Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (January 8 at 9 am** – January 25 at 4 pm): $160
Regular Registration Price (January 25 at 4 pm – first day of class): $176

** Registration opens online at 9 am. Phone registration will be accepted starting at 10 am.

Members, seniors, and students get a 10% discount.

Online registration is closed, but you can still register by phone. Please call (312) 255-3700 to do so.

Seminar Description

P. D. James has been described as a novelist who happens to write mysteries. Indeed, the intricacy of James’s plots, the depth of her characters, and the relevance of her themes go well beyond the traditional boundaries of the genre. To discover how James adapts, subverts, and transcends the hardboiled detective tradition, we will read and discuss An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, which introduces private detective Cordelia Gray, as well as a selection of short stories featuring the character Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard.
Three sessions. E - $160, L - $176

Barbara Lanctot holds an MA in literature from the University of Detroit. A lifelong mystery fan, she created and taught the course “Literary Studies in the Detective Novel” for DePaul University’s School for New Learning.

Materials List

Required:

• P.D. James, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Touchstone (div. Simon & Schuster), 2001. ISBN: 978-0743219556
• P.D. James, The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories, Vintage Books (div. Penguin Random House), 2017. ISBN: 978-1101973806

First Reading:

• For the first class, please read chapters 1-3 of An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.