Date
6-17-2026
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)
Chair
Kiera Donaghy
Keywords
Mystery, generational trauma, moral inheritance, female protagonists
Disciplines
Creative Writing
Recommended Citation
MacFarland, Jenna Ashby, "Heirlooms" (2026). Masters Theses. 1512.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1512
Abstract
The title of my creative manuscript is Heirlooms. It contains chapters of a fictional novel in the mystery genre. In the critical paper, I address Literary Tradition as it pertains to mystery writing. Specifically, I focus on the evolution of the mystery genre from the detached rationalism of Sherlock Holmes to the psychological realism of writers like Tana French and Liane Moriarty. Their styles reveal a shift from intellectual detection to moral introspection within the genre. Heirlooms continues this transformation by centering a female protagonist whose investigation becomes a search for spiritual and emotional truth. By integrating women’s voices and Christian ethics into a genre historically dominated by masculine logic and secular justice, the novel reframes the mystery narrative as one of moral inheritance and redemption rather than mere crime and punishment.
