Q & A Blog Series

Our fifth contributor to the Q & Blog series is Dr Dorothea Flothow!

1. What first sparked your interest in crime fiction studies?

I got interested in the field from being a long-term reader of crime fiction myself and from then wanting know more about the form. I come from a family of crime fiction enthusiasts, and so when looking for reading material as a teenager, I picked up the classics -- Sayers, Heyer and Christie -- from my grandmother's shelves. I have remained hooked ever since. Before, I had already read my way through Enid Blyton and other detective stories for children.

Crime fiction was rarely offered as a course when I was a student, so when I started to teach, this was one of the first courses I offered. Students have always been enthusiastic about the genre. 

2. What have you been reading, watching, or listening to recently? Do you notice any new emergent trends?

I've just been watching series 3 of the Sister Boniface Mysteries. I find this recent focus on the 1960s (as it also happened in Endeavour, etc.) fascinating. The historical periods featuring in recent historical crime fiction are ever-expanding, it seems, and not all of them are periods that have traditionally been of interest in popular culture. 

3. Which book(s) do you find yourself returning to most often?

At the end of the day, Dorothy Sayers remains hard to top.

4. What is your best piece of advice for emerging scholars in the field?

It is worth reading the classics in the field, even though some of them may be hard going, due to rather unpleasant views on gender, religion and race.