William Palmer (novelist)

William J. Palmer (born 1943) is an American professor of English and the author of the "Mr. Dickens" series of Victorian murder mysteries. He is also the author of "The Wabash Trilogy" (2010), three novels under one cover. The trilogy includes: "The Wabash Baseball Blues", a sports novel about industrial softball; "The Red Neck Mafia", a crime novel; and "Civic Theater", a comic backstage novel. all three of these novels are set in the Wabash river valley of Indiana.

Academically, Palmer has written books and articles on the nature of literary criticism and the history of film.[1][2][3]

Dr. Palmer received his doctorate in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1969, and taught at Purdue University beginning in 1969. He attained the rank of full professor there and is now professor emeritus. He received Purdue's "Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award" for academic year 1998-1999, and he was a member of the elite "Purdue Teaching Academy".[4]

Mr. Dickens series

Dr. Palmer is perhaps most noted for his four historical murder mysteries about "Mr. Dickens" (Charles Dickens). These were selections of The Literary Guild, The Book of the Month Club, The Mystery Guild, and The Doubleday Book Club.[5][6]

Notes

  1. including The Films of the Seventies: A Social History (1987); The Films of the Eighties: A Social History (1994) and The Films of the Nineties: The Decade of Spin (2009).
  2. Staff (1995). "Do movies shape your opinions?". USA Today Magazine 123 (2598): 67.
  3. "Expert talks about effects of ‘World Trade Center’ movie" Newswise 9 August 2006
  4. "Department of English Faculty Teaching Awards" Purdue University
  5. Note that while separate at the time, since then these book clubs have all merged and are now part of Bookspan.
  6. "Dickens scholar publishes third novel" Purdue, 14 February 1997