Dr. Karen Roggenkamp

We wanted to learn more about mystery as a genre after reading Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. Lucky for us, Dr. Karen Roggenkamp, professor of Literature and Languages at Texas A & M-Commerce, was available to stop by the Front Porch to talk about mysteries, crime, and mayhem. Karen helps us examine why mysteries are so popular and how the conventions of genre fiction were used in sensational crime reporting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when women, such as Nellie Bly, broke through barriers of women working in newspaper newsrooms. Karen and Nancy report The Thursday Murder Club sets itself apart from other mysteries in the depth of its characters and the ways the author deals with the loss of physical and mental powers as our beloved main characters live out their final years. Linny had never read a mystery, but loved the book, too!