women readers of mysteries

[Anne Doran]

I would like to comment on a discussion that was taking place here a couple of days ago regarding women and mystery books.
I think the members were all of the male gender, but am not sure. As a longtime female reader of mysteries and crime fiction I would like to say that romance is definitely NOT what I look for in a book. I do much prefer stories with interesting female characters.
Having picked up a couple of unknown authors' books and found absolutely no women in the stories does make me lose interest quickly. Thanks for "listening".

[MicheleEmrath]

I second Anne's response. In fact, I will not read an author twice if there is over-emphasis on the romance or sex angle. I am looking for a good, well-developed plot and interesting characters. I want good writing and a good setting. Give me a great crime any day, not a great romance! In fact, for a while I shunned all female authors because the few I had read were so "soft." Now I find I was doing my own gender a disservice. Louise Penny and Chelsea Cain top my list of favorite authors.

Michele
SouthernCityMysteries

[Harley Sachs]

As a feminist (since I married a woman and have three daughters who are also women) I have written a series of books with female protagonists. It's the Mystery Club series published as ebooks by Wings ePress. Wings also releases two as paperbacks and I do print editions of two others. You can find out about them at my web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs. Since I winter in a retirement building where most of the residents are elderly women, I can write about them. These are so-called "cozy" mysteries, no gory scenes, no explicit sex no foul language. Some of the readers on this list love gore and mayhem, so a cozy is not for them, but women indeed can be the main characters in a mystery. So if you want to see smart old ladies putting their heads together to solve crimes, have a look at those. "The Mystery Club Solves a Murder" is in the top ten best sellers at Wings and the paperback can be found at www.lulu.com.

[Toni Osborne]

Most romance in thrillers or mystery novels are not very interesting anyways...kind of bing bang....its over.

As a reader I need a knock out start, lots of action and a plot to kill.

[Robin Richmond]

As a bookdealer I have found that many women especialy the young like hard bouiled crime. The older woman likes cosies. Very few are interested in Romance

[I. J. Parker]

Ah, but there are more older women buying. And the decline of romance has led many romance writers to switch to mystery.