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The Long Goodbye to Chandler's Los Angeles

Multimedia Project: Instagram and Wordpress

https://emilybmf.wordpress.com/

https://www.instagram.com/emilythomsonbmf/?hl=en

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The Influence of Mystery Fiction

Multimedia Project

http://www.skyhysleuth.com/blog/

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A Study in Scarlet

Multimedia Project

For my final project, I have created website that tries to bridge the cultural and time gap for present-day readers reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet with some interesting facts about life in Victorian London and early Salt Lake City.

https://marenmhintz.wixsite.com/a-study-in-scarlet/the-brain-attic

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James Ellroy’s Days of the Dead: Obsession’s Mutable Energy

Research Essay

The final project in this course is a paper that details a critical turning point in the author James Ellroy’s life. Many people would say that his life was changes irreparably after the murder of his mother. While this is true, I explore the author’s entry into recovery for addiction as the reason that we have books, interviews and students writing reports about him. Ellroy has repeatedly talked about his recovery and subsequent work ethic as being responsible for the quality of his work, and his entry into a treatment program at the same time that he started work on what would become his first published novel.

This suggestion of talking about Ellroy’s mother’s death as a turning point for him struck me as interesting over the others for two reasons. One, I was not aware of his mother’s death when he was a kid and the inherent interest to see how this might play out in the authors work. The second reason is that when I was writing the first draft of my novel, I had the main character named ‘James Elroy,’ without knowing that the name was too close to the celebrated author. I was unaware of his work despite writing a work of thriller/suspense fiction and changed the name at the behest of one of my writing group members. I did not take any further interest in discovering who this person was or his body of work.

Since looking into the death of the author’s mother and learning about his feeling of a debt to her, I’ve taken more interest in learning about his life and work. It would seem that becoming sober has allowed Ellroy to deal with the psychic damage of losing his mother to a violent death (after issuing a curse for her death, for which he has said he feels responsible) and in channeling the energy that he inherited from being from a family of substance and sexual addiction into his work, allowed him to pull himself out of homelessness and petty crime to a celebrated author.

This project examines documents written by the author himself on his own life, his body of fiction work, and additional criticism, interviews and articles to shed life on the remarkable rags to riches story. The paper will chronicle the author’s life from the late 1950’s to today.

(Completed 2017)

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Life is a Mystery: The books of GK Chesterton

Multimedia Project

This blog was created to fulfill partial requirements for my final project in Mystery Fiction ENGLISH X103.9 at the University of California at Berkeley under Prof. Alison Heney, Ph.D. All images here are photographs or screenshots taken by yours truly. Photographs of book pages have been included for convenience to the reader, but mostly due to the fact that these may be rare or out-of-print and/or inaccessible to the regular reader. I might as well have titled this “Chasing Father Brown” because I now make my home in the wilds of British Columbia, but was able to source more information by doing a cross-country road trip. The books of GK Chesterton were found in the Washington, DC’s United States Library of Congress, and the private papers of John Monsignor O’Connor were discovered at The University of St. Michael’s College in The University of Toronto John M. Kelly Library special collections reading room (as part of their GK Chesterton Collection). Monsignor O’Connor’s papers were donated by Fr. Kevin Scannell, who received them from Ms. Dorothy Collins, the Chestertons’ secretary whom they considered a surrogate daughter (Ahlquist, “Who is…”).

https://unpeumysterieux.wordpress.com/

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A Shadow in the Dark: Hardboiled Author Cornell Woolrich in the 1940's

Multimedia Project

This project is an introduction to Cornell Woolrich and a concentration on his work during the 1940’s, which is considered his most productive era as far as hard-boiled fiction. A loner who was often uncomfortable in social settings and once dedicated a book to his typewriter, Woolrich wrote prolifically within that decade. Along with Chandler, he helped to build upon the hard-boiled style that Dashiell Hammett had established in the 30’s. While Woolrich was never a great literary writer, his storytelling possessed a timeless tonal quality which made his works well-suited for adaptation.

A Shadow in the Dark was made in conjunction with the Mystery Fiction class at the University of California at Berkeley.

This site is curated for educational purposes by Jack Campbell Jr. A researcher and author, Jack has a master’s degree in Literary Arts from Fort Hays State University, and is the author of over two dozen published short stories and poems. You can find out more about Jack and his writing at www.jackcampbelljr.com.

https://ashadowinthedark.wordpress.com/the-life-of-cornell-woolrich/

(Completed 2017)

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Elmore Leonard
Finding Mystery in the Gold Coast

Multimedia Project

For this project, I focused on a few of the locations across the “Gold Coast” including Miami and Palm Beach and visited as many of those locations as I could. I  got to know a family of Puerto Ricans who moved into the area in the early 80’s at the same time Leonard started writing his stories in Florida.  I also met a Cuban family who's father since passed but migrated and lived in Pahokee, a very poor neighborhood,  to work in the sugar cane fields.   I wasn’t able to get pictures so it is limited in the presentation.   Alligators are everywhere in South Florida and Leonard uses them in a few of his stories.  I couldn’t resist including them in my project.  Palm Beach’s population goes from a little over 10,000 year around to over 30,000 in the winter months.  Most of those seasonal people are the rich and famous and Leonard naturally brings those characters into his stories.

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Sherlock's London

A Multimedia Project

A multimedia project investigating the various locations in London as the setting for the Sherlock oeuvre.

https://my-sherlocklondon.tumblr.com/

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Frank Norris' McTeague

Multimedia Project

This project is a photographic dossier of the San Francisco Bay Area in relation to Frank Norris’ novel McTeague. The story takes place primarily in San Francisco, with some scenes in Oakland, San Jose, and more. Norris was one of the most notable American naturalist authors. Naturalism grapples with questions of free will and determinism, which are clearly connected to crime and the investigative/judicial process, and several crimes throughout the novel serve as Norris’ commentary on human agency.

http://imgur.com/a/lYRNf

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Seattle: Then vs. Now
(An investigation into setting)

Multimedia Project

"I have lived in the Seattle area my entire life, and thought that I might be able to find some books set around here. Through a little Google research, I was able to find a list of mystery fiction set in the Pacific Northwest through the Seattle library, including a few set in Seattle (which is thirty minutes from my house). Because this is fairly unusual, as many mystery novels are set in places like LA and New York, I thought it would be interesting to see how the story changes based upon the city it is set in, as well as the particular feel of the place."

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Anne Perry and the Missing Juliet Hulme

Research Paper

EXCERPT: "When mystery authors write about criminal activities they often do so solely from their imaginations. Or they have backgrounds as former cops, FBI agents, or forensic specialists and draw their creativity from case files. But how many have actually committed the crimes they write about? And of those how many have committed the worst act possible? Until 1994, most of the world knew Anne Perry only as the celebrated author of the Thomas Pitt and William Monk mysteries series. Her books had sold three million copies in the United States alone. Then relatively unknown director Peter Jackson released his latest film Heavenly Creatures that was based on the 1954 murder committed by two teenage girls in Christchurch, New Zealand. Interest and acclaim sparked renewed interest in New Zealand’s most notorious crime and the search was on to find out what happened to the girls after they had been released from prison. For the fans of Anne Perry and her work, little did they know that one of those girls moved on to literally write what she knew."

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Napa Police: A Dubious Foundation

Research Paper

This paper focuses on the early history of the police detectives of Napa Valley, CA —the people who championed their role, the crimes they were expected to fight, and their impact on the city.

http://www.napapolicehistory.com/

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The First Detectives

Research Blog

EXCERPT: "I am intrigued by anything and everything related to detection. I used to read and nowadays watch everything “whodunit.” I try to understand and in my daily life replicate the methods of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In my Mystery Fiction class at UC Berkeley Extension, I learned that the first fictional detective was created by Edgar Allan Poe in 1841 short story The Murders in Rue Morgue. Reading about the development of fictional detectives led me to question about the first human detectives. Who were the humans, not the fictional characters, that started detecting? Did they read the fictional detectives’ methods and techniques? Did police, law, and people accepted and celebrated them? Or these detectives had to fight to be heard?

I assume that the first detective was a man. Oh! Please don’t try to fight my generalization. America still doesn’t have a woman president. Indira Gandhi governed India from 1980-1984, but as a woman who lived in India for 30 years I know that women are still not treated equal.

If the first detective was a man, where was he based? What was his first case? Was he successful? Did he make money? Was he a rough-tough guy with a ‘heart of gold?’ Who was the first female detective? How difficult or easy was her life? Did her fellow men detectives give her ‘you-are-a-woman-so-raise-a-family’ attitude? What and where was the first detective agency?

So many questions. I am hoping to quest my curiously and post my findings on this blog. As I live in US and because I emigrated from India, I am limiting my study to American’s and India’s First Detectives. If you have suggestions, comments, or you want to add some information, use the reply section. Or if for some reason you want to contact me email me at opinionated.indian.female@gmail.com

I am crossing my fingers to start detecting the world of detectives."

https://thefirstdetectives.wordpress.com/

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A Pussy with a Gun

Research essay and first-person Interviews with Women in Law Enforcement by Corrine Kirkbride

A century ago in the United States women were just beginning to be thought of as human beings who could share the same rights as men. One piece of evidence, the ratified 19th Amendment of 1920, gave women the right to vote. Yet, this did not put them square with men, and women would continue to fight, even to this day, to receive such liberties as equal pay for equal work, and to have control over their own bodies. However, not all discrimination is as obvious as laws that have yet to be formalized. One area where prejudices still exist is for women in law enforcement and to a lesser degree, private investigation.  Although women have come far in their pursuit of equity, they continue to deal with biased men, and sometimes even small-minded women.

This paper begins with some historical information designed to exhibit the struggle that women faced in becoming a part of law enforcement since this set of careers began. Then, based on personal interviews as well as information from recent articles and books, we will see how women continue to experience inequity as females in law enforcement and private detection even in today's day.

(Completed August 2016)

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Mary Higgins Clark's New Jersey

Research essay and PowerPoint presentation by Jill Levigion

Called by many “America’s Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark has written over 35 suspense novels.  With the sale of her first story in 1956, Mary Higgins Clark has been writing for 60 years. This is a city dossier of sorts.  Instead of focusing on one city or one novel in particular, I discuss several novels by Mary Higgins Clark, a resident of my homestate.  In her novels, she highlights some of the hidden beauties of New Jersey.

(Completed August 2016)

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Dianne Day’s “The Bohemian Murders”

Research essay by Mandy Trilck

This paper presents a complete dossier of Dianne Day’s setting of Carmel and Pacific Grove during the 1900s. Through a deep investigation into the area's history, I hope to prove that the Monterey peninsula is an ideal setting for a mystery novel, and an invaluable part of the novel “The Bohemian Murders.” Moreover, I argue that the setting represents a distinct Californian identity, outside of the urban one (San Francisco and Los Angeles) favored by mystery fiction.

(Completed May 2016)

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OK 1970's Detective

Multimedia project by Matt Sutter

This multimedia project takes viewers on a creative virtual tour of Oklahoma City in the 1970s with location descriptions based on the 1976 Steve Knickmeyer novel, "Straight."

The novel is about hardened P.I. Steve Cranmer and his young protégé Butch Maneri. The characters are like gritty 70s versions of Sherlock and Watson. They are hired in fictional Solano, Oklahoma, to investigate the death of a local merchant.

My aim is to create a city dossier that gives a tour of important locations in the book, as well as provide historical background for the novel, and to convince those unfamiliar with the state that our punishing landscape and rich history make the perfect setting for a mystery novel.

(Completed June 2016)

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Welcome to Oklahoma! You just landed at the Will Roger's World Airport, and the taxi swings around the 70 foot arrow sculptures made of steel planted at the airport grounds. I'll be your guide as we drive around the state. As we jump on the highway, you start to notice just how flat the state is, but it's bustling. The highway takes us through the heart of Oklahoma City. You might be surprised to see Oklahoma isn't just cattle and rednecks, though we have both. Oklahomans are proud of their state. We never let anyone get away from us without bragging about the Thunder or Cattleman's steakhouse. Plus, almost everyone here has a tornado story, so don't hesitate to ask around once you get settled in.

I'm here to take you on a trip through Oklahoma. I'm going to tell you about the mystery novel "Straight," in a moment, and take you through the significant locations from the book. Little is known about the author, so this was quite an investigative undertaking. But why are you really here? You may be wondering exactly why I've dragged you to the Bible-belt. My goal is to bring the book to life, and to convince you Oklahoma can be a gritty setting for a 70's era hardboiled detective novel. I'll do my best to persuade you, but the state speaks for itself. Buckle in!

We can't start the tour without knowing what this is all about, so settle in and we'll make a quick stop at Big Truck Taco's (a landmark restaurant), and I'll drone on for a bit while you try "The Rancher."

"Straight," is the first novel by Steven Knickmeyer. The author's debut novel follows Oklahoma City based detective Steve Cranmer, an ex-police officer turned private investigator. His young protégé is Butch Maneri, a young, gregarious lady's man. The two of them live boozy, pill-popping life styles to cope with their respective ailments, and to cope with the heavy nature of their work.

The investigators are hired by Tracy Zantell, a gift-shop owner from the fictional town of Solano, Oklahoma. They are tasked with investigating the death of Arthur Taber. The comically inadequate police force in the small town has ruled Taber's death a suicide, and no one in the town disagrees, except Zantell, who we learn is Taber's mistress.

Let's meet the villains: Rich Straight is an ex-police officer from New York, whose wife was killed in a car-bomb meant for him. His skill as an assassin has allowed him to work as a hit man in the wake of his wife's death. He works for the mysterious, powerful McEachern. Over the phone, McEachern gives Straight his next assignment: Arthur Taber, a jewelry store owner in Oklahoma. McEachern sends an inexperienced crook, Hamilton Coady, to apprentice with Straight.

After arriving in Solano, the hitmen use Taber's straight razor to cut his throat, making the murder look like a suicide. What the hitmen didn't count on was Zantell's Thursday afternoon rendezvous with Taber while Arthur's wife, Denise, is out of town. The hitmen make a quick getaway before they are seen by Zantell. Unconvinced Arthur would kill himself; Zantell hires Cranmer and Maneri to investigate the death. We know "who dunnit," but why? Who contacted McEachern, anyway?

Cranmer and Maneri infiltrate the town's small social unit by going undercover as an insurance adjuster and road worker respectively. They learn that Arthur Taber's jewelry shop was one of three businesses that the government wanted to pay in exchange for their land to build a courthouse. Taber was the only business who refused to sell, but Cranmer is able to rule out the other shop-owners as guilty parties. The investigations by the private investigators turn up few leads, and after a week in the town, the citizens of Solano get wise to Cranmer when a real insurance adjuster comes to town to investigate Taber's death. Straight and Coady also discover Cranmer and Maneri aren't who they say they are, and track down where Steve Cranmer is staying.

At the end of the novel, the hitmen wait in Cranmer's hotel until Cranmer returns. While they wait, Straight talks to Coady about a hit that took place in New York. He's figured out that Coady was actually the one who killed his wife in New York, and that Coady was sent to Oklahoma to knock off Straight when the job in Solano was completed. Coady gets nervous, and Straight shoots Coady after revealing his discovery. When Cranmer returns, the two ex-cops discuss the recent turn of events. Disenchanted with his life and with closure over his wife's death, Straight shoots himself in lieu of Cranmer.

In the end, we learn about who was really behind all the madness. The mayor, Peter Brindle, was in financial ruin due to his gambling addiction. When the grant came from the government to build the courthouse, the mayor acted as the treasurer, and wanted to keep the money. When Arthur Taber refused to sell his business, the government would require the grant be returned.

Brindle tricked Denise Taber into giving him some of Arthur's criminal contacts. She gives a name to Brindle, and the contact leads to McEachern, Straight, and Coady.

Finished with your tacos? No? Okay good! I wanted to tell you about the author before we hit the road.

Little is known about the author, Steven Knickmeyer. There is but one Wikipedia page dedicated to the author, written in French. According to the site, which references Futuropolis as a reference, "Straight," was translated to French under the title, "The Killers are Sad." The site also references Les Auteurs de la Serie Noire, or, "The Black Series." According to information, Steven Knickmeyer attended the University of Oklahoma. He worked as an editor for the Ada Evening news, and "...holds a seat on the board of directors of General Motors and the AT&T Corporation." Knickmeyer was also a candidate for the "Edgar," in 1976, according to the information found in "Straight."

In my investigating, I lurked though Facebook to find relatives. I did find a relative who agreed to let me email questions for Steve, and she would get back to me. As of today, 4-12-2016, I am awaiting the response.

The first few questions are for you:

1. What were Steve's literary influences? What does he like to read?

2. What books do you remember seeing on his shelf?

3. Could you tell me a funny story about Steve Knickmeyer for us to get an idea of his personality?

4. Anything else you'd like to share?

OK, now questions for Steve:

1. What inspired him to set the book in Oklahoma?

2. Can you tell me a little bit about creating Solano, Oklahoma, for "Straight?"

3. Why did you decide to write Mystery? Did you dabble in other writing?

4. Where did you got to write?

5. Were your characters Cranmer and Maneri based on anyone real?

· Les Auteurs de la Série Noire, 1945-1995 , collection , Joseph K., 1996, (avec Claude Mesplède), p. 274.

It's about time we hit the road, huh? While we drive from city to city, however, you may feel the way our author did when he wrote the following passage.

"The land between Oklahoma City and Norman was flat, colorless, lifeless. And since that barren stretch of landscape was all many visitors to Oklahoma saw, it was little wonder they were in no rush to return. Dignitaries who landed at Will Rogers in Oklahoma City and rode in limousines to the University of Oklahoma in Norman could castigate the Sooner State with some authority, but the twenty-mile stretched was hardly typical."

"Not that the rest of Oklahoma would be an inspiration to landscape painters, Cranmer thought, as his bus headed southwest toward Solano. But at least the terrain changed from flat to rolling and an occasional clump of stunted blackjacks or cottonwoods interrupted the monotony. One could see cattle, primarily Herefords and Angus, grazing stolidly in the pastures, and there were a few horses and, rarely, goats and pigs. Cranmer knew nothing of livestock. The only way he cared about a cow was to eat."

It seems that even the author is unimpressed with Oklahoma's wide open spaces. However, the quaintness of Oklahoma allows for a strong contrast in the violence that occurs in the book. With the above passage, we may get an image in our head of "The Little House on the Prairie." You're taken back to a simpler, safer time in history as your travel the countryside of Oklahoma, which makes the murders in the book all the more tantalizing. How could something like that happen in a small-town paradise?

By that same token, the desolate wilderness mirrors the haunting, harsh abilities of mankind. The land can be unforgiving and lonely. Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men," gives us the same exact feeling. The never-ending landscape of the countryside between towns gives little shelter to hide in. The barren, hot land can push a man to his limits. The novel's description of Oklahoma's countryside also echoes the disenchantment in mankind expressed by Cordelia Gray in the end of "The Skull Beneath the Skin." Just as the climate allows for only the hardiest of plants to survive, we find nature producing weather worn criminals.

Oklahoma City has its flare of country pride, boasting "Whiskey Chicks Saloon," and "Cattleman's Steakhouse," but it's not all cowboy-brawls and square-dancing. Oklahoma City has a very diverse population. We have drug problems and gang problems like any big city.

I can see you nodding off a bit, so here are a couple of fun facts: Oklahoma's state lizard is the Collared Lizard, and the state rock is the Rose Rock. Is it a thing for states to have state lizards?

The airport here was a little more impressive than you thought, huh? The Will Roger's World Airport is a prime example of Oklahoma's evolution. Oklahoma City has undertaken several steps to beautify and enhance the city through projects like the Pei Plan and the MAPS projects. These projects have revitalized our city and helped us to grow. Will Roger's Airport has undergone lots of changes over the years with several expansions. Even in the 1970s, the Richard Straight finds the airport to exceed expectations.

"Will Rogers World Airport surprised Straight. He hadn't really thought Oklahomans moved about in stagecoaches, still, the modern contours of the Oklahoma City airport didn't match his preconceptions."

"Straight went upstairs to the bar and paid $2.50 for a whiskey sour. It wasn't worth it, but it was wet. A song about a dead skunk reverberated from the juke box. Straight listened to it unbelievingly.

"They went to the Hertz counter. Straight showed the girl his Spinoza driver's license and rented an LTD."

The Hertz counter is there, but the airport is even more beautiful than it was in 1976. I can promise you no one plays songs about dead skunks in the airport, at least nowadays. However, to my astonishment, such a song exists

Stonework at Will Roger's Airport

OJ Promoting Hertz in the 70s

Steel Arrows: Elliot + Associates Architects

As you might imagine, the Oklahoma City Courthouse is no stranger to the cities criminal underbelly. At the start of the novel, we meet the hero-detective Steve Cranmer giving testimony concerning a liquor store robbery. (We'll visit the story a little later.) Cranmer gives us glimpse into his prowess in the art of observation. Cranmer was a witness to the robbery, and gives a dead-on description of the burglar. The defense questions his memory, and Cranmer shows off by closing his eyes and telling the jury exactly what one man in the jury box is wearing.

"Cranmer recited impassively: "He's about thirty. I haven't seen him standing, so I can't be positive about his height, but judging from his sitting position he'd be about five feet ten, unless he has unusually long or short legs...Eyes: hazel or brown. Bushy eyebrows. No sideburns, unless they're concealed by his hair. Standard nose, small clef in chin. Wearing a green suit with a blue tie that doesn't match. Tie tack rather than clasp. Wears watch on the right wrist. Bites his nails. What else? Sallow complexion. I can't see his shoes. No visible scars."

The defense then accuses him of being too drunk to remember anything from the robbery. Cranmer responds it shouldn't matter as he has had four drinks with lunch before the trial.

"This time Judge East had to use his gavel to quiet the courtroom. The D.A. smiled benignly at the jury. Haring recovered quickly, but he was unable to shake Cranmer's aplomb in thirty minutes of cross examination."

One memorable event from the courthouse's history was an attack on Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater. A news article from the event states:

"Prater, a former police officer, was punched in the face. He then pushed Emanuel D. "E Man" Mitchell toward a wooden rail that splits the courtroom in two. They fell through a swinging gate, their upper bodies landing the inside of the spectators' section"

The convicted murderer who attacked David Prater reminds us Oklahoma isn't all quaint ranches and cowpokes.

As we learned earlier, there's not much between OKC and Norman, but good news! We're here! Norman is an important epicenter both in the novel and in our state. It's home to the University of Oklahoma, possibly the most prolific university in the state (But don't tell that to Oklahoma State University fans). OU is home of the Sooners, a football team Steve Cranmer regularly bets on.

Norman is also home to Denise Taber's lover, Kilduff. Just about every one of the characters is...well...adventurous. I was a little shocked to learn Arthur Taber has his mistress, Tracy, over on Thursday's when his wife, Denise, goes shopping in Norman. But Denise isn't exactly off the hook. Her Thursday rendezvous is with Kilduff, the architect responsible for building the courthouse in Solano. During his snooping, Maneri follows Denise to Kilduff's house. Lucky for us, the book gives specific instructions to Kilduff's home, so that's our next stop!

"He shifted position occasionally, mostly out of habit, because Denise Taber was paying no attention to the traffic. Maneri led her for a while, then dropped behind and followed her. Luckily he was behind her when she took the Robinson Street exit into Norman."

"Maneri followed her along Robinson past the airport, then up Berry. She turned off Berry onto Canterbury and parked in front of a half brick house. Maneri stopped and watched her walk into it. He gave her fifteen minutes, then he drove slowly past the house."

Let's follow those instructions: Exit off I-35 eastbound on Robinson.

Take a right onto Berry Street.

Turn onto Canterbury. Remember, we're looking for a half brick house.

I know, I know, it's not that exciting. But here's the thing, this is significant because it brings the book to life. You might notice from the map that you could simply take Canterbury from Robinson without getting on Berry Street at all. Perhaps Denise took a roundabout way to make it look less obvious she was going to Kilduff's?

This stop is probably my favorite: Home of the OU Sooner Football team! The team has a rich history, and is named after the people who cheated during the state's land run, sneaking onto the land to claim stake before others. Oklahoma is well known for our football. Most recently, Coach Bob Stoops, the winningest coach at OU, led the Sooners to the final four teams in the 2015 play offs. I wouldn't recommend buying the concessions though. Last time I went, it was about six bucks for a Dasani. Gambling plays in important role in the novel, as Brindle's motivation for the murder of Taber at all is because he is in too deep financially.

"The rain dampened our spirits," said Maneri.

"The game dampened mine," said Cranmer. "What a joke! And to think I was afraid to bet on it."

"You watch it on TV?" Maneri asked.

"Natch. Tell you what. I bet OU really moves up in the national rankings now. If they'd played Southern Cal on TV, they'd already be up there."

"Miami scored a late touchdown to increase their lead to 17-9. Cranmer swallowed two more Demerol's. He hated squeakers. But Miami had no intention of trying to run up the score. They were satisfied to run out the clock, and they made Cranmer a gift of a hundred dollars."

Halftime photo 1976, the year "Straight," was published.

OU beat Wyoming in Fiesta Bowl: 41-7 -1976

Barry Switzer is an iconic figure in Sooner history. To me, he is the godfather of Sooner football, and built the team into a formidable force. Switzer, however, has a tragic past. When Switzer was a young man, his mother killed herself with a .38 caliber on their back porch. In 1972, his father was murdered by a jealous ex-lover.

Mr. Switzer is a gentle man. My uncle built his $2 million home, and as a gift, allowed my dad and I to attend Barry Switzer's box suite during an arena football game for my 13 th birthday. Switzer is a symbol of the determined and hearty spirit of Oklahomans.

Bootlegger's Boy, William Morrow & Co., NYC, c. 1989, by Barry Switzer with Bud Shrake

I believe I've mentioned Steve Cranmer's young protégé Butch Maneri, is a lady's man. He has no trouble attracting the local women when he travels. Back home, however, there is a girl who's been a little more serious with Maneri, and it's Gail Hand. Knickmeyer writes:

"Gail Hand, Maneri's companion on his trip to Dallas, was an attractive brunette in her early twenties...Gail lived downstairs. She was divorced, had al little daughter and worked as a secretary at Tinker Air Force Base.

Maneri said, "Come on in," and returned to his couch.

After Maneri's trip to Solano, Gail finds out about his love affairs on the job, and leaves him.

Tinker Air Force Base serves as a major employer to many Oklahomans, especially in Midwest City, which is just east of Oklahoma City. I work in Midwest City, and during the day at our office, we frequently hear enormous planes coming down to land. According to the Oklahoma History online encyclopedia, Tinker Air Force Base was founded in 1942, and became a very important base during the war. The base brings relevance to the state of Oklahoma, as an important center for national defense.

"With more than five thousand acres, two ten-thousand-foot runways, seven thousand military personnel, and fifteen thousand civilian employees, the base is home to the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, 552d Air Control Wing, 507 th Air Refueling Wing, 513 th Air Control Group, Navy Strategic Communications Wing One, Defense Logistics Agency's Defense Distribution Depot Oklahoma City, Third Combat Communications Group, Thirty-eighth Engineering Installation Group, and Defense Megacenter Oklahoma City."

The site also describes the climate at Tinker during the 1970s:

"Political threats on the home front caused fear that Tinker might be closed. However, a well-orchestrated bond election in May 1973 proved the mettle of community support as Oklahoma County voters overwhelmingly passed a bond election to buy and remove 836 private residences in the runway approach zone."

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Welcome to Oklahoma! You just landed at the Will Roger's World Airport, and the taxi swings around the 70 foot arrow sculptures made of steel planted at the airport grounds. I'll be your guide as we drive around the state. As we jump on the highway, you start to notice just how flat the state is, but it's bustling.

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Finding Lucas Davenport: Knave or Knight?

Multimedia project by John Paulson

This multi-media project is a presentation of John Sandford’s “Prey” series protagonist, Lucas Davenport.

The protagonist in John Sandford’s “Prey” series novels, Lucas Davenport, thrives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Twin Cities metro area, and moves between the three worlds of the affluent self-made millionaire, the solid middle-class bureaucratic world of a Deputy Police Commissioner, and the hard edged mean streets.

He steps between these worlds as effortlessly as changing clothes and setting. He never seems out of place, but he sometimes seems out of preference. He prefers the mean streets.

The website address of the project is: https://findinglucasdavenport.shutterfly.com/ (no password required).

(Completed June 2016)

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The Phantom Killer of Texarkana, TX

True Crime Investigation and Multimedia Presentation by John Thompson

In the late winter and spring of 1946, an unknown killer tormented the small town of Texarkana, TX.

Dubbed “the Phantom Killer” by the local Texarkana Gazette newspaper for his ability to allude the authorities, the Phantom (whomever he was) was never captured or held accountable for the three assaults and five murders he committed.

This blog examines the strange events that happened in Texarkana in 1946, provides evidence from when the authorities tried to track down the killer, new interviews, and examines the multitude of suspects accused of being the Phantom.

Though the victims of the Phantom will never see justice, my examination will hope to shed light on the source of all the pain brought on by the Phantom’s crimes.

(Completed February 2016)

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Check out this podcast (very detailed!) about the crimes: Thinking Sideways: Texarkana Moonlight Murders Here's a video from a supposed friend of a Zodiac Killer suspect. In the video, he makes the connection between his friend's comments and the Phantom Killer murders. Hmmmmm? The escape room craze has been making its way across the U.

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The History and Art of Surveillance

Multimedia project and research blog by Don Eichelberger

This digital presentation takes a look at surveillance and its use by law enforcement within a historical context. Each webpage provides an overview of the history and development of one of the oldest and most widely used police investigative techniques and traces the history and methods of police surveillance since its first use as a peace keeping tactic in Rome over 2000 years ago, to the the literal explosion of the “surveillance business” since the events of 9/11.

Table of Contents:

1. A History of Law and Policing (621 BCE-1800)

2. Early Surveillance State (France under Louis XIV)

3. Bow Street Runners to Bobbies

4. Pinkerton's Vision to US Surveillance State

5. Twentieth Century: World Wars, Cold Wars, The War at Home

6. Gadgets: Technologies and Inventions

7. Sources and Notes

(Completed February 2016)

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Big Brother is Watching, but, Who Cares?

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Evolution of the Surveillance State Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long...

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Tiwanaku Mystery Novel Framework

Creative historical fiction story by Xandra Bernardo

While living in Bolivia for the past year and a half, I have become fascinated by the ancient pre-Inca empire of Tiwanaku existing from approximately A.D. 200 – 1100
(Morell 116).  Further inspired by this mystery fiction course, I decided to combine these two interests by writing a mystery
novel set in Tiwanaku at the high point of that empire.  I’ve approached this final project as an
organic document where I can lay out pieces of the story and the background history of Tiwanaku in one place.  I’ll use it as a jumping off point for the novel itself in the future.

As such, in this document I start with some of the basic history of Tiwanaku and discuss some of the limitations presented by
our gaps in knowledge on that society. Following that, I discuss the various characters that will be in my story, their roles and characteristics.  Much of the novel’s plot is included in this
section as well, since I discuss the actions taken by the main characters up to the point of the murder discovery.  From there I lay out the specific time frame that the story is set.  Finally, I include several passages of the novel.

(Completed January 2016)

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The Mysteries of the Cake and the Human Soul

Creative historical fiction story by Artur Oliveira

This short story is a mystery weaved into the dynamics of two affluent families and of the customs of the 1940s in the city
of Salvador, in the northeast of Brazil.

The depiction of the family, of its bonds and conflicts is achieved by the revealing of the characters’ behavior in face of the woes of life. The major characters’ misfortunes are presented clearly because they serve the role of dropping clues in regard to the solving of the mystery—the disappearance of the wedding cake.

(Completed December 2015)

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The 11 Days

This is digital presentation of Agatha Christie’s famed 11-day disappearance in 1926
Yorkshire. Points of focus include the situational facts, the hypotheses of the time, and current conclusions.

(Completed January 2016)

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English X103.4-009 Mystery Fiction. Please view in fullscreen!

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Carmel House

Carmel House is a short story and online investigative log inspired by G.K. Chesterton’s “The Doom of the Darnaways” and
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher."

Research included a look into how these stories were representative of Poe and Chesterton's literary culture and tradition (America in 1839 vs. the UK in 1926) and pay particular attention to style, plot, and, voice.

(Completed November 2015)

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Agatha’s Disappearance

Agatha’s Disappearance is a wordpress website that breaks down the true story of the disappearance of mystery author Agatha Christie.

On December 3rd 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared from her home in Sunningdale, Berkshire.

The celebrated author was missing for 11 days.

(Completed November 2015)

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Agatha's Disappearance is a website that tells the true story of the disappearance of Agatha Christie. On December 3rd 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared from her home in Sunningdale, Berkshire. The celebrated author was missing for 11 days. Follow the chapters to see what ensued.

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The Doors of Perception
Short Story by Eve Cran
There's an old aphorism about beauty and the eye of the beholder, but what about science?  Truth? What role do our senses and perceptions play in the determination of reality?

This short story explores the imagined experiences of the famous philosopher and psychologist William James as he encounters John Singer Sargent and Virginie Gautreau in the mystical environs of what will become Sacré-Cœur.  The events of one evening will both inspire a masterpiece and also cause him to question everything he knows to be true.
(Completed October 2015)

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Winner Fake All

An essay exploring the spiritual beliefs and practices of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes by Matt Ginsburg Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the detective genius Sherlock Holmes, was one of the world’s most famous exponents of Spiritualism, a set of beliefs based on the quest for and experience of the supernatural.  He was ridiculed worldwide for his activities.  Given his notorious beliefs, it is likely that few readers equate Conan Doyle’s bizarre devotion to divining the dead with the deductive determinations of the brilliant Sherlock Holmes.  But was the difference between them really as stark as séance vs. science?

(Completed October 2015)

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Saints or Sinners: Men and Women of the Oakland Police.

Research essay by Kitty Fassett

This project addresses some of the recent daily news reports of deadly force used by police nationwide and the ensuing protests that resonated in Oakland, CA. In addition, it explores Oakland's uniquely troubled history dating back to the time of the Black Panthers in the 1960s.

(Completed August 2015)

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Dupin: What Type of Detective is He?

Research essay by Kim Kwang-Won
This project deals with Poe’s famous detective Dupin and specifically adresses the ways in which Poe's character differs from the more “modern detective.” The main text under consideration is Poe’s “The Murders at the Rue Morgue.”

(Completed August 2015)