English Department

Professors LeRoy Panek and Mary Bendel-Simso authored a new book exploring early detective fiction. “Essentials Elements of the Detective Story, 1820-1891” examines detective fiction during its formative years, while focusing on such crucial elements of the stories as setting, lawyers and the law, physicians and forensics, women as victims and heroes, crime and criminals, and police and detectives.

"I love teaching, and for over two decades I've had the amazing opportunity to teach a wide variety of courses related to my research interests: horror fiction (British and American, with particular interest in the stories of Edgar Allan Poe), British Romantic poetry (with particular interest in Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake), the early British novel, Apocalyptic texts, and Postmodern fiction, film and pop culture."

"I work with writers across the curriculum, not just in the English major, to do meaningful, thoughtful, critical communication and to analyze the world around them. I hope that from the first day, they learn that they are an active and empowered participant in the production of knowledge. That they can discover new things, make new arguments, and push the bounds. Critical thinking is not something I give them; it’s something that they’re already doing — I just help them articulate it."