Female Detectives
Introduction
In many ways, it is a bit redundant to have a category called “Female Detectives” because to a large extent they have become the norm, rather than the exception. The current popular form of the mystery novel reflects the fact that there are only 8,000,000 regular fiction readers in the United States and 80% of them are women. Thus, a majority of successful contemporary mystery novels feature women protagonists or strong female characters working equally with the male protagonist. The male protagonist (if there is one) must be appealing to women. This has spelled the end of any narrative where a Lew Archer-type hardboiled detective is talking or thinking about “pointy breasts,” such as in Ross MacDonald’s 1949 classic The Moving Target.


A is for Alibi
You could say that the contemporary female detective started with Sue Grafton’s “A” is for Alibi in 1982, featuring the very “hard boiled” Kinsey Millhone. She personifies the feminist anger of the 70’s and 80’s and the author stated she got the idea for the story...