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Book Discussion–The Great Mystery Novels: A Five-Part Course with William Bernhardt
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Please note: this course presents a different collection of classic novels than Bernhardt's 2022 edition of the course, which can be found here.
William Bernhardt is a scholar, teacher, author of more than fifty published works, including several New York Times-bestselling novels. In addition to his many crime and mystery novels, Bernhardt has written plays, a musical (book and music), nonfiction, children's books, poetry, and created jig-saw puzzles. He was also a Champion on Season 30 of the game show Jeopardy! He is the founder and President of the Red Sneaker Writing Center which provides resources to support upcoming writers. The Center hosts the annual WriterCon in Oklahoma City and small-group seminars across the US, as well as a free monthly e-newsletter and a biweekly podcast — reaching more than 20,000 subscribers. Bernhardt has received many accolades for his writing, including an induction into the Oklahoma Writers’ Hall of Fame. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law and currently lives in Oklahoma with his wife and their children.
This conversation is suitable for all ages.
90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.
What a great series! William chose interesting books and led wonderful discussions . He is an insightful and knowledgeable speaker.
Prof. Bernhardt Taught an excellent course. The books he chose were all interesting , and his lectures were clear and thoughtful and illuminating. He has a laid back style of teaching that is enjoyable, but does not detract from the quality of his lectures, He not only gives insights into the books, but also provides information about where the book fits within the genre of mystery novels.
I love this 5 part course. Mysteries are my favorite genre. It is wonderfully enlightening to unearth the history of this type of novel with such an engaging expert, William Bernhardt. He is, by far, my favorite of your "Conversation" speakers. I loved his discussion of the juxtaposition of the "Golden Age" English cozy novel, (Agatha Christie) with the "Hardboiled PI" American noir novel (Dashiell Hammett,) which were all written around the same time... fascinating! I also enjoyed his comparison of Hammett's style versus Chandler's... and perhaps why there were huge similarities, as well as huge differences. I'll be out of the country end of July & August, but I hope you will offer more seminars with Mr. Bernhardt in the Fall...
This book was so much fun to read! (The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins) I never would have picked it up had it not been for the class. The novel was well crafted, the epistalatory style was effective in letting the characters such as Drusilla make me LOL with her antics . I wish there could be more give and take in person rather than in the Chat. But I am looking forward to the next class. Mr. Bernhardt clearly knows his mysteries and was a great teacher.