October 29, 2004

Lessons in Crime

By JOSEPH GIDJUNIS

Justin D. Gifford's "American Detective and Crime Fiction" course started out typically enough: a little Melville and Twain. By late September the class had moved on to trespassing. The University of Virginia was not amused.

Until three weeks ago, Mr. Gifford was a doctoral student in English literature and an award-winning teacher at UVa. To hone his students' mystery-writing and scene-setting skills, he took them to an abandoned sanitarium owned by the university's foundation. But