeing everyone else's stories.

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As you know, I am Prof Allyson Kreuiter I have been teaching on ENG4803 since its inception and am passionate about the use of popular culture to teach gender and sexuality, whether the popular cultural forms are music videos, online erotic novels or online games. Unlike your other lecturers, I am very demanding and expect a lot from my students. I will go out of my way to assist you, but you need to go the extra mile to do the work.

This Padlet, as the heading indicates, is your book club. I want you to discuss the crime novels you have read, the movies or series you have watched, anything about fictional crime. Afterall we are doing fictional novels and not real crime. This is an interactive space and has a mark that will be added or removed from your assignment.

Something that students need to remember is that fiction might parallel fact, but it is not a reality. A mistake that is made time and time again is for you to read reality into a novel. This is not how critical analysis works when approach a novel. You are analysing the narrative that makes up the novel nothing more and nothing less.

In this stream, you will be encouraged to use AI in the activities you do and for your assignments. You will have encounter the use of AI in the other streams, but I tend to take it a little further. AI is a great deal of fun, but, as indicated by the avatar, it is not to be used to cheat on your assignments or activities. If you cheat, you will be penalised. The university, and this lecturer, has a zero tolerance towards plagiarism

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I would like you to use this Padlet as a pinboard to interact with other students. It is really important that you interact with one another and with the lecturer, being me. It is a safe space for you to express your ideas, your enjoyment of crime or your dislike of it as a genre. If you have never read it, I hope the books will encourage you to try it.