Lisa Scottoline's Lady Killer

“A Jury of Her Peers” is a short story written by Susan Glaspell in 1917 illustrates early feminist literature. The two female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, is able to solve the mystery of who the murderer of John Wright while their male counterparts could not. This short story had been adapted from Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles written the previous year. The play consists of the same characters and plotline as the story. In both works, Glaspell depicts how the men, Sheriff Peters and Mr. Hale, disregard the most important area in the house, the kitchen, when it comes to their investigation. In the end, the women are the ones who find clues that lead to the conclusion of Minnie Wright, John Wright’s wife, is the one who murdered him. Both of Glaspell’s female characters illustrate the ability to step into a male dominated profession by taking on the role of detective. According to Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, written by Lois Tyson, a reader-response critique “focuses on readers’ response to literary texts” and it’s a diverse area (169). Through a reader-response criticism from a feminist lens, we are able to analyze how “A Jury of Her Peers” and Trifles depict how a patriarchal society oppresses women in the early twentieth century, gender stereotypes confined both men and women and the emergence of the New Woman is illustrated.

Bobby Long was a rapist and serial killer who was convicted in the 1980's. Profile of the suspected criminal demonstrated that the suspect hated women, and had an uncertain connection to them. There was a consistent example where women were alone, powerless and in need

‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell and ‘Florence’ by Alice Childress touch the two most important subject of American History. One is women’s right and other is racism. ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell is written in early twentieth century. Around that time, women are considered to be only good to have children and take care of the household and their husband. Susan Glaspell’s play criticizes this preventive social behavior toward women.

Writing novels acts as an outlet to project their own opinions onto the subject matter because of this crime novels are popular amongst female writers. Other crime novels, and detective stories usually leave women feeling vulnerable, and the men are looked upon as the villain (Browder 2). Feminism in writing puts the women in charge, showing that a women is just as good as any male and can take care of themselves. For example in That Affair Next Door, Miss. Butterworth sets herself with the same standards as a male character. She executes these standards by using the power of her voice and backing it up with her action (Ross 1). Judith Ann Jance is an author that came after Anna Katharine Green, but their works are very similar. Jance’s novels were detective based as well with a female protagonist who represented the capability women possess. With her work she also changed the traditional heroic model detective novels were based off of (Rye 2). She raised the bar for every author who wrote detective novels. She wrote two series of books that put her career above the rest. The two series were very similar, with a large focus on the setting.. The series takes place in the United States and the biggest differences were the first novel one had a male protagonist, and the second had a female protagonist, and both series were written in two different

The first example of a femme fatale in this paper is Veda Pierce (Ann Blyth) in Mildred Pierce, which was released in 1945, when many American soldiers returned from World War II. During the WWII period, women were the main providers for their families while American men were at war, which led to increase independent American women. Mildred Pierce, the mother of Veda, is one of the strong women who is working hard to support herself and her children. In contrast to her mother's effort, Veda takes advantage of her mother's kindness and money. She also betrays her by having an affair with Monte Beragon, who is already married to her mother. Veda has the looks and knows how to use her looks to attract men. And she is so ambitious that she does anything in order to get the most important thing to her which is money to live the high class life. Ultimately, a femme fatale leads the male into ruin. Veda fulfills this characteristic of the femme fatale by shooting Monte to death when he denies that he is going to marry her.

On a reluctant visit to her painfully respectable brother and his wife, Angela Marchmont finds herself once again caught up in murder when a local farmer is shot dead, apparently at the hands of his sworn enemy. But the case is not as simple as it seems, for other motives and suspects soon come to light. With reporters hot on the scent and her friend Inspector Jameson battling a conflict of interest, Angela must use all her ingenuity to unravel the case and bring the murderer to justice—or more than one person will suffer the

Bronwen Levy discusses issues in women’s crime fiction, written by women or for women in her article “Introduction to Marele Day: Reading Women’s Crime Fiction, Some Problems”. She thoroughly discusses authors in the genre, such as Agatha Christie (Levy ¶1) and cites other critics on the subject, such as Sherri Paris (¶5). By bringing in other authors and critics on the subject, she precisely provides objectivity with other viewpoints. Levy did well in meeting the basic goals of literary criticism.

The female fiend sensational, Narrative and Confessions of Lucretia P. Cannon, is a sort of genre that I do not believe I have encountered before. The story was easy enough to follow and progressed well, giving the reader more than enough information to make a valid opinion of Lucretia and her horrendous actions. Reading the story, I was very surprised by the extent of her crimes.

Sergeant detective D.D. Warren inspires to be the best. She is very strong, and represents what a great detective is all about. She does not let anyone get in her way when she is solving crimes. She really only likes to work with her three co workers that deal with homicides, also. Detective Warren does not shy away from a case, no matter how gruesome, or how horrible it was. She always is trying to find out what happened. She represents females, and how females are capable of solving crimes, while also being very independent while doing so. Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren keeps the story exciting. The reader is always on their toes when reading this novel. Detective Warren is very involved, and easy to follow. As well as, she is a one of a kind

Women who commit crimes such as murder, are often portrayed as ‘monsters’ (Morrisey, 2003) for example Myra

L. Frank Baum, the author of “What Children Want” and “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” wrote another successful story about female detectives. The idea of female characters became more and more popular during Civil War and First World War. Nancy Drew, as a female, has become the icon of America. The publisher, Edward Stratemeyer and his syndicate of ghostwriters dreamed about the character of female detectives. Baum, for a long time stuck in mystery stories, finally write a “Mary Louise” which enlightened by his mother-in-law Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the most remarkable voice for women’s suffrage.

Elizabeth Bathory, one of the world’s most extreme and terrifying female serial killers. Many people know her by name or at least know of her crimes. The tales of her obsession with blood and beauty inspired a whole gothic nation to create a new look for an old monster, but what can one say is truth or myth? Who was Elizabeth Bathory and what lead her to kill close to 650 young girls?

The following essay will seek to present an insightful discourse on the made contributions by feminist’s perspective in the grounds of criminology. It will exemplify how the perspective has been enhanced our understanding on women as victims and perpetrators of crime. It will also critically analyze the impact it has. I will attempt to discuss different branches of criminology such as, biological, social, psychological, liberal and radical feminism.

This type of fiction highlighted the importance of psychological analysis of the culprits and other characters. This kind of detective stories is much more violent and suspenseful than other types of detective fictions. One pattern of this detective fiction of suspense is that: the hero or heroine must pit his or her wit against the criminals or vicious power in a limited time, or the hero or heroine is certain to die. The first work of this school is Eden Phillpotts’s A Voice From the Dark, unlike most of the detective novels before, Phillpotts abandoned the “whodunit” format, the identity of the culprit is described at the beginning. The detective suffers from lacking enough evidence to bring the criminal to justice. By tactfully using the criminal’s psychological status, Phillpotts provided the reader a wonderful psychological contest between the detective and the criminal. William Irish’s Phantom Lady and Cornell Woolrich’s The Bride Wore Black also belongs to this

Female violence sounds like a patriarchal heresy. In the time of the Lizzie Borden trial, women were expected by society to be seen and not heard, marry a man that their family approved of, and procreate, because that’s quite clearly all they are good for. So even the slightest notion that women could ever think of committing a violent crime sent people running for the hills. The Victorian era was a time where intimate female friendships were a normalized commonplace, so the notion that a particular woman could swing a particular weapon at her step-mother and father was quite out there. Authors have taken these cultural criterions and used them to create their version of murder mysteries. Caroline Knox is a decorated poet who wrote “Lizzie Borden through Art and Literature”, which will be the highlight of this synthesis. Knox compares Borden’s parricides to historical events that were turning points of their time period. Likening female violence to such events puts a new perspective on the violent act, because it this time, this was unimaginable. The end of the empires was like Borden’s crime, because neither were heard of or fathomable. Utilizing the female violence theme really gives an edge that would not be attainable otherwise, simply because it was so scandalous for women to step out of the domestic sphere. Authors express the complexities associated with female violence through comparing Borden’s parricides to the fall of empirical forces.