12/15/2000

Solving the Mystery of What to Read Next:

Jean Swanson, a librarian at the University of the Redlands, and Dean James, manager of Houston's Murder by the Book, are the authors of By a Woman's Hand: A Guide to Mystery Fiction by Women (New York: Berkley Books, 1994), a reference book which will be of great assistance to people who want to begin to explore mystery fiction by women writers.  It will also assist people who know about the genre already but are seeking an answer to those burning questions: who else writes like this author? and what do I read next? Swanson and James have also written Killer Books: A Reader's Guide to Exploring the Popular World of Mystery and Suspense, which categorizes popular fiction, TV and movies so that readers can select new materials similar to items they have previously enjoyed in print and film formats.

By a Woman's Hand covers 185 living women writers from around the world.  Writers from the US, UK, Canada, Europe and Australia are all included, and there is a good mix of very well-known and lesser known writers.  The work is arranged alphabetically by author name.  Each entry consists of two paragraphs. The first paragraph provides some brief information about the author and briefly describes her series and its characters.  Some titles are mentioned, but a complete listing is not provided.  The entry often notes which titles have won various awards.  The second paragraph of each entry compares the writer to others, and suggests series that are similar in terms of setting, detective type, and style.

Appendices include a list of anthologies of women's mystery fiction.  An index by series character name is provided for those times when one remembers the sleuth's name but not the writer's name.  Indexes by geographic location and type of detective are also provided.  For example, one can quickly see which authors set their series in Australia or which authors feature lesbian detectives or amateur detectives who are actors.

By a Woman's Hand is not exhaustive by a long shot, although some interesting writers are included.  It does not include complete listings of works by each author, which may limit its utility for readers who prefer to read a series in order and are seeking that information. However, the comparative notes set it apart from other guides.

Another useful reference work is Willetta L. Heising's Detecting Women (Dearborn, MI: Purple Moon Press).  The first edition was published in 1995, while the most recent, the third edition, was released in 2000. Heising adds new authors and deletes dead ones from each edition, so most libraries will have the complete set. (Heising also compiles the same type of information on male mystery writers in volumes called Detecting Men.)  While this series doesn't include the comparative analysis of James and Swanson, Heising does provide complete listings of all works in each series. And if it's a mystery, and a woman wrote it, it's in here.  Detecting Women 3 includes information about almost 700 authors and over 3,750 titles.  The main listings are organized in alphabetical order by author name, and each main entry provides brief biographical notes, interesting details about the series and other trivia.  A checklist is provided that shows series character name, position or occupation, and location, with a listing of all books published so far.  In addition to this, Heising includes index chapters that list authors and titles by detective type (78 different categories), series character name, setting (time and place), pseudonyms, and mystery awards. There are also chapters that list all book titles in alphabetical order and list all titles together chronologically. One of the appendices is a list of deceased authors dropped since Detecting Women 2.  A second appendix consists of a list of titles that were named as forthcoming in Detecting Women 2 but were deleted from the third edition because the title changed, it turned out to be a non-series book, or wasn't published after all.  Heising really does her homework.  For complete data on women mystery writers and their series, this is the choice.

The Web also can be a useful source of quick, free information about mystery writers.  Two useful sites are Bookbrowser (www.bookbrowser.com) and Stop! You're Killing Me (www.stopyourekillingme.com). These two sites offer a good deal of information about mystery writers and their series.

Janet Lawson created Bookbrowser while she was a graduate student in library and information science at Indiana University. She maintains the site with Cynthia Orr, Harriet Klausner and numerous volunteers.  The core of the site consists of reading lists arranged by author that list their series in their proper order.  There are also lists for Detectives by Region, Diverse Detectives, and Sleuths by Occupation. The site also covers other genres of popular fiction, such as romance, westerns and inspirational.  Bookbrowser also provides links to author information, upcoming releases and book reviews written by volunteers.  The main listings include male and female authors, but the Diverse Detectives list includes options for finding female sleuths ("Women," "Lesbians" and "Little Old Lady" are the choices).  However, there is no way to find all women writers with male and female protagonists. 

Stop! You're Killing Me is the creation of Bonny Brown and provides information about mystery, intrigue, and suspense books.  An author index and a series character index are provided.  The series character index includes options to obtain lists sorted by location and occupation, but not by gender.  Each entry includes a link to some trivia or biographical facts about the author and lists each series in order, as well as including non-series items.  Links to information about upcoming releases are also provided.  Bookbrowser has a wider scope and a fancier design, but Stop! You're Killing Me often updates its content more quickly.

For quick data on a series or to find mysteries with similar settings or types of sleuths, Bookbrowser and Stop! You're Killing Me may fill the needs of many readers.  Swanson and James provide a useful analytical tool for decision-making, but Detecting Women is the best source for complete data.