Women of Mystery and Romance: Tracing a Feminist Rewriting of the Detective Genre

Abstract

Many critics find that female characters in detective fiction are never entirely successful as either women or detectives. They argue that authors find it impossible to portray women properly in both roles—one persona always eclipses the other. The conflict is generally attributed to the traditionally "masculine" and conventional nature of the detective genre. This study proposes that the recent combination of detective fiction with the conventionally "feminine" genre of romance fiction offers hope for a feminist rewriting of the detective genre. A set of guidelines to subtly re-script detective fiction's conventions is derived from suggestions by several critics, and is heavily influenced by typical elements of romance fiction. The usefulness of this framework in identifying the characteristics of more empowered and fully developed female detectives is tested by a close reading of three representative works from various points in the history of detective fiction. The three works, which include Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew series, and Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, each incorporate a combination of romance and detective fiction and feature a female investigator. The framework proves useful in assessing the achievements and failures in the characterization of female detectives in these novels. It also offers guidelines that could be considered by authors of future detective works to re-script the most conservative elements of the detective fiction genre so that they no longer prevent the emergence of successful, empowered female detectives.