Yolanda Perez

English 112B

November 29, 2006

Dr. Mary Warner

Mystery Annotated Bibliography

The mystery genre started in the 1800�s with the author Edgar Allan Poe and later in the late 1800�s early 1900�s in the making of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I decided to look for other books in contemporary mystery literature to see what I could find and there are many to choose from. And this is the annotated bibliography for the mystery genre that I came up with. It is a combination of classic to contemporary mysteries. It is a collection from who started the mystery genre and who made the character Sherlock Holmes famous to the present contemporary mysteries for young adults to read. These books are great to learn and enjoy solving problems and puzzles.

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Raven And Other Writings. Ed. Avi. New York: Aladdin Classics, 2003.

This book has poems and a few of his first mysteries that he wrote. The mysteries are The Murders In The Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter; these two mysteries are the start of the mystery genre back in the late 1800�s. The story of The Purloined Letter is about a letter that goes missing and the French police goes to a C. Auguste Dupin�s help to figure out who took the letter. This book is a source of information to get ideas for teaching this book and others stories. The Raven, was made into a classic movie with the actor Vincent Price. Edgar Allan Poe is one of my all time favorite American Authors.

Doyle, Arthur Conan Sir. The Hound of Baskerville. Ed. Bruce Brooks. New York: Aladdin Classics, 2000.

This is where Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson have figure out if the Baskerville Estate is curse with a beast. This is Holmes and Dr. Watson�s most difficult cases. This book is one of many stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made the character Sherlock Holmes famous and how Sherlock Holmes used deductive reasoning to solve his mysteries cases. This book is good for children to see what a classic mystery is and learn how to use deductive reasoning themselves.

Bennett, Jay. The Executioner. New York: Avon Books, c1982.

The story is about young man by the name Bruce Kendall is blamed for a car accident that killed his friend and someone is making threatening phone calls to him. If Bruce does not find who is the Executioner he will be next. This book is one of many contemporary mysteries that young adults can read to get a feel for the mystery genre.

Duncan, Lois. I Know What You Did Last Summer. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books, c1973.

The story is about a group of four kids that are part of a hit and run accident and they swear never to tell anyone. Until a year later the four kids get a note say what they did. And they are afraid that this person wants revenge. It�s a good thriller book to capture the student figure out who is harassing them. But later this book was made into movie and lost its great plot into a cheesy one. This book became a Hollywood movie starting Freddy Prince Jr. and Michelle Gellar.

Duncan, Lois. Killing Mr. Griffin. New York: Dell Books, 1979, c1978.

This book is about five kids that kidnap their English teacher as horrible joke. And the teacher end up dead and they find out who really killed Mr. Griffin. Another of Duncan�s books that turned into a Hollywood movie with the actor Mario Lopez and the movie was out in 1997. I do not think a lot of these suspenseful type of movies work but they are great entertainment for the younger crowed that like cheesy scary movies.

Duncan, Lois. The Third Eye. New York: Dell Books, c1985.

This book is about a young girl who has psychic ability and is able to locate missing children. This is why the book is called The Third Eye, because she has a psychic ability. She does not understand like her friends and has unwanted attention for her ability. This book is a good book for young adult to read for entertainment and to get an idea what some psychic feel and what they go through.

Miller, Dorothy R. The Clearing. New York: Dell, c1985.

This book is about a mystery of young girl that goes to live with family in Pennsylvania. She finds that there was a tragedy in her cousin home town. And she has to figure what happen and deal with it and help the town go through the struggle and go on with their lives. A good book read it shows students that there�s always something interesting going on in small town. Also that they can help people workout tragedies and problems through.

Nixon, Joan L. The S�ance. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2004.

A young girl by the name of Lauren and few other girls have s�ance and Lauren wishes that Sara disappears. And Sara disappears the next day that Lauren has to find out who did it and why before they get to her. Almost like Patricia Windsor�s The Sandman�s Eyes, with the main character who has to find who is doing what before they get to him. These two books can be read to see the differences of what a protagonists do to save themselves and find out the truth.

White, Robb. Deathwatch. New York: Dell, 1973, c 1972.

A simple hunting trip turn deadly with the characters of Madec and Ben. Madec is a Loser Businessman and Ben is a young college guy who respects the desert. These two characters are a team of two that go hunting. And where Madec ends being some psychotic killer is trying to kill Ben so no one will find out the truth but the truth about what? The mystery here is the mystery of some truth. Great action and suspense to read about if the students like action and thriller plots.

Windsor, Patricia. The Sandman�s Eyes. New York: Dell, 1985.

This book is about a guy named Michael who witnesses a murder two years earlier. And he goes back home after being in an institution for disturbed juveniles after he witness the murder. He has to figure out who was the murder before they or he comes after him. Similar to Joan L. Nixon�s The S�ance, because the protagonist has to find who kill another classmate before she is the next victim.

Looking back at these books as a teacher or student you have small amount of choices to start reading mysteries. Using this Annotated Bibliography in the mystery genre is a great start on making a unit plan or lesson plans for future classes and teaching students about the mystery genre. Later the students can have fun by writing a mystery of their own or acting one out as whole group in the classroom. Most of these books have become Hollywood movies that have cheesy story plots that ruin the books story plots but it can be great entertainment for those that enjoy them. As for the Sherlock Holmes that movies are classic also because they were done in the late 1950�s and early 1960�s. As for Edgar Allan Poe there is a movie about the poem The Raven, with Vincent Price.