Years ago when I found the first volume of this excellent reference book, I thought I must have been dreaming. The first volume covered 1860 to 1979 and was for a long time out of print. Somehow I managed to get hold of a copy and recently Poisoned Pen Press (did what they are best at doing) re-issued it. Now Colleen Barnett has written the second volume and what a treasure it is. If you have ever wanted to know about leading women characters in mystery fiction then this is the book to have. I am not talking about series’ (we have the excellent Detecting Women by Willetta Heising to thank for that) but characters that may have only appeared in the odd book whether written by men or women, then this is the book to have.
This book has been perfectly set out. The first section gives a review of the historical aspects of women in mystery fiction from 1860-1979 while in section 2 we have an alphabetical list of female characters. I have got to admit there were loads of names that I did not recognise, but there were also names that I did, from the late Sarah Caudwell’s Hilary Tamar, Police Officer Kate Delafield by Katherine Forrest, Laurence Gough’s Claire Parker to Simon Brett’s Melita Pargeter, the list is endless. We are also given at the end of the book an author/character index as well as a book title index and a chronology of characters. This is one of those books that you will find yourself constantly dipping into at odd times. It is also perfect for students who want to do research of female sleuths and for anyone wanting to write that all-important paper.
I understand that there is to be a volume three covering female characters
introduced during 1990-1999. I look forward to purchasing my copy as soon as
it becomes available. This book is a must for all lovers of crime fiction whether
they be male or female.
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Ayo Onatade