Jane K. Marshall
Title _____ Author _____
Objective Questions
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1. What crime was committed?
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2. Who was the culprit?
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3. Who was the victim?
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4. What was the motive?
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5. Where did this occur?
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6. How was the crime committed?
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7. How was the detective able to solve the crime/bring the villain to justice?
Subjective Questions
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1. When did you (reader) figure out the mystery? Explain.
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2. Who did you think was responsible initially? Why?
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3. How would you expect the detective to behave in the next novel you read?
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4. Where do you think the next story will take place?
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5. Who would you recommend this book to?
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6. What new insights do you have about your particular detective?
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7. What have you learned about the detective novel? (structure, pace, etc.)
LEVEL TWO QUESTIONS—GENERALIZATION (to follow second novel)
The questions which comprise this section require that the student take a more critical stance. In most cases, the teacher will have to spend some time, prior to the asking of these questions, in helping his/her students to think critically. It might be worthwhile, at this point, to discuss the structure of a TV program with which all would necessarily be familiar; “Magnum PI”, for example, would be assigned as mandatory viewing. Students would then be encouraged to discuss the climax of the plot as well as its pace, the development of the tone of the program, the language/dialogue of the players, and the personalities of the principles. Such an assignment would insure that students understand the technical nature of the questions which follow their second novel. At some point students might also be encouraged to compare/contrast the TV detective story with the literary detective novel.
