When I was developing ideas for writing a Gilded Age Manhattan mystery series, I knew that I wanted to set in in the first decade of the Twentieth Century. My protagonist Lady Dunbridge would be one of the “new” women. I would blend history with the popular imagination of the era. An adventure story that…
Fortune Favors the Dead opens with a real corker: “The first time I met Lillian Pentecost, I nearly caved her skull in with a piece of lead pipe.” And, BAM!—we already know we’re in for a thrilling ride. It’s 1940’s New York, and our heroes are an unconventional pair. For starters, they’re not heroes—they’re heroines.…
Cassandra Taylor, like many middle-aged women, has plenty of practice putting her own dreams and career on the backburner in order to focus on her family. She has a lovely home in Hillston, New Jersey. Three wonderful daughters. And fills her free hours with a part-time docent position at a museum. It’s not the life…
Westerns is a movie genre historically dominated by male characters. Think of these films and what image immediately comes to mind? John Wayne in a ten-gallon hat and some kind of cowboy neckwear? Clint Eastwood smoking a cigarillo while donning a poncho? Maybe Kevin Costner sporting the Marlboro Man look? It’s probably a dude, right?…
It never fails. I’m wrapping up a talk at a book-signing event. A hand waves in the back row. A woman stands. “You’re a man,” she declares. I smile. I’ve been here before. “Uh … yeah … last time I looked.” “But you write women.”
Whenever I complain about the misogyny in a James Bond film, I'm inevitably told: “What do you expect? It's Bond.” The fact that this is said so matter-of-factly—it's often delivered in a condescending tone of voice, as if my outrage is unreasonable—is appalling. An entire series of movies shouldn't carry such a reputation like a…
My mother is still shocked that I enjoy James Bond. Partly because Bond has always been one of the ultimate male fantasies, a testosterone-and-martini-soaked wish-fulfillment on steroids. But mostly because I'm a very vocal feminist, and the Bond franchise has always been, well, let's put it bluntly here—disgustingly misogynistic. But as a feminist who enjoys…
Marvel’s Jessica Jones isn’t a perfect television show—there’s an aggravating lack of women of color in the cast and Krysten Ritter’s dry delivery often traps her in a “Super-Cynical Riot Grrrrl” trope—but it’s a crucial addition to the genre. JJ is a gritty, noir subversion of the traditional hetero/macho superhero. It presents an unflinching dramatization…
When Harriet Vane receives an invitation to attend her Oxford Gaudy — a class reunion — she's also given a most unusual request from her old professors. A poison pen is running amok at the ladies' college of Shrewsbury and the dons are terrified that the nasty notes, malicious vandalism, and obscene threats against them…
Stephen King reflects on the perceived successes of a busy writer in an op-ed to The New York Times: “Can a Novelist Be Too Productive?” Don't miss this feature by Sarah Weinman for The Life Sentence that profiles the amazing women who edited crime fiction. Prepare to be disgusted by these five international serial killers…
