B11. Asia and the British Mystery Writer

The mystery novel often lets armchair detectives examine not just crimes,   but also foreign cultures, crucial historic moments and even implicit cultural biases. Ruth Rendell makes the case for all those claims in her 2012 novel, Speaker of Mandarin. England’s Inspector Wexford begins the novel as a tourist in 1980’s China. He both sees and misperceives that country in ways that color his investigation of a crime back home. Rendell’s deceptively accessible mystery serves as an entry point to a far weightier text also set in Asia: Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. Written in 1955, Greene’s novel follows investigative journalist Thomas Fowler who reports on the end of French Colonialism and the beginning of American involvement in Vietnam. Ahead in time from both Greene and Rendell, Colin Coterill imagines an Asian amateur detective, the elderly Laotian coroner Siri Paiboum. Coterill’s novel, The Coroner’s Lunch, published in 2017 is set in 1978, three years after American forces left Vietnam.  Siri, a rationalist who has visions, represents both ancient and modern Laos.  Hampered by post-war political and economic conditions, Dr. Paiboum uses his skills to solve a complex murder. We will conduct a parallel investigation of all three novels.

Required Readings =>

Graham Greene, The Quiet American  (any edition)

Ruth Rendell, Speaker of Mandarin  (any edition)

 Colin Coterill, The Coroner’s Lunch  (any edition) 

Helen Whall received her Ph.D. from Yale University, specializing in Shakespeare and the English Renaissance. Since retiring from The College of the Holy Cross, she has taught numerous courses for WISE ranging from Shakespeare and Modern Drama to Detective Fiction.