Saturday Spotlight... Favorite Female Mystery Author

Lori at Lori's Reading Corner hosts Saturday Spotlight. From her blog...Welcome to the Saturday Spotlight, where each week we will have a chance to showcase something new. It will be the place to gather, talk and shine the “spotlight” on all things book related. Not to mention a place to discover new to us authors, characters, series and places.
Each week I will pick a new theme for us to share our favorite of, and every once in a while I’ll make it a “readers choice” week where you can spotlight whatever you want.
Some of the different things we’ll be spotlighting are our favorite book, author, female/male character, location, murder weapon, series, other book blogs, giveaway sites, places to get our books and just about anything else book related.

Today's Saturday Spotlight... Favorite Female Mystery Author.

I just can't narrow this down to one or two or three, even. There are four female mystery authors who I really love. If you've read my blog, you have probably already guessed who they are. If you haven't guessed already, I'll give you a hint (or four)... Maisie Dobbs, Thomas Lynley, Kinsey Millhone and Sharon McCone. Better known by their creators... Jacqueline Winspear, Elizabeth George, Sue Grafton and Marcia Muller. I am drawn to these authors, not only for the superb mysteries and well-drawn characters but because, most importantly, their writing is amazing. I am not a writer nor do I claim to be an expert in the craft of writing. I do think, however, that it's fairly easy to piece together a mystery. The talent comes from being able to take that puzzle, combine it with characters that are realistic (flaws and all)and create prose that engages the reader so that they will want to follow the series. These four women not only do that, they are true masters.


Jacqueline Winspear... The Maisie Dobbs series is, honestly, one of the best I have ever read. There is so much more than a mystery in the pages. Having heard Jacqueline speak several time, it is obvious that her novels are a social commentary on the effects of World War I on the British people. And, even after at least a decade, the psychological wounds are never far from the surface. While the novel's present setting is the late 1920s and early 1930s, there are, interspersed, flashbacks to The Great War, which not only give insight into the characters, but into the horror that it was.


Elizabeth George... maybe I'm a closet Anglophile, but like the Maisie Dobbs novels, Elizabeth George's Thomas Lynley series is also set in Great Britain. Unlike Jacqueline Winspear who is an ex-pat Brit, Elizabeth George in an American. To read her novels, you'd never know this. They are, without a doubt, perfect in their details. My friend, L, who is also an ex-pat Brit, will attest to that. Elizabeth George is a gifted author who creates characters that I truly care about. They stay with me and I find myself thinking of them even when I'm not reading the books. To me, it doesn't get much better. I was listening to one in my car and there was a very dramatic plot twist... series changing, really (those who have read the series know exactly what I'm talking about). I was sobbing, driving down a busy road (I'm sure other drivers thought I was crazy). She creates enough of a back story for every character that I never feel like they're just thrown in to complete a scene. She never uses composite, stock or caricatured characters. Nor does she write throwaway or filler scenes. Yes, the novels are long, some might call them "chunksters" but each scene has meaning and is necessary to the plot.


Sue Grafton... Kinsey Millhone is a loner PI who is not only comfortable in that role, she relishes it. It defines her and, if were any different, the series would not be what it is. Sue Grafton writes theses mysteries in first person, which I love. Having both read and listened to the series, I feel that Kinsey is telling me the story. First person narration is a great writing tool but, not done right, it can be distracting. You know, when all you can think about is how, on earth, would the main character who is telling the story know "that"? at that point, I'm taken out of the story and it's very difficult for me to enjoy it. Kinsey's narration has a voice and a flow that are perfect for this series. Had Sue Grafton chosen to write these mysteries in third person, the books would not be as great as they are. Kinsey would also lose her "voice" which is so important and really makes the series.


Marcia Muller.... She is credited with inventing the female private eye genre with her novel, Edwin of the Iron Shoes. Before that, women were relegated to the customary secondary roles... victims, perpetrators, secretaries and spouses. Sharon McCone is the private investigator. She propels the series and in the course of it, she has gone from a lone PI (not unlike Kinsey Millhone) to the head of a very successful investigation firm. While some authors take the "if it isn't broke" approach, Marcia Muller has let the series, like Sharon McCone, evolve. The recent novel, Locked In, has Sharon in a hospital, in a "locked in" state. She is fully conscious, after being shot in the head, but can neither move nor communicate. In order to figure out who shot her, her investigators (who are her friends, first)must become the main characters in their respective chapters. This really gives insight into secondary characters who, in other books, the reader doesn't really know a lot about. This plot device is a fantastic way to build these characters while maintaining her forte, a suspenseful plot.