I am very excited to be on the tour for this women and crime read.
What do you find beneath the magnifying glass? From Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith to Val McDermid and JK Rowling, After Agatha is an indispensable guide to women's crime writing over the last century and an exploration of why women read crime.
Spanning the 1930s to present day, After Agatha charts the explosion in women's crime writing and examines key developments on both sides of the Atlantic: from the women writers at the helm of the UK Golden Age and their American and Canadian counterparts fighting to be heard, to the 1980s experimental trio, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton, who created the first female PIs, and the more recent emergence of forensic crime writing and domestic noir thrillers such as Gone Girl and Apple Tree Yard.
After Agatha examines the diversification of crime writing and highlights landmark women's novels which featured the marginalised in society as centralised characters.
Cline also explores why women readers are drawn to the genre and seek out justice in crime fiction, in a world where violent crimes against women rarely have such resolution.
The book includes interviews with dozens of contemporary authors such as Ann Cleeves, Sophie Hannah, Tess Gerritsen and Kathy Reichs and features the work of hundreds of women crime and mystery writers.
It is an essential read for crime fiction lovers.
Bobs and Books honest review:
As someone who hasn't long finished a crime writing fiction course, this book really captured my attention. One of my first questions on the course was to discuss why I read crime fiction, and I think its fair to say its because I love playing the detective.
A very detailed insight where the author covers a lot of ground. Great to see some comments into why women read fiction, why we like it and what we get out of it as well as celebrating Agatha herself. This has a lovely blend of facts and figures, as well as author opinion and general trends. There is amazing coverage of the UK, US and other countries, and this book is very inclusive of all genres, underrepresented authors etc- truly no stone unturned (like a detective herself!)
This also focuses on why women write it. A discussion I particularly found interesting was why women writers may not include include violence against women, particularly when there is always something to say about this.
This definitely made me think further about why I read crime fiction as a woman- and I think the points put forward by the author are valid- particularly with all that has happened with women's safety and violence against women in this past year.
Warning- your crime fiction wish list will dramatically increase after reading this.
Fascinating, diverse and tuned-in.
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