Created by Lily Gardner Evidently, Portland, Oregon police detective LENNOX COOPER didn't get the memo: You don't shit where you eat. And you don't fuck where you work. When we meet her in A Bitch Called Hope (2013), it's been a year since an affair with a married fellow officer got her turfed from the Portland … Continue reading Lennox Cooper
Tag: Female Eye
Tootsie Carter
Created by M. Ravenal The Arrangement (2021) marks the debut of hard-boiled African-American private eye TOOTSIE CARTER, who takes on 1975 New York City armed only with "a snub-nosed Colt .38, unmatchable wit, and a pocketful of Tootsie Rolls." It's the first book in the proposed Plainclothes Tootsie Mystery series, which is planned for 26 … Continue reading Tootsie Carter
Belinda Prentice (Exposed)
Created by Charles Moran & Royal K. Cole "You were expecting maybe Senator Claghorn?" -- Belinda greets a new client, who's surprised to discover she's a woman In the 1947 B-flick Exposed, wiseass Los Angeles gumshoe BELINDA PRENTICE is hired by the wealthy Colonel Bentry to investigate his stepson and heir Bill Forestman, who's been acting … Continue reading Belinda Prentice (Exposed)
Jerri Johnson
Created by Jim Sanderson JERRI JOHNSON scratches out a living as a San Antonio bounty hunter, tracking down bail jumpers, serving subpoenas and occasionally taking a gig that might not exactly pass the smell test--much to the chagrin of her pal Joe Parr, an aging, recently widowed Texas Ranger, in Safe Delivery, a 2000 standalone … Continue reading Jerri Johnson
Grayson Sykes
Created by Rachel Howzell Hall When we first meet her in her impressive, angry debut, And Now She's Gone (2020), rookie gumshoe GRAYSON SYKES is pushing forty, but she's mostly in a good place. Or at least that's what she keeps telling herself. It seems she has the obligatory troubled past, plus a double-barrel secret in … Continue reading Grayson Sykes
Sally Colt (aka Sally Corbett)
Created by Rex Stout (1886-1975) "Sally... was one of the two women who, a couple of years back, had made me feel that there might be some flaw in my attitude toward female dicks." -- Archie Goodwin SALLY COLT (sometimes known as SALLY CORBETT) is a trim, blonde, blue-eyed, Manhattan-based P.I. who appeared in several Nero … Continue reading Sally Colt (aka Sally Corbett)
Dangerous Dames
A Timeline of Some of the Significant Female Eyes, and the Date of their First Appearance "If it's that delicate,... maybe you need a lady detective." -- Marlowe in The Little Sister (1949) No business for a lady, indeed... Despite various bimbo eyes whose pulchritudinous assets often far outweighed their mental equipment (to paraphrase one … Continue reading Dangerous Dames
Madison Kelly
Created by Elizabeth Breck San Diego private investigator MADISON KELLY works mostly insurance fraud cases, but she's at a personal and professional crossroads of sorts right now, letting things slide, not taking any new cases and spending way more time than she should on the internet, tweeting about Crawlspace, a true crime podcast that she's become addicted … Continue reading Madison Kelly
Honey West
Created by G.G. FicklingPseudonym of Gloria and Forest Fickling Move over, Kinsey. Step aside, Sharon. Someone get the smelling salts for V.I. Here comes the shocking truth. The first really successful female private eye in her own series of novels was a bimbo! Or at least frequently clothing-challenged and none-too-swift. Evidence? This exclamation from … Continue reading Honey West
Meg Gillis
Created by C.J. Songer Although the end was a little rushed and maybe a trifle too cute, I really enjoyed reading C.J. Songer's debut novel Bait (1998), particularly the stream-of-paranoia tone of the ragged-but-right narrator, MEG GILLIS. She's an ex-policewoman who's had plenty of bumps and bruises along the way (her husband, Charlie, also a cop, … Continue reading Meg Gillis