I must confess, I love James Bond; he is witty, debonair, and gets to drive all of those classy cars. Now, I have found some classy fictional women who pull their own comparatively, but without the cars and martinis.
I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with Stephanie Plum, and if you’re not, shame on you! Just kidding! She’s classy in a Jersey way, quick on her feet (sometimes), and has a great sense of humor. There are cars, but they usually don’t remain functional for too long, if you know what I mean. Janet Evanovich’s latest adventure is Notorious Nineteen. But if you love Stephanie Plum, I have other amazing women sleuths to introduce you to!
Lisa Lutz has created a series, starting with The Spellman Files. Who are the Spellmans, you ask? Just a family whose members all work in the family private detective business. Of course, they are all just a bit dysfunctional, and find issues with each other and their clients, but they should make you laugh.
Kat Richardson’s series introduces us to Harper Blaine, a private investigator. The first title in this series is Greywalker and is fantasy, but action packed and a refreshing take on mystery solving. Harper Blaine becomes a greywalker, able to walk both the world of the living and the dead as a result of an accident in the beginning of the series.
Carolyn Haines has created Sarah Booth Delaney. The first book in the Bones series is called Them Bones. Sarah has a lot in common with Stephanie Plum in the beginning of her series: she’s single, jobless and broke! But Sarah is haunted by the ghost of her great-great-great grandmother’s nanny and she falls into detective work after a bout of innocent criminal activity!
K.J. Larsen’s creation is Cat DeLuca and her mystery series begins with Liar, Liar. Cat is a recently divorced Private Investigator and owns her own detective agency, catching other people’s cheating partners and more!
Charlaine Harris has written the Harper Connelly series, among others, but this one begins with Grave Sight. Harper has a unique ability to find the dead. As you can imagine, this can be a pretty nifty gift given the right circumstances, but Harper typically finds cold receptions and threats made against her as she tries to make a living helping put the dead to rest.
For more serious series:
Mallory’s Oracle is the first in a series by Caroll O’Connell. Mallory is a NYC police officer who follows her own rules. People who like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series would like Mallory.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith is the first of many in this series.. African detective, Precious Ramotswe, is devoted to helping others and quickly becomes involved in solving mysteries in her home, Botswana.
Check out Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series. Kay Scarpetta is a forensic analyst and medical examiner whose investigative work often makes her the target of her victims’ murderers. Start with Postmortem to meet Scarpetta for the very first time.
Tess Gerritsen is the author of the Rizzoli & Isles series, beginning with The Surgeon. This is a thrilling and suspenseful series that involves a female Boston homicide detective and is chock full of forensic investigative material.
Hope this is enough to keep your adrenaline levels up!
Kate
Southfield Library Reads 