This class will trace the development of the genre of crime fiction from its beginnings with Edgar Allan Poe's Auguste Dupin to contemporary Irish crime fiction, often called "Emerald Noir". Looking at classic examples such as short stories from the Golden Age of crime fiction by Agatha Christie as well as more recent ones such as Tana French's debut novel "In the Woods", we will explore the different facets of the genre, paying close attention to the different sleuths we are presented with, from the gentleman detective to the hard-boiled private eye to the pathologist. As Heather Worthington remarks, crime fiction is still the genre which most clearly and immediately represents society back to itself, it will also be a focus of the class to explore how certain developments in crime fiction might reflect developments in the society of the time, with a particular emphasis on contemporary Ireland.