WOMEN PROTAGONISTS IN CRIME FICTION

I have been thinking of compiling a list of crime fiction books where the chief or one of the main protagonists is female.
Here is a list of books with female detectives or police which I have read and enjoyed. This list will be updated as and when I recall any book I have read with a female or when I read them. There is no order to this list. I have written the names of books and authors as I recalled them.

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The eighth commandment by Lawrence Sanders, one of my favorite writers is another stand-alone novel  with a female protagonist.  I loved this humorous/realistic-ish/crime fiction  and read it a few times. It's set in the New York city of the 80s; I loved the female character Dunk and really admire the fact that Lawrence Sanders wrote as a female narrator and got it  'just right'!
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Zoe Ferraris an American writer married to a Saudi Arab man (and  divorced)  has written the following three crime novels set in Saudi Arabia. I liked these books as they are the only crime fiction novels set in Saudi Arabia I have come across ! It's so difficult to find books set in Saudi Arabia or any one of the Gulf countries while there are simply millions of crime fiction novels set in the USA or UK . One of the chief protagonists is a female ? Forensics scientist Katya Hijazi. I really appreciate the fact that this author has depicted the life in Saudi so realistically and the day to day concerns faced by women in this country. I really appreciate the fact that there is a female protagonist in this male dominant country, even if she is only fictional

Finding Nouf 2008
City of veils 2010
Kingdom of strangers 2012

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I have enjoyed the crime fiction set in  South Africa by Jassy Mackenzie.  The 4 books featuring the female PI  Jade De Jong are:


Random violence  book 1
Stolen lives  book 2
The fallen book 3
Pale horses book 4
Bad seeds book 5
Jade is a female PI in south Africa and I find that unusual! There is quite a bit of violence and sometimes, I felt,  South Africa was scarier to live in than  India! Jade is in love with a police officer who has some Indian blood in him and that is another exciting thing for me! ( I am so thrilled if there is an Indian in any crime fiction book as Indians don't seem to figure much in crime fiction books....though this  is changing now)

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I loved reading the three  crime fiction books set in Sweden, by Stieg Larrson featuring the wildly popular female protagonist, Kickass Lisbeth Salander.  I also enjoyed the fourth in the series featuring Lisbeth but written by a new writer, David Lagercrantz. I think, Lisbeth  is the favorite of millions of women and girls all over the world.

The girl with the dragon tattoo 2008
The girl who played with fire 2009
The girl who kicked the hornets nest  2015 This is one book I have reread a few times, especially the pages with the  court scenes.
The girl in the spider's web. 2017
The girl who takes an eye for an eye (Sept 12, 2017)
The girl who danced with death (January 29, 2019) graphic novel
The girl who lived twice (August 27, 2019)

I saw the Swedish movie of the first book with English subtitles. I did not enjoy the movie! I think I am so used to the American movies that this Swedish movie, though, excellent, did not appeal to me. I missed the music/sound accompanying the scenes...in this Swedish movie, there was no music at all! the movie was so bleak, I didn't enjoy it though the actors were so good.
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Michael Genelin's Commander Jana Matinova series are the only crime fiction books from Slovekia that I have read.

The books I read were:

Requiem for a gypsy published July 12th 2011
The magician's accomplice published 2010
Dark dreams Published July 28th, 2009 
Siren of the waters published 2008
For the dignified dead published 2015

I enjoyed these books as they were realistic and I got to see inside a country, I had hardly ever heard of . Though I live in Toronto, a city with people from all over the world, I have not yet met a Slovekian!

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I loved and thoroughly enjoyed the 17 crime fiction  books by Victoria Thompson set in the late 1800s in New York City where a mid-wife, Mrs.Sarah Brandt , is one of the two protagonists solving murders.   The other is Detective Frank Malloy.
The books with Sarah are:


Murder on Astor Place 1999

Murder at St. Mark's Place 2000
Murder on Gramercy Park 2001 Murder on Washington Square 2002 Murder on Mulberry bend 2003 Murder on Marble Row 2004 Murder on Lennox Hill 2005 Murder in Little Italy 2006 Murder in China Town 2007 Murder on Bank street 2008 Murder on Waverly Place 2009 Murder on Lexington Avenue 2010 Murder on Sister's Row 2011 Murder on 5th Avenue 2012 Murder in Chelsea 2013 Murder in Murray Hill 2014 Murder on Amsterdam Avenue 2015 Murder in Morningside Heights 2016 Murder in the bowery 2017 Murder in union square May 1st 2018 Murder on Trinity Place (April, 29, 2019) Murder on Pleasant Avenue (April 2020)  Murder on Wall street April 2021 My only criticism of this series is that the writer has simplified her writing to a great extent and leaves nothing unsaid. But I forgive this as it's still a great read and gives me a great deal of information  about life in NYC in those days, the social problems of those days, life of ordinary people, their clothes, life of women in lower and upper classes, etc.

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I enjoyed the short stories featuring the female private investigator in Chicago i.e. V.I. Warshawski (Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski) by the  author Sarah Paretsky. Unfortunately I really did not enjoy all the longer crime fiction novels with Warshawski. For some reason, I had difficulty finishing them. Here is the complete list but I have  read only a few of them. I plan to read them all  some day.

The novels  with this female PI are

Indemnity Only 1982
Deadlock 1984
Killing orders 1985
Bitter medicine 1987
Bloodshot 1988
Burn marks 1990
Deadlock 1992
A woman's eye:New stories by the best women crime writers 1992
Tunnel vision 1994
Windy city blues 1995
Women on the case 1997 (one short story in this is of VI)
Hard time 1999
Bloodshot 2001
Total recall 2001
Blacklist2003
Fire sale 2005
Sisters on the case 2007(one short story of VI)
Killing orders 2008
Hardball 2009
Bodywork 2010
Bitter medicine 2010
Breakdown 2012
Blacklist 2013
Guardian angel 2013
Critical Mass 2013
Tunnel vision 2013
Hardtime 2013
Brush back 2015
Wild cat 2017
Fall out 2017
Short stories collections of V.I.Warshawski
V.I.X2 ( I cannot find this now ...so not sure if this is a book or I made a mistake)
Shell game 2018
Death on the edge 2018
Dead land (book 20 of 20)

What I liked about these books were the fact that she seems so real...she has financial problems, the people around her seem 'realistic', and she encounters  'male attitude' toward women like the rest of us and so on.

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Michael Robotham has written a stand-alone crime novel featuring a Sikh lady, Detective Constable Alisha Barba as the chief protagonist in the crime novel The night ferry. I chose to read this simply because it had a Sikh female as the chief protagonist and I loved the book! This is the first time I have ever read a novel with an Indian (origin) female as the chief hero in a crime fiction novel! It was fast paced and thrilling. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   Crime fiction set in China is another rare thing for me. I read one book and not sure if I enjoyed it(I don't remember now) but I do remember appreciating the fact that it was realistic, set in modern China and had a female PI! The book is Eye of the Jade by Diane Wei Liang. This author has fled China and lives in the west. The second book of this female PI is "Paper butterfly'.  I enjoyed this. It gave another perspective about the Tiananmen square massacre by the Chinese army  and information about life in Chinese prisons. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX IN 2020 I discovered 2 books with a woman detective paired with a male detective...lots of books of the male detective i.e. the Bosch series by Michael Connelly. The books are: The late show Dark sacred night and  Night fire. The lady detective is Renee Ballard. I enjoyed both books. The comics (graphic novels) and crime fiction novels by the British writer, Peter O Donnell, feature my all time favorite fictional female, Modesty Blaise. My all time favorite crime novels feature Modesty Blaise! The novels include: 1.Modesty Blaise 1965 2.Sabre-tooth 1966 3.I, Lucifer 1967 4.A taste for death 1969 5.The impossible virgin 1971 6.Pieces of Modesty 1972 (short stories) 7.The silver mistress 1973 8.Last day in limbo 1976 9.Dragon's claw 1978 10.The Xanadu talisman 1981 11.The night of the Morningstar 1982 12.Dead man's handle 1985 13.Cobra trap 1996 The  Modesty Blaise comics are listed below.  These books listed here are the ones re-published by Titan books; each one weighs about half kg and each one consists of three stories. These strips have appeared in newspapers all over the world in many languages since 1960s. They are available for purchase on Amazon and currently i.e. 2015, cost between 9-15US$. They are available on other sites too such as ebay, but amazon seems to have all of them at any given point in time. Below, I have listed the names of the Modesty Blaise graphic novels  published by Titan, followed by date of publication  and the names of the three stories in each comic collection. 1 The Gabriel setup     Date of pub: Apr 1st 2004  2 Mister Sun :The stories in Mister Sun are:  Mister Sun, The Mind of Mrs. Drake & Uncle Happy Date of pub: Jul 1st 2004   3 Top Traitor: The stories in Mister Sun are: Top Traitor, The Vikings & The Head Girls . Date of pub: Oct 1st 2004  4 The black pearl The stories in Mister Sun are: The black pearl, The Magnified Man, The Jericho Caper and The Killing Ground AKA (A most dangerous game) Date of pub: Feb 1st 2005 5 Bad Suki: The stories in Bad Suki are:  Bad Suki, Galley Slaves and The Red Gryphon. Date of pub: May 1, 2005 6 The hell makers: The stories in The hell makers are:  The Hell Makers, Take Over, & The War-Lords of Phoenix. Date of pub: Jul 1st 2005   7 The green eyed monster: The stories in green eyed monster are: Willie the Djinn,The Green Eyed Monster and Death of a Jester Date of pub: Oct 1, 2005 8The puppet master: The stories in The puppet master are: The puppet master, The Stone Age Caper & With Love From Rufus. Date of pub: Feb 1, 2006 9. The gallows bird: The stories in The gallows bird are:  The Bluebeard Affair,  The Gallows Bird, The Wicked Gnomes, The Iron God. Date of pub: April 1, 2006 10 Cry Wolf: The stories in Cry Wolf are: Take Me To Your Leader, The Highland Witch, & Cry Wolf Date of pub: Nov 1, 2006 11The Inca trail  Jul 3rd 2007 The Reluctant Chaperon, The Greenwood Maid; Those About to Die, & The Inca Trail 12Death trap                        Nov 27th 2007 A death trap, The Vanishing Dollybirds, and  The Junk Men. 13Yellowstone booty   Jun 10th 2008     Yellowstone Booty, ‘Idaho George,  and  The Golden Frog. 14The green cobra                        Sep 16th 2008  Green Cobra, Eve & Adam & ‘Brethren of Blaise 15The ladykillers                 May 12th 2009  Dossier on Pluto, The Lady Killers & ‘Garvin’s Travels. 16 The scarlet maiden           Nov 24th 2009  The Scarlet Maiden, The Moonman & A Few Flowers for the Colonel. 17 Death in slow motion       Jun 1st 2010  The Balloonatic, Death in Slow Motion & The Alternative Man 18 Sweet Caroline            Sept. 28 2010  Sweet Caroline, The Return of the Mammoth & Plato’s Republic 19The double agent              Jun 21st 2011 The Wild Boar, Kali’s Disciples & The Double Agent 20 The million dollar game: The stories in the million dollar game are:   Butch Cassidy Rides Again, Million Dollar Game & The Vampire of Malvescu Date of pub: Sept 2011. 21Live bait: The stories in Live bait are:   Samantha and the Cherub, Milord & Live Bait. Date of pub: Feb 4, 2012 22 Lady in the dark   The stories in The lady in the dark are:  The Girl from the Future, The Big Mole and Lady in the Dark. date of pub: Nov 13, 2012 23 The girl in the iron mask: The stories in the girl in the iron mask are:  Fiona, Walkabout and The Girl In The Iron Mask Date of pub: April 9, 2013 24 The young mistress                June 24th 2014 The Young Mistress, Ivory Dancer and Our Friend Maude. 25 The grim joker            Nov 18th 2014‘The Grim Joker’, ‘A Present for the Princess’ and ‘Black Queen’s Pawn 26 The Killing distance: The stories in The killing distance are:  The Killing Distance, Guido The Jinx, and The Aristo. Pub on : May 12, 2015 27 The Ripper Jax                  March 1st  2016 28 The murder frame               November 1st 2016 .This book has 4 stories i.e.   The murder frame, Fraser's story, Tribute to the Pharoh and The special orders. 29 30 Children of Lucifer : Date of pub: March 28, 2017 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Loyalty by Ingrid Thoft features a female PI Fina. I read this book but don't remember anything about it. I don't even remember if I finished it! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX One of my favorite series of crime fiction is the Donald Lam series set at time of world was in California by A.A.Fair AKA Erle Stanley Gardner. In this series, Bertha Cool, a middle aged lady is running a detective agency and hires Donald Lam who becomes the chief protagonist since the very first book. But I loved Bertha too, who was a PI, running this agency even before Donald came along! She is one unique character, not as bright as Lam, but strong, bold and irascible! The 29 books in this series are : The Bigger They Come (1939) Turn on the Heat (1940) Gold Comes in Bricks (1940) Spill the Jackpot! (1941) Double or Quits (1941) Owls Don't Blink (1942) Bats Fly at Dusk (1942) Cats Prowl at Night (1943) Give 'em the Ax (1944) Crows Can't Count (1946) Fools Die on Friday (1947) Bedrooms Have Windows (1949) Top of the Heap (1952) Some Women Won't Wait (1953) Beware the Curves (1956) You Can Die Laughing (1957) Some Slips Don't Show (1957) The Count of Nine (1958) Pass the Gravy (1959) Kept Women Can't Quit (1960) Bachelors Get Lonely (1961) Shills Can't Cash Chips (1961) Try Anything Once (1962) Fish or Cut Bait (1963) Up for Grabs (1964) Cut Thin to Win (1965) Widows Wear Weeds (1966) Traps Need Fresh Bait (1967) All Grass isn't Green (1970) The  The knife slipped ( written in 1939 and was the second book in the series but the publisher refused to publish it then. It was finally published in Dec 2016!!!. I discovered this through  an email from the website www.stopyourekillingme.com. I loved this book! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX How could I forget the world famous Miss. Marple, created by Agatha Christi! I have read the novels and short stories featuring this lady and enjoyed them, especially the short stories. The murder at the vicarage 1930 The body in the library 1942 A murder is announced 1950 They do it with mirrors or Murder with mirrors 1952 A pocket full of rye 1953 4.50 from Paddington or What Mrs.McGillicuddy saw 1957 The mirror cracked from side to side or The mirror cracked 1962 A Carribean mystery 1964 At Bertram's hotel 1965 Nemesis 1971 Sleeping murder written in 1940 and published in 1976 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX In my childhood, I read the Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene and enjoyed them thoroughly. I loved the painting on the cover of each book so much, that I cannot express fully, the emotions in my mind as I sat staring at the cover for ages! It was only in my late 30s that I discovered that Carolyn Keene is only a name and that it is a male who was writing the books and the Nancy Drew books has been written by more than one author! How naïve can I, a crime fiction reader be! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I enjoyed the children detectives in the series by Enid Blyton featuring both boys and girls; however, Enid Blyton, made the boys braver than the girls...in those days, the characteristics attributed to girls and boys were  gender-stereotyped and so boys were depicted in a very flattering way and the girls were, in  my opinion, depicted  in  less flattering  ways. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I did not read the books but saw a couple of episodes based on the series, 'The number 1 ladies detective agency written by Alexander McCall Smith. I enjoyed the TV episodes. I am not sure if I have the patience to read the books. I should give this series a try! I saw the show on Netflex in USA in November 2015. The chief protagonist is Mma Precious Ramotswe a female private detective.  The list of books is below and no, I have not read any of them. Reviews of these books have been kind and said that these are nice 'feel-good' books with more about the Botswana culture and less about crime. So, this Christmas holidays, I plan to borrow and read a few of these books and if I enjoy, read 'em all! The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series 1999: The no 1 ladies detective agency 2000: Tears of the giraffe 2001" Morality for beautiful girls 2002: The Kalahari typing school for men 2003: The full cupboard of life 2004: In the company of cheerful ladies (also known as: The Night-Time Dancer) 2006: Blue shoes and happiness 2007: The good husband of zebra drive. 2008: The miracle at speedy motors 2009: Tea time for the traditionally built 2010: The double comfort safari club 2011: The Saturday big tent wedding party 2012: The Limpopo academy of private detection. 2013: The minor adjustment beauty saloon 2014: The handsome man's deluxe cafe 2015: The woman who walked in sunshine 2016:  Precious and Grace 2017:The house of unexpected sisters 2018:The colors of all the cattle XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Alexander McCall Smith has penned another detective series with another female, Isabel Dalhousie. Below are the books in the series. Mind you, I had not even heard of this series until today!(Aug 2nd 2018; saw this on amazon when I was searching for new novels by Smith for the no one ladies detective agency so I could update this article) The Sunday philosophy club book 1 Friends, lovers, chocolates book 2 The right attitude to rain book 3 The careful use of compliments The comfort of Saturdays/ the comfort of muddy Saturdays The lost art of gratitude The charming quirks of others 2011 The forgotten affairs of youth The uncommon appeal of clouds The novel habits of happiness A distant view of everything Sweet thoughtful Valentine' A distant view of everything book 11  2017 The quiet side of passion  book 12 2018 Listed below are Susan Oleksiw's 4 books with Anita Ray an Indian American protagonist fighting crime in Kerala, India! Under the eye of Kali 2010 The wrath of Shiva 2012 For the love of Parvati 2014 The silver house 2015 (kindle) The secret of the Pulluvan drum 2016 (kindle) When Krishna calls August 2016 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX In August 2017 I discovered another female crime fighter...from my very own Toronto! She's a Canadian citizen of Chinese origin and a forensic accountant who fights crime or follows the money....all over Asia. She is Ava Lee created by Ian Hamilton. The style of writing is not great but I enjoy the plots and I believe I am learning the underbelly of many Asian place/countries such as Macau, etc. The books include The Water Rat of Wanchai 2011 The Disciple of Las Vegas 2011 The Wild Beasts of Wuhan 2012 The Red Pole of Macau 2012 The Scottish Banker of Surabaya 2013 The Two Sisters of Borneo 2013 The Dragon Head of Hong Kong (novella) 2014 The King of Shanghai 2014 The Princeling of Nanjing 2016 The Couturier of Milan 2017 The Imam of Tawi Tawi 2018 The goddess of Yantai 2018 The diamond queen of Singapore -July 2020  Fate 2019 (But not with female protagonist, same author and one male character in Ava Lee's books is the chief protagonist  here) Foresight:The lost decades of uncle Chow Tung (Jan 21, 2020. Yet to come!) But NOT female protagonist Sheena Kamal  The lost ones 2017 It all falls down 2018  I read the lost ones recently(July 2018). Liked it. planning to borrow the other one too from TPL and read it. This book was unique to me for three reasons:it's the first time I am seeing a 'homeless' detective; she is a native Canadian female and that too is a first for me. The story is set in Vancouver and that is also a first for me. I will add to this list as I read more female protagonists. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The world is a very difficult place for women, even in the relatively progressive west such as USA & Canada. For women to be PIs, soldiers, police officers is more difficult than for it's for men...not because women find the job  difficult, but because of their male colleagues'  chauvinistic attitudes and often terrible behaviour  toward them, society's condescending and autocratic treatment of women. Just today (Dec 9th 2015) I read with sadness, anger and disgust about male police officers in Victoria(B.C) sexually abusing their female colleagues often, over long periods of time, with impunity! If this can happen in the so called progressive, modern, democratic country like Canada, imagine, the fate of women in other more primitive societies such as India and Afghanistan? ( Indians, please don't get riled up if I call India primitive. I am an Indian and I admit, Indians are primitive) I read on yahoo news in January 2016 about the sexual abuse in the name of hazing which women who join the airforce undergo. http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/01/08/reports-sexual-assaults-spike-military-academies/78496948/  I felt so miserable to read it and I curse the SCUM who humilate and exploit women, their own colleagues, in this manner. I hope these bastards suffer and die.  I also read with anger and disgust about the women working in the Grand Canyon being exploited by male staff. http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-01-12/apnewsbreak-report-charts-history-of-abuse-at-grand-canyon Millions of women  are sexually, physically and emotionally abused in the world. But for some reason, these  news items I have  mentioned above stuck in my memory and made me so miserable. I think it is because:  I always admired women joining airforce and military and police and jobs such as at the Grand Canyon.;  I loved their courage and career choice... In my mind, I see little girls, who, unlike the majority of their peers, choose these adventurous roles in childhood and work hard toward them. Imagine a little girl, who loves nature and is determined to work in a natural environment like the grand Canyon; she learns swimming, camping in the wilds, she learns boating, she loves animals and studies about animals and volunteers at animal shelters and finally gets to  do the work of her dreams. Imagine that little girl, who is now a woman,  HATING  the work, she has been dreaming about and striving for since childhood, because her male colleagues  sexually abuse her! Imagine the hard choice she has to make? Give up what she has strived for since years and years or put up with the sexual assault as she wants to do her dream job?  I had the naïve notions that men in the west are more respectful of women than men from the east and that men in services such as the  military and police  are more honorable and decent than other men. Reading these news, I am so bitterly disillusioned  by  these men/scum ! Protect Female Farmworkers By JOSÉ R. PADILLA and DAVID BACON JAN. 19, 2016  article in new York times is  the name of another article I am adding here if anyone is interested in reading We women need these fictional female crime fighters and real-life crime fighters to derive strength, faith, confidence and belief in  women's potential. A note to my blog readers who are from Toronto, Ontario: TPL has all the books listed here  except those authored by A.A.Fair (i.e. the Donald Lam series)Peter O'Donnell (Modesty Blaise books and comics)& Carolyn Keene(Nancy Drew). They may have a few of these three writers too...I don't know for sure. I own the books by these three authors and did not need to borrow them from TPL.