Many mystery writers use historic cemeteries to set the scene for their tales of terror, crime and murder. This paper will address the use of graveyards from the 19th century stories of Edgar Allen Poe up to the current best selling novels of Cornwell, Fairstein and Patterson. How graveyards are depicted, cemetery workers portrayed and the accuracy of the setting will be the primary focus of the investigation. Final resting places of the great authors of the genre will be included in the research. Among the authors to be represented are Rudolph Fisher, Sax Rohmer, Patrica Highsmith, Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe.
About the presenterSusan Olsen
Director of Historical Services at The Woodlawn Cemetery and log time member of both the American Culture Association and MAPACA.