Professor Lassiter Delivers Humanities Lecture on Detective Fiction

Professor Susan Lassiter

Curling up to an Agatha Christie murder mystery or a Sherlock Holmes classic by Arthur Conan Doyle is a terrific way to spend time for readers like Susan Lassiter.

That’s why this Mississippi College English professor is the perfect choice to deliver the Humanities Lecture on the topic of detective fiction.

The 2014 MC Humanities Teacher of the Year, Lassiter will present her topic the evening of October 30 in the President’s Board Room in B.C. Rogers Student Center.

The public is invited. Beginning at 7 p.m., Thursday’s program is free.

Lassiter has done scholarly work on detective fiction for nearly 20 years and presented academic papers across the nation. She received the Earl Award for Best Paper from the American Culture/Popular Culture Association for her research on Nancy Drew and children of the Great Depression.

Her favorite authors of detective fiction include Dashiell Hammett and P.D. James. She will focus on a number of masters of detective stories including Edgar Allan Poe during her talk.

“I will discuss the role of the detective story as a reflection of the historical and cultural elements of the time in which they were written,” Lassiter said. “Detective fiction mirrors these elements of society.”

In addition, the Mississippian will discuss a variety of detectives, their empathy and the roles they play as they solve mysteries.

Lassiter attended Hinds Community College and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi College. She’s been named the MC English Department’s Alumna of the Year. She’s helped with the planning and creation of the Quisenberry Library in Clinton, and chaired the Clinton Library Board for over a decade.

“She’s a tireless community servant who has devoted her career to Clinton and to Mississippi College,” says English Department Chairman Jonathan Randle. “She’s certainly worthy of the recognition.”

Lassiter teaches an MC class in detective fiction and will lead a graduate seminar on Agatha Christie and P.D. James in the Spring of 2015.

Her lecture is titled “Get a Clue!: Finding the Humanities in Detective Fiction.”

For more information, contact Department of English Chairman Jonathan Randle at randle@mc.edu or call 601-925-3269.