A Woman's Eye [Hardcover]

Sara Paretsky (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992

Crime is common ground for the twenty-one women  writers in this extraordinary collection of  contemporary mystery fiction. The voices here include  professional crime solvers who take you from the mean  streets of V.I. Warshawski's  Chicago in a case of music and murder... to the  California freeway where Kinsey Millhone's beloved VW  skids into a shooting... to the gang-held turf of  Sharon says mum's the word. And then there are  mothers, grandmothers, battered wives, and social  workers -- ordinary women in extraordinary situations  whose voices reveal contemporary life as seen  through a woman's eye. From the opening tale of a girl  down-and-out in London and what she steals from a  corpse... to the final story of a summer vacation  in the Berkshires, complete with romance and  sudden death... this unique collection brings us great  mystery writing that engages both our intellects  and our hearts.


From the Paperback edition.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anomalous no more, the female sleuth proves once and for all in this fabulous anthology that testosterone is no prerequisite for success in criminology. Despite the abundance of familiar themes--squabbles over inherited wealth, the missing person, good love gone bad--each story here features an independent heroine whose approach to the case is, by virtue of her gender, unique to the genre. In "Benny's Space" by Marcia Muller, Sharon McCone finds that her empathy with a mother protecting her son provides the key to solving a murder; PI Kiernan O'Shaughnessy in "Death and Diamonds" by Susan Dunlap knows just enough about what makes a man tick to set a clever trap for one; and patrol officer Laura DeLeuse in Mary Wings's "Kill the Man for Me" contemplates wife abuse as she grapples with the murky moral issues surrounding an apparent revenge killing. Familiar sleuths in appearance are Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski and Antonia Fraser's Jemima Shore (in one of the collection's best stories). Headed for equally wide followings are the heroines of Julie Smith, Carolyn G. Hart, Margaret Maron and Carolyn Wheat. Readers of either sex will be enthralled . Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs alternate.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-- A solid collection of 21 short stories by known and lesser-known female mystery writers. From the sweet revenge of ``Kill the Man for Me'' by Mary Wings, to the terror of ``Getting to Know You'' by Antonia Fraser, and on to the ancient ritual of Nancy Pickard's ``The Scar,'' there's not a weak story in the lot. A great way to introduce the mystery genre and some outstanding contemporary writers.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: San Val (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417712325
• ISBN-13: 978-1417712328
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,315,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Eclectic Collection with Mixed Results, January 20, 2012

By 

Debra Purdy Kong "Author of Casey Holland Tra... (British Columbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Woman's Eye (Kindle Edition)

I've read several collections of mystery fiction, but never one whose contributors (and protagonists) were all women, until now. Edited by Sara Paretsky, the collection first appeared in 1991. Although the book is touted as twenty-one stories of contemporary fiction, it was kind of strange to read pieces without cell phones, GPS systems, and other hi-tech gadgets. So, I'm not sure this collection could still be called contemporary. I guess it depends on your definition.

As with most collections, I found certain stories and writing styles more appealing than others. In fact, I really liked about half of the stories in the collection. The others were okay, and one was a translated piece that didn't work at all. The language was stilted and transitions awkward. Among my favorites were "Benny's Space" by Marcia Muller, "The Scar" by Nancy Pickard, "Murder Without a Text" by Amanda Cross, "Deborah's Judgment" by Maraget Maron, and "Her Good Name" by Carolyn G. Hart. I also discovered great writers I wasn't familiar with such as Liza Cody, Gillian Slovo, and Dorothy B. Hughes.

This collection features all types of protagonists with different jobs and viewpoints, and it was fun to see famous, fictional private eyes in one book. All stories are not created equal, but I'm sure you'll find some standouts in among them.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Enjoyable Read, April 7, 2011

By 

R. DuPar "Lover of Books, Nature and Many Things" (Goleta, Ca) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Woman's Eye (Kindle Edition)

I picked up this book for 2 authors that I knew -- Paretsky and Grafton -- and enjoyed extensions of their PI characters -- Warshawski and Milhone. Bu...moreI picked up this book for 2 authors that I knew -- Paretsky and Grafton -- and enjoyed extensions of their PI characters -- Warshawski and Milhone. But along the way I found some new authors to read. There are 21 short stories in this anthology (8 of which can also be found on tape (or maybe CD too). Not all of the mysteries are solved by detectives, but all are solved by women. I especially enjoyed PI Kiernan O'Shaughnessy in "Death and Diamonds" by Susan Dunlap, journalist Jemima Shore In Getting to Know You by Antonia Fraser and Annie Darling in "Her Good Name" by Carolyn Hart.