I was able to read before I went to school and have never been without a book since; frequenly having several novels on the go at one time. I started with adventures and classics, moved on to fantasy and later discovered crime fiction. Having been educated at an all-girls school where we assumed we could do everything, it was a shock to enter the world of science and engineering in the 1970s and find that women were not considered as strong and powerful as men, and certainly not as good. Even though times have changed somewhat, I still love finding books (especially series) where crime solving and sisterhood go hand-in-hand.
This book made me realise that women’s role in fiction didn’t have to be the ‘little woman’ or the ‘love interest’.
It was published back in 2001 when female protagonists were a rarity, but James Patterson gives us not one, but four strong women who get together to solve crimes that the police alone cannot. I love the fact that these women are willing to break the rules in order to succeed in a man’s world. But at the same time, they are a club in the traditional sense: they eat, drink, and have fun together, while watching each other’s backs.
It was a wonderfully empowering experience to discover this book (and even more so when I realised there were a whole series of books about the same group of women).
As the only woman homicide inspector in San Francisco, Lindsay Boxer has to be tough. But nothing she has seen prepares her for the horror of the honeymoon murders, when a brutal maniac begins viciously slaughtering newly wed couples on their wedding nights. Lindsay is sickened by the deaths, but her determination to bring the murderer to justice is threatened by her own personal tragedy. So she turns to Claire, a leading coroner, Cindy, a journalist and Jill, a top attorney, for help with both her crises, and the Women's Murder Club is born.
I don’t read historical fiction as a rule, so this one is a departure for me; and it’s not a traditional crime-fighting story either, but it hooked me from the first page.
I loved the concept of a matriarchal Roman Empire transported to Middle Europe and pulled forward into the twenty-first century. Then I discovered a main protagonist who has been brought up in America and has to come to grips with the fact that she is a member of the ruling family and a soldier at that. The crimes she and her sister officers fight against are political and conspiratorial, but they are crimes nonetheless.
A fascinating approach to history and a great way to reverse the stereotypes and make strong women the norm.
Hunted by a killer, New Yorker Karen Brown is rescued by arrogant special forces officer Conrad Tellus and flees with him to her mother's mysterious homeland in Europe, centuries old Roma Nova. But the killer reaches into her new home. Pushed back on her own resources, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. Crazy with bitterness at his past failures, the killer sets a trap, knowing Karen has no choice but to spring it...
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
I saw Cathy Ace speak at a crime writers’ conference, and she was such a bundle of energy and a joy to listen to that I was already hooked before I read this book.
And I loved her collection of WISE women working together as a detective agency: one from Wales, one from Ireland, one from Scotland, and one from England. (I would never have spotted the opportunity those four initials provide.)
Four ordinary women, from different backgrounds, and with different experiences (and accents) learning to live together, work together, and solve crimes together. This is at the cosy end of the crime spectrum, but that’s why I like it so much. The crimes are real, but there’s not too much grit, and there’s bags of humour.
“A gratifying contemporary series in the traditional British manner with hilarious repercussions. Cozy fans will anticipate learning more about these WISE ladies” - Library Journal Starred Review
Meet the Women of the WISE Enquiries Agency. The first in a new series.
Henry Twyst, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth, is convinced his mother is losing her marbles. She claims to have seen a corpse on the dining-room floor, but all she has to prove it is a bloodied bobble hat.
Worried enough to retain the women of the WISE Enquiries Agency – one is Welsh, one Irish, one Scottish and one English…
This book has so much I love about it: it’s set in Dublin, the home of my father and therefore part of my heritage.
It features a group of feisty women, the youngest of whom is in her fifties (way younger than me), while the rest are old enough to know better. It’s packed full of humour—who wouldn’t laugh at the idea of the older generation behaving worse than the teenagers. And there’s a huge dollop of old Irish magic to add to the mix.
Despite the fact that this wonderful group of women seem to attract dead bodies like magnets, this is definitely in the cosy sub-genre. And I loved every word of this book and the rest of the series.
Artist Eve Caulton is 50, divorced and ready for a new life. She can't believe her luck when she manages to buy Kimberly Cottage, one of a perfect little crescent of cottages on Bramble Lane. She can look forward to peace and quiet, in one of Dublin's most exclusive suburbs. But before she has even unpacked, there is a dead body in her living room and she's a chief suspect! To complicate matters, her mother Niamh calls on her gang of feisty older ladies, who bring wisdom, experience, and very special skills to the case. They might be known as…
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
This is a funny book that made me laugh out loud from the start, which may seem odd, as it’s definitely not a cosy crime novel. In fact, it’s a gritty thriller, with some quite dark elements, but definitely leavened by the humour.
I love the fact that the two strong female protagonists are anti-heroines and it’s not clear whether they are working together or against each other. There were a number of twists that I completely missed. And I found the continual switch between the two women’s viewpoints kept me guessing throughout.
A thriller set in the sometimes-murky world of international drug manufacturing.
Regulator Suzanne Jones finds herself fighting politics, sexism, economics, and corruption as she heads up a project to counteract the growing problem of fake drugs across the African continent. She teams up with her sister, Charlie, a computer whizz with a shadowy past, to overcome the obstacles being placed in her path. As the two women battle to prevent further children dying, they realise they do not necessarily know who is a friend or foe, and their own lives could well be in danger.
