DIVDIVA special three-in-one edition of Susan Dunlap’s Vejay Haskell Mysteries, about an intrepid meter reader who solves the crimes that the police can’t crack/divDIV In An Equal Opportunity Death, Vejay Haskell is playing hooky from her job as an electric-meter reader in Henderson, California. She skirts around the edge of town, making her way to Frank’s Place, a cozy saloon owned by her friend Frank Goulet. After two cups of hot buttered rum, they have an argument and she storms out into the pouring rain. But by the time she gets back to Frank’s bar to apologize, he is dead. Vejay was seen leaving Frank’s house in a huff, and her lack of an alibi combined with her suspicious sick day make her the number-one suspect. As the police close in on her, Vejay turns detective in search of Frank’s real killer. It’s a perilous task, but she has one advantage when she puts on her work clothes: Nobody ever notices the meter reader./divDIV In The Bohemian Connection, a clique of powerful conservatives called the Bohemian Club gathers for a confidential meeting in the backwoods town of Henderson, California. Though their activities are shrouded in secrecy, Henderson meter reader Vejay Haskell is about to get an all-too-close inside look. Searching the countryside for a coworker’s missing niece, she finds the beautiful gymnast lying dead in the bottom of a sewer drain. The sheriff calls it an accident, but Vejay suspects the girl’s death was connected to the Bohemian Club’s unquenchable desire for drugs, booze, and prostitutes. Finding the killer will mean going head to head with the nation’s fiercest politicians./divDIV And in The Last Annual Slugfest, it’s time for Henderson’s regional festival honoring the normally detested California banana slug. Rather than eat crow, the area’s local politicians atone for their sins by eating slug hot dogs, slug chili, and slug pie. This year, one dish will prove murderously foul. Edwina Henderson is the last of her family to live in the town that bears their name. A committed environmentalist, she is also the woman responsible for this year’s slugfest, and will take her place at the judge’s table. When a slug pizza knocks her flat, the crowd assumes it was just an especially gross slice. But when she doesn’t get up, meter reader Vejay Haskell must confront the devious murder of the town’s leading treehugger./divDIV/div/div

Many bibliographers focus on women who write. Lawyer Barnett looks at women who detect, at women as sleuths and at the evolving roles of women in professions and in society. Excellent for all women's studies programs as well as for the mystery hound. Look at the popularity of such reading guides as Willetta Heising's Detecting Women (3rd ed. 0-9644593-7-X) or Amanda Cross' fiction (Honest Doubt 0-345-44011-0 11/00).

To escape arrest for her best friend’s murder, Vejay must find the real killer—before it’s too late In the small woodsy town of Henderson, California, the electric company is strict about sick days. So when meterreader Vejay Haskell decides to play hooky, her first concern is staying out of sight. She skirts around the edge of town, making her way to Frank’s Place, a cozy saloon owned by her friend Frank Goulet. After two cups of hot buttered rum, they have an argument and she storms out into the pouring rain. She goes home, takes a nap, and awakens sober, embarrassed, and ready to apologize. But by the time she gets back to Frank’s bar, he is dead. Vejay was seen leaving Frank’s house in a huff, and her lack of an alibi combined with her suspicious sick day makes her the number-one suspect. As the police close in on her, Vejay turns detective in search of Frank’s real killer. It’s a perilous task, but she has one advantage when she puts on her work clothes: Nobody ever notices the meterreader. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection. An Equal Opportunity Death is the 1st book in the Vejay Haskell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Vejay investigates the poisoning death of one of the town’s most powerful citizens during its oddest annual event Though it sounds violent, Henderson’s annual slugfest is less vicious than it is slimy. The regional festival honors the normally detested California banana slug with competitions to prove which slug is the biggest, fastest, or—in the event that gives the festival its notoriety—the tastiest. Rather than eat crow, the area’s local politicians atone for their sins by eating slug hot dogs, slug chili, and slug pie. This year, one dish will prove murderously foul. Edwina Henderson is the last of her family to live in the town that bears their name. A committed environmentalist, she is also the woman responsible for this year’s slugfest, and will take her place at the judge’s table. When a slug-pizza knocks her flat, the crowd assumes it was just an especially gross slice. But when she doesn’t get up, meter-reader Vejay Haskell must confront the devious murder of the town’s leading treehugger. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection. The Last Annual Slugfest is the 3rd book in the Vejay Haskell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

DIVDIVFrom the award-winning mystery author hailed by the Washington Times as “the leading proponent of gutsy, nontraditional women who nimbly tread in he-man territory,” comes a roller coaster of a suspense novel about two friends racing to escape a police dragnet/divDIV Beautiful, blond Liza Silvestri has put her bad-girl ways behind her and is living the California dream in a Malibu beach house with her adoring venture-capitalist husband, Jay—until gunfire erupts one evening at their L.A. loft. Liza doesn’t dare call the police—she’s got a secret in her past—and it turns out Jay has secrets of his own./divDIV /divDIVNow, running from professional killers and dirty cops, Liza begs her college friend, Ellen, to come with her. At the last moment, Liza grabs her piglet, Felton, as well. Racing through the back roads of Northern California and Oregon, she tracks the only clue she has, to end the nightmare that has enveloped her, hoping it will prove to be Ellen’s and her salvation—and not their grave./divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection./div/div

Since the late 1970s, a subgenre of crime fiction, written by women and featuring a professional woman investigator, has exploded on the popular fiction market. Priscilla L. Walton and Manina Jones focus on this recent proliferation of women writers of detective fiction, providing the first book-length study of the historical and societal changes that fueled this popularity, along with insightful and entertaining readings of the texts themselves. Walton and Jones place the genre within its aesthetic, social, and economic contexts, reading it as an index of cultural beliefs. Addressing the ways that Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, and others work through the conventions of the "hard-boiled" genre made popular by writers such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Mickey Spillane, the authors show how the male hard-boiled tradition has been challenged and transformed. Issues of child, spousal, and sexual abuse are more likely to surface in women's detective novels, the authors show, and female sleuths face many of the same dilemmas as those who read about them—everyday problems with relationships, parenting, and money. Detective Agency also integrates interviews with authors and publishers, reader surveys, publication data, and analysis of internet discussion groups to present a fascinating picture of the "industry" of women's detective fiction. Authors of these works are powerful players in the publishing system as well as agents of cultural intervention, Walton and Jones claim. They conclude by examining the rise of female detectives in television and film.

Edgar- and Agatha-nominated author Colleen Barnett here updates her essential reference for readers and writers of mystery, examining women who detect, women as sleuths, and the evolving roles of women in professions and in society.