(Recorded Course) A Mastery of Mysteries for High School with Kevin O'Brien

Become a “mystery master” as we read together some of the greatest mysteries of all time, including Edgar Allan Poe, Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and more! For middle school students.

How to get the most out of A Mastery of Mysteries for High School with Kevin O’Brien:

  • Read the works assigned and engage the material - which means take things seriously and take your time with your work!

  • Watch that week’s recording if you need to revisit information from our live session.

  • Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that week.  Mr. O'Brien will take off for essay answers with errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total classes: 9

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade

Suggested credit: 1 semester Literature or English

Instructor: Kevin O’Brien

Instructor Email: kevin@classeswithkevin.com

Course Description: In this course, students will strive to become “mystery masters”!  We will read some of the greatest mystery stories of all time, including tales of detectives such as Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and mysteries by Christian writers such as G. K. Chesterton and others.  We will not only examine the structure and content of mystery stories, but also try our hand at writing our own short mysteries! Plus mini-mysteries will be read and solved in every class session.

Course description: In this course, students will strive to become “mystery masters”!  We will read some of the greatest mystery stories of all time, including tales of detectives such as Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and others.  Plus, mini-mysteries will be read and solved in several class sessions.  

Course outline:

  1. Introduction and Mini-Mysteries

  2. Edgar Allan Poe

  3. Sherlock Holmes

  4. Father Brown

  5. Literary Criticism and Murder Mysteries

  6. The Hard Boiled Detective

  7. Nancy Drew

  8. Agatha Christie

  9. Murder Mystery Dinner Theater

Course materials: Public domain mysteries will be provided FREE by the instructor as PDF files.

Homework: Auto-graded quizzes plus a Final Exam. Plan on about two or three hours of homework, mostly reading, per week.