The short story "It Had To Be Murder" was an interesting read. I think it was written well--it was very suspenseful throughout due to the mood Woolrich set and the descriptions. The protagonist was a well-written character. We get the sense that there is more to him than meets the eye, but we get enough information about him from the story and can make a few inferences from his emotional connections with some of the people he watches. Due to his apparent expertise in this area and his amazing descriptions, everything he knows we know, which lends us to trust him somewhat, even to the point where we're willing to dismiss him people-watching in the first place. I believe that the inferences he made from watching the man was logical--had I been in the same situation I might have done the same. However, I can see how this could all be in his head. People watch others and make up stories about their lives, which is what Jefferies was doing at the end of the story. He was trying to figure out why he killed his wife. I don't agree with the conclusion he made about the mistress and him killing her for the insurance money. In the beginning, he noticed that the wife had been sick for a while. I think that Lars Thornwald killed her because she had been suffering from her sickness for a long time. He had a mistress because, in situations where spouses have an incurable disease or a disease that prevents them from doing ordinary things, it's a normal circumstance. It's not excusable, but understandable in a sense.
I don't believe that this story was literature. Literature means that there is something important about the work, something that can influence people's lives or change the world in some way. Jane Austen's works gives an insight to how life was during her time and how people were during her day. Langston Hughes poems brings us to into the Harlem Renaissance and being black in America. This story is an interesting and fun read and Woolrich is definitely talented, but I would not consider it to be literature.
I'm glad you tackled this question of "is it literature?" It was kind of a trick question. It caused you to contemplate what makes literature "Literature" Your credentials are one perspective for sure, but there are other approaches.
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