Contemporary Feminist Historical Crime Fiction
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: August 3, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 192
ISBN-13: 9781403972781
Subjects: Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -; Women In Literature; History and criticism; Mystery And Suspense Fiction; Fiction; Literature - Classics / Criticism; Women Authors; Historical - General; Detective and mystery stories, American; Literary Criticism & Collections / Women Authors; English fiction; General; Mystery & Detective - General; American fiction
Description: "This book is the first scholarly study to focus exclusively on the growing subgenre of historical crime fiction. By examining the feminist interventions of contemporary women writers working in this subgenre, Johnsen advances the existing critical discussion of women's crime fiction. The writers studied here bring research expertise to bear on their chosen historical settings, creating a powerful but widely accessible statement about women in history. Seven history-mystery series provide the main focus; their settings range from twelfth century France to twentieth century Ireland, but all of them ensure female investigators, well-constructed mystery plots, and intriguing historical detail.

This study demonstrates how these writers change readers' thinking about women in past and present times through their sophisticated textual practices."--Jacket.