IN-PERSON: The Elderwise classroom at the Vineyard Church
Serial killers are scary. Longtime local residents might remember John Norman Collins, who terrorized the Ypsi-Ann Arbor area in the late 1960s before he was arrested for killing seven young women. Serial killers have also been terrorizing innocent victims in whodunits, police procedurals, psychological thrillers, and movies for almost a century. We will take a look at various examples of the genre – from classic mysteries like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, to thrillers like Psycho and Silence of the Lambs, to the introduction of forensic scientists and profilers, many of them women, who work with the police in catching the killers. Class participants are asked to read a serial killer novel (or two) they might want to recommend to the class. David Geherin is Professor Emeritus of English at Eastern Michigan University. He is the author of ten books on crime and mystery fiction, three of which were finalists for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award. David’s latest book, Organized Crime on Page and Screen, has just been published. His current book project focuses on serial killers.
