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In his acknowledgements author Jeffrey Marks reveals that his interest in these particular writers was piqued during research for his biography of author Craig Rice. It is very obvious that the author did extensive research for this collective biography of seven female writers from the 40s and 50s. In his forward the author states that even though there are many writers who were as talented and maybe more popular he chose these women for their lifelong literary growth. For each subject Marks shares basic details her life; he then critiques her writing while revealing the impact her body of work had on the mystery genre. Because of the era in which they began their careers they often faced very different obstacles, both literary and domestic, which are not as prevalent in the 21st century. Not all were convinced feminists, but there is no doubt the success they achieved also helped future female authors. At the end of each section Marks lists the author's bibliography, followed by a list of similar authors published today (male and female). At the end of the book is a very complete index which increases its value as a reference work. Marks has the ability to write attention-grabbing non-fiction. I read the book quite quickly because I really wanted to find out about each of these women. Since I have been reading mysteries since I was eight years old (1950), and since many of these authors continued to write into the 70s-90s I am amazed at how few were familiar to me and whose work I had read. I was also surprised at the number books that became a movie with which I was familiar.
Reviewed by Martha Hopkins, May 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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