Female Crime Authors

[TonyB]

Anyone have suggestions for a few good, established female crime writers?

I've realized that I have never read any crime fiction by women and would like to try some. My tastes tend to run to the noir/neo-noir and hard-boiled genres (Pelecanos, Bruen, Ellroy, Huston, Burke, etc) so if anyone can suggest female writers in that vein, that would be great.

So far, I'm thinking Alafair Burke, Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton. I'd appreciate any other ideas.

Thanks

[Jacqui Horwood]

Beat me to it, Karen - I was going to suggest Val McDermid as well as Katherine Howell, PD Martin and Lindy Cameron.

[TonyB]

Looks like I'll be starting with Christa Faust, then Megan Abbott and going on from there. I have a lot of reading ahead of me -- which is kind of the point, right?

[Sue Dawson]

If you like legal thrillers (Are they considered crime novels?), read Faye Kellerman and Lisa Scottoline. I also enjoy some of the cozy novels, the ones that you could safely suggest to a maiden aunt. There is a fun series about a reference librarian who solves crimes in her PNW community--just enough spice in the plots to be fun. The series is written by a former librarian (OK, I am biased!). For some reason the author's name escapes me. There are six or so in the series. Main character is named Helma. The books are short and come out in paperback only. If I hadn't released all my copies via BookCrossing.com, I could go to my shelf and cite the author's name.

[Roger C. Bull]

Here's an female author who has a style somewhere between James Patterson and Nora Roberts, Karen Bonvillain. Her murder mysteries are fast, fun reads with enough detail to stimulate your interest. Her work is perfect for the person with the busy schedule. Her latest book is, "Who Was Benny Looter? The Body In The Sand?"

[doug anderson]

I like most everybody's choices. Add Tana French and Jenny Siler.