The detective tale, born of the work of Edgar Alan Poe and altered by Dashiell Hammett,  evolved over time in the hands of international masters such as Jorge Luis Borges, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Andrea Camilleri, and Donna Leon. Our examination helps identify the qualities that provide this genre with its enduring allure, and explores how modern practitioners play with the form and adapt it to the writer’s needs in ways that continue to fuel reader interest. Through the reading of the required primary texts and important recommended secondary texts and through the seminar's investigation of the genre we will come to a new appreciation of how the most representative of formulaic fiction broke out of its mold and garnered wide critical appreciation and the loyalty of millions of readers worldwide.