THE NINETEEN LIST: Linda Gordon Hengerer on Intrepid Female Sleuths

I love a mystery. And I love smart women who solve them, and aren’t afraid of the consequences of stepping outside the bounds of propriety to do so.

The 19^th century had gentlewomen (well, perhaps some aren’t so gentle) who were smart and fully capable of solving life’s mysteries, and some wonderful contemporary authors relishing imagining them.

For your entertainment, I present a list of nineteen authors (alphabetized by last name) who write series mysteries about that sort of woman, along with the name of their fictional sleuths...and two honorable mentions who are slightly before or after the 19th century but too delightful to omit.

1	Tasha Alexander	Lady Emily Hargreaves
2	Stephanie Barron	Jane Austen
3	Carrie Bebris	Elizabeth Darcy
4	Emily Brightwell	Mrs. Jeffries
5	Anna Dean	Dido Kent
6	Teresa Grant	Suzanne Rannoch
7	Anna Lee Huber	Lady Darby
8	Carol K. Karr	India Black
9	Martin Kasasian	March Middleton
10	Ann Parker	Inez Stannert
11	Caro Peacock	Liberty Lane
12	Andrea Penrose	Adrianna Hadley
13	Anne Perry	Charlotte Pitt
14	Elizabeth Peters	Amelia Peabody
15	Deanna Raybourn	Lady Julia Grey
16	Joanna Campbell Slan	Jane Eyre
17	Linda Stratmann	Frances Doughty
18	Victoria Thompson	Sarah Brandt
19	Anna Loan-Wilsey	Hattie Davish

Honorable mentions go to Imogen Robertson's Harriet Westerman, of the late-18th-century, and Laurie R. King's Mary Russell, of the early 20th. <

Linda Gordon Hengerer writes about Football, Food and Fiction. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America-Florida Chapter and co-chair of Sleuthfest 2014, its upcoming conference. Visit her at www.lindagordonhengerer.com. Image above via Tuesday Johnson, cropped from a photograph in the collection of Syracuse University Library, Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs.