Women of Mystery: The Lives and Works of Notable Women Crime Novelists

Cover
......Page 1
Copyright page
......Page 8
Contents
......Page 11
Foreword: Guilty Pleasures
......Page 13
Part One—In the Beginning: The Mothers of Detection
......Page 17
Anna Katharine Green: The Lady and the Inspector
......Page 21
"[Holmes] used to make merry over the cleverness of women. . . ."
......Page 26
Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935)
......Page 29
Emmuska, Baroness Orczy (1865–1947)
......Page 30
Quick, Call a Bobby!
......Page 31
A Strange Encounter: The Genesis of the Female Detective
......Page 32
Mary Roberts Rinehart: The Buried Story
......Page 34
"I guess there are some curious stories hidden in these old houses."
......Page 35
"I had no mad itch to express myself, but I liked words. . . ."
......Page 40
"The hospital lured me . . . as an adventure, an experience, and as the solution of a practical difficulty."
......Page 42
"A cloud seemed to have settled down on us. . . . "
......Page 44
"I was enormously proud of my status as a wife. "
......Page 46
"I did not want a career. The word has never been used in the family and never will be."
......Page 48
"I liked mystery, and it was easy for me."
......Page 49
"There . . . in New York, was a new life indeed, that casual comfortable life of all people affiliated with the theater."
......Page 51
"I wanted that home fiercely. It spelled peace, security."
......Page 55
"It was one thing to plan the great adventure, and another to go through with it."
......Page 57
"And as I looked about me, I saw many other women confused and at a loss."
......Page 60
"For almost five years I had been obsessed by the war; I knew nothing else."
......Page 65
"So we said good-bye to the white house, there on its hill
overlooking the river. . . ."
......Page 67
"This depression will end very soon."
......Page 71
"I had no apprehensions, save for a disturbed world."
......Page 76
"Not many of us can bear the truth, even about ourselves."
......Page 79
". . . virtue must always triumph . . ."
......Page 81
Bibliography: Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)
......Page 83
Nonfiction
......Page 84
Had She but Known
......Page 85
The Ghosts and Mrs. Rinehart
......Page 86
Mrs. Rinehart to the Rescue
......Page 87
Part Two—A Golden Era: The Genteel Puzzlers
......Page 89
"The detective story . . . is a sporting event."
......Page 92
"It is the ladies and gentlemen of . . . the Golden Age of detective fiction that really get me down."
......Page 93
If It's Fishy . . . It Could Be a Red Herring
......Page 98
Big, Bad Bertha
......Page 99
Craig Rice
......Page 100
Agatha Christie: The Queen of Crime
......Page 102
"I had a very happy childhood."
......Page 103
"Truly I believe there was a blessing upon the house."
......Page 106
"I was always prepared to like the next thing that came along."......Page 110
"I loved a stranger. . . ."......Page 113
" . . . if you can write like this now you might go far."
......Page 116
"We had never been people who played safe."
......Page 121
". . . after illness, came sorrow, despair and heartbreak."
......Page 125
"Mental misery and physical misery are too much to have together. . . ."
......Page 127
"I was scared of marriage."
......Page 132
"There is a great deal of wickedness in village life."
......Page 136
". . . so free of outside shadows . . ."
......Page 139
"In England we had too much war in too short a time."......Page 143
"Gone was that innocent simplicity. . . ."
......Page 146
"Thank God for my good life. . . ."
......Page 152
"A writer's work . . . is . . . her offering to the world. . . ."
......Page 156
Mystery Novels and Story Collections......Page 158
Plays
......Page 161
Films
......Page 162
Television
......Page 163
Agatha's Blue-Eyed Nightmare
......Page 164
The Poirot File
......Page 165
A Miss Marple Questionnaire
......Page 167
Where in the World Is St. Mary Mead?
......Page 171
Mrs. Ariadne Oliver: Doppelganger
......Page 172
Innocence and Justice
......Page 173
The Mystery of the Pickled Shrimps......Page 174
Agatha Speaks . . . The Most Likely Suspect
......Page 175
Whose Idea Was It to Kill Roger Ackroyd?
......Page 176
Dorothy L. Sayers: The Passionate Mind
......Page 177
"I am a citizen of no mean city."
......Page 178
"She was self-absorbed, egotistical, timid, priggish, and in a mild sort of way, disobedient."
......Page 182
"What long talks we shall have together in the red firelight . . . long talks, with nobody to be bored by our conversation. . . ."
......Page 183
"She would be either the school star or the school butt. Which? She had not imagined that it was perfectly possible to be both."
......Page 185
"Dear old Oxford!... I wonder why I love it so—I always feel when I go there as if I were going home. . . ."
......Page 188
"If I could have found a man to my measure, I could have put a torch to the world."
......Page 197
"To carry it through one needs two things: a) guts, b) iron health."
......Page 200
"I have a careless rage for life. . . ."
......Page 202
"Give me a man that's human and careless and loves life, and one who can enjoy the rough-and-tumble of passion."
......Page 204
"But if only there were 48 hours in the day or fewer exciting things to do in the 24! More time, O God, more time!"
......Page 208
"Fair and Mayfair"
......Page 213
"On the intellectual platform, alone of all others, Harriet could stand free and equal with Peter. . . ."
......Page 216
". . . their salvation is in themselves and in each separate man and woman among them. . . ."
......Page 220
"He seems to be turning out a good sort of kid, and I'm disposed to like him. . . ."......Page 226
"When we go to Heaven all I ask is that we shall be given some interesting job and allowed to get on with it."
......Page 229
Mystery Novels and Story Collections
......Page 232
Plays
......Page 233
The Lord Peter File
......Page 234
The Loquacious Lord Peter
......Page 236
Dorothy's Traveling Man......Page 238
Miss Climpson and Company......Page 239
That's Dorothy with an L . . .
......Page 240
Ngaio Marsh: The Secret Self
......Page 241
". . . you must try to understand the life of a girl who lives on the free hills goes without stockings in summer and runs about all day."
......Page 243
"With us all was sweetness, tabards and tights."
......Page 247
"I laid down a little cellar of experiences. . . ."
......Page 250
"There he was, waiting quietly in the background ready to make his entrance at Chapter IV, page 58, in the first edition."
......Page 255
"It was strange to be the only one of our little family."
......Page 261
"One hesitates to speak of death to one's friends for fear of making them feel awkward."
......Page 267
Bibliography: Ngaio Marsh (1895–1982)
......Page 271
Mystery Novels
......Page 272
Film and Video Adaptations
......Page 273
The Alleyn File......Page 274
A Merry Marsh Christmas
......Page 276
Josephine Tey: A Singular Soul
......Page 278
". . . the most delightful author I have ever worked with in the theatre."
......Page 280
"But once or twice lately an odd, alien thought had crossed his mind; irrelevant and unhidden. As nearly as it could be put into words it was: 'This is all you are ever going to have.' "
......Page 285
"I expect this is what death is like when you meet it. Sort of wildly unfair but inevitable."
......Page 288
Stage Plays
......Page 293
The Grant File
......Page 294
Margery Allingham: Odd Woman Out
......Page 296
"I was energetic, affectionate and lonely, and all the interesting people in the world appeared to be on the other side of the glass."
......Page 297
". . . quick to rage or laughter, self-conscious, over-aware and altogether about as restful as an unbroken mule."
......Page 300
"I don't know if he is quite such a little beast as I thought . . ."
......Page 305
"Where am I going? What am I getting?"
......Page 308
"Feel disaster has overtaken me. One of the two supports of my world is going."
......Page 310
". . . so far the war has been my salvation . . . I've recovered my health and equilibrium. I'm all right."
......Page 314
"I think Minnie's mad and she thinks I'm dishonest, and we're both explosive personalities."
......Page 318
"The question of taste keeps cropping up. One hovers between titles like 'Old Age and How to Get Rid of It' and 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Cemetery' or, more simply, 'Euthanasia, Here I Come!' "
......Page 323
Bibliography: Margery Allingham (1904–1966)
......Page 328
Mystery Novels
......Page 329
Film and Video Adaptations
......Page 330
The Campion File......Page 331
"It's Crackers to Slip a Rozzer the Dropsy in Snide."
......Page 332
Bread, Cake, and Love
......Page 334
Part Three—Modern Motives: Mysteries of the Murderous Mind
......Page 335
Patricia Highsmith: Murder with A Twist
......Page 342
"There is no secret of success in writing except individuality, or call it personality."
......Page 344
". . . this is what makes writing a lively and exciting profession, the ever-present possibility of failure."
......Page 351
Mystery Novels and Story Collections
......Page 353
Film Adaptations
......Page 354
P. D. James: An Artful Kind of Order
......Page 356
"My mother used to tell me that I was a cynical child. Examining things seems to be in my genes."
......Page 357
"Charm is an odd word, but he had it. He was Anglo-Irish. He was fair. He had a very nice smile."
......Page 361
". . . I had an interest in death from an early age. It fascinated me. When I heard, 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,' I thought, 'Did he fall or was he pushed?' "
......Page 364
"No day is really without interest, being filled with thoughts, memories, plans, moments of particular hope and occasional moments of depression."
......Page 369
"Death, after all, seldom comes when invited or by appointment."
......Page 371
Mystery Novels
......Page 375
Video Adaptations
......Page 376
That Gray Girl
......Page 377
Ruth Rendell: Triple Threatening
......Page 378
"Am I extrovert or introvert? I'd have to say introvert. I live inside me, although I've struggled a lot not to do so."
......Page 379
"It is the suspense and the build-up of fear that has always interested me most. There's also a lot about obsession in my books. I have an obsessive nature and I observe."
......Page 384
Mystery Novels and Short Story Collections
......Page 387
Barbara Vine Novels
......Page 388
Film and Video Adaptations
......Page 389
Mary Higgins Clark: Damsels in Distress
......Page 390
"From the time I was a little girl, I loved to tell stories. It was part of my Irish heritage."
......Page 391
"I want the woman to be in jeopardy."
......Page 395
Novels
......Page 399
Film and Video Adaptations
......Page 400
Sue Grafton: An "Ornery" Original
......Page 402
Other Works
......Page 407
Patricia Cornwell: Dangerous Dissection
......Page 409
Kay Scarpetta Mystery Novels
......Page 414
Other Works
......Page 415
Minette Walters: Dark Shadows
......Page 416
Video Adaptations
......Page 421
Emma Lathen: Fatal Greed
......Page 422
Emma Lathen Novels (featuring John Putnam Thatcher)
......Page 426
R. B. Dominic Novels (featuring Congressman Ben Safford)......Page 427
Margaret Millar: Lest We Forget
......Page 428
Mystery Novels
......Page 433
Film and Video Adaptations
......Page 434
Lilian Jackson Braun: Purr-fectly Pleasant
......Page 435
Bibliography: Lilian Jackson Braun (ca. 1916– )
......Page 439
Short Story Collection
......Page 440
Anne Perry: Past Imperfect
......Page 441
"A purity of heart is not being unblemished, it's learning to understand your faults so that you can erase them yourself. It's purity of intent."
......Page 444
Mystery Novels
......Page 447
Video Adaptation
......Page 448
Gwendoline Butler (British: born 1922)
......Page 449
Linda Fairstein (American)
......Page 450
Allison Joseph (British)
......Page 451
Carol O'Connell (American: born 1947)
......Page 452
Margaret Yorke (British: born 1924)
......Page 453
I. Start to Golden Age
......Page 455
II. 1920 to 1950
......Page 457
III. 1951 to Present
......Page 459
References and Resources
......Page 461
Mary Roberts Rinehart
......Page 463
Agatha Christie
......Page 464
Dorothy L. Sayers
......Page 465
Patricia Highsmith
......Page 466
Ruth Rendell
......Page 467
Patricia Cornwell
......Page 468
Lilian Jackson Braun
......Page 469
Others
......Page 470
B
......Page 471
C
......Page 472
E
......Page 474
G
......Page 475
I
......Page 476
M
......Page 477
Q
......Page 479
R
......Page 480
S
......Page 481
V
......Page 482
Z
......Page 483