"Real mystery fans will enjoy this survey of nearly 300 female sleuths in 100 years of British and U.S. fiction." -- Feminist Bookstore News
This new edition adds sixty new female private eyes to the roster and includes an afterword that assesses the current state of the genre's new and old novels. A comprehensive bibliography and a character list update the field through mid-1994.

"A highly intelligent analysis." -- Ms.
"Well-researched and well-written. . . . Traces the evolution of sexist boundaries in popular detective fiction from a feminist viewpoint and documents the parallels in social history and the women's rights movement." -- Ronald C. Miller, The Armchair Detective
"Identifies dozens of good novels whose titles are not well known, its promise of good reading extending well beyond its own covers." -- Jane Bakerman, Belles Lettres
 

— Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association