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Women Sleuths
Alternate cover edition for: ISBN10: 0897331575
Many of the short novels/short stories in this exciting new collection have never before been collected. Editors Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini have chosen works by some of the most respected writers of mystery fiction.
The Toys of Death by G.D.H. Cole & Margaret Cole
The Calico Dog by Mignon Eberhart
The Book That Squealed by Cornell Woolrich
The Broken Men by Marcia Muller
Many of the short novels/short stories in this exciting new collection have never before been collected. Editors Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini have chosen works by some of the most respected writers of mystery fiction.
The Toys of Death by G.D.H. Cole & Margaret Cole
The Calico Dog by Mignon Eberhart
The Book That Squealed by Cornell Woolrich
The Broken Men by Marcia Muller
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
2 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Bill Pronzini
625 books235 followersMystery Writers of America Awards "Grand Master" 2008
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1999) for Boobytrap
Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (1998) for A Wasteland of Strangers
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) for Sentinels
Shamus Awards "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) 1987
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1982) for Hoodwink
Married to author Marcia Muller.
Pseudonyms:
Robert Hart Davis (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Jack Foxx
William Jeffrey (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Alex Saxon
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1999) for Boobytrap
Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (1998) for A Wasteland of Strangers
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) for Sentinels
Shamus Awards "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) 1987
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1982) for Hoodwink
Married to author Marcia Muller.
Pseudonyms:
Robert Hart Davis (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Jack Foxx
William Jeffrey (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Alex Saxon
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 30, 2023
2.5★ overall.
This slim book contains four novellas/short stories. I have already read The Toys of Death & left an unimpressed review here.
But The Calico Dog by Mignon G. Eberhart was much better.
Fabulously wealthy Idabelle Lasher has had two young men turn up, both claiming to be her long lost son. Can intrepid gumshoe Susan Dare solve the mystery before there is a murder?
I really liked Ms Eberhart's writing style & characterisation, but unfortunately she is another author who isn't completely fair with the clues. 3.5★
The Book That Squealed by Cornell Woolrich. I liked the idea of a librarian sleuth (& one who is so fierce about her library's books!) but this was just so silly & if it hadn't been so short I wouldn't have finished it. 2★
The Broken Men by Marcia Muller. Having a detective novella from the 80s tacked on to the end of three from the 30s is explained by Ms Muller being the wife of Bill Pronzini (the editor). Good competent story, the gumshoe is a bit colourless.
3.★
This is part of a boxed set. There are a couple of well known names in the other volumes, but based on these reads I'm not excited to pick up the other volumes & have moved them down my reading queue.
This slim book contains four novellas/short stories. I have already read The Toys of Death & left an unimpressed review here.
But The Calico Dog by Mignon G. Eberhart was much better.
Fabulously wealthy Idabelle Lasher has had two young men turn up, both claiming to be her long lost son. Can intrepid gumshoe Susan Dare solve the mystery before there is a murder?
I really liked Ms Eberhart's writing style & characterisation, but unfortunately she is another author who isn't completely fair with the clues. 3.5★
The Book That Squealed by Cornell Woolrich. I liked the idea of a librarian sleuth (& one who is so fierce about her library's books!) but this was just so silly & if it hadn't been so short I wouldn't have finished it. 2★
The Broken Men by Marcia Muller. Having a detective novella from the 80s tacked on to the end of three from the 30s is explained by Ms Muller being the wife of Bill Pronzini (the editor). Good competent story, the gumshoe is a bit colourless.
3.★
This is part of a boxed set. There are a couple of well known names in the other volumes, but based on these reads I'm not excited to pick up the other volumes & have moved them down my reading queue.
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July 30, 2018
Women Sleuths (1985), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Bill Pronzini, features three novellas from the 1930s and one first published in 1985. It is the first in a five-volume series of Academy Chicago anthologies*. I enjoyed this small collection even though two out of the three (Eberhart & Woolrich) were rereads for me. In fact, I just read "The Book That Squealed" this year in Rear Window, a collection of pre-1969 Woolrich stories. It was definietly nice to see the women take center stage in all of these. My favorite of the four novellas is "The Book That Squealed." ★★★ for the collection.
"The Toys of Death" by GDH & Margaret Cole: When her son James (a private detective) has to run off to France, Mrs. Warrender, an elderly sleuth, is pulled into the puzzling case of Crampton Pleydell's death. It's first thought to be suicide, but then suspicion falls on an innocent man and Mrs. Warrender gets curious--especially when she finds out that Pleydell liked to make replicas of Renaissance glass baubles containing poison. A different sort of justice prevails in the end.
"The Calico Dog" by Mignon Eberhart: A woman who knows Christabel (from an earlier story) asks Susan Dare to help her decide between two men who claim to be her long-lost son. Derek Lasher disappeared when he was four years old--apparently kidnapped by his nursemaid. Now that Idabelle Lasher's husband has died leaving behind 30 million dollars, Dixon and Duane have each arrived with plausible stories and memories that only Derek could have. Will the real Derek Lasher please stand up? Murder and theft take place before Susan can get to the bottom of it.
"The Book That Squealed" by Cornell Woolrich: [adapted for radio on Suspense in 1945 as "Library Book" with Myrna Loy!--found HERE on youtube.] A rather uptight librarian finds herself in the middle of a mysterious adventure when a best-seller (please hear that with all of Prudence's disapproval) is returned to the library with pages missing. Though she disapproves of trashy best-sellers, she disapproves of book vandalism even more. Her determination to hunt down the culprit leads her into much bigger things.
"The Broken Men" By Marcia Muller: Sharon McCone is hired as a body guard for two famous performers at a clown festival. One of them comes up missing and a body is found wearing his costume--but it's definitely not him. Who is the man in the costume? Was he killed by mistake? Where is the missing clown? McCone will have to answer these questions and more in this solid detective story from the 1980s with ties to more classic plot lines.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
"The Toys of Death" by GDH & Margaret Cole: When her son James (a private detective) has to run off to France, Mrs. Warrender, an elderly sleuth, is pulled into the puzzling case of Crampton Pleydell's death. It's first thought to be suicide, but then suspicion falls on an innocent man and Mrs. Warrender gets curious--especially when she finds out that Pleydell liked to make replicas of Renaissance glass baubles containing poison. A different sort of justice prevails in the end.
"The Calico Dog" by Mignon Eberhart: A woman who knows Christabel (from an earlier story) asks Susan Dare to help her decide between two men who claim to be her long-lost son. Derek Lasher disappeared when he was four years old--apparently kidnapped by his nursemaid. Now that Idabelle Lasher's husband has died leaving behind 30 million dollars, Dixon and Duane have each arrived with plausible stories and memories that only Derek could have. Will the real Derek Lasher please stand up? Murder and theft take place before Susan can get to the bottom of it.
"The Book That Squealed" by Cornell Woolrich: [adapted for radio on Suspense in 1945 as "Library Book" with Myrna Loy!--found HERE on youtube.] A rather uptight librarian finds herself in the middle of a mysterious adventure when a best-seller (please hear that with all of Prudence's disapproval) is returned to the library with pages missing. Though she disapproves of trashy best-sellers, she disapproves of book vandalism even more. Her determination to hunt down the culprit leads her into much bigger things.
"The Broken Men" By Marcia Muller: Sharon McCone is hired as a body guard for two famous performers at a clown festival. One of them comes up missing and a body is found wearing his costume--but it's definitely not him. Who is the man in the costume? Was he killed by mistake? Where is the missing clown? McCone will have to answer these questions and more in this solid detective story from the 1980s with ties to more classic plot lines.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
August 25, 2024
If you like mysteries, here's an interesting collection of novellas.
May 4, 2021
I picked up a series of mystery short story compilations at the SPCA book store and I’ll be reviewing these next. There are only four novellas per book so I’ll try and get all three books done and posted this week in the place of the usual Wednesday and Friday posts.
First on the block is the Academy Mystery Novellas Volume 1: Women Sleuths .
The Toys of Death by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole is about the murder of a writer who makes a habit of giving high hopes to young people and dashing them as his fancy wanes. We discover that the main character is the shy, elderly mother of a police detective, who always brings her along on holiday with him. At first I thought this was really sweet of him, but the detective turns out to be an asshole. He talks down to her and intends to abandon this meek, nervous woman alone for the next ten days. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Anyway, the writer dies during a party and once the detective’s finished ordering the other guests around and helping himself to the dead man’s lunch I was really hoping he was the murderer. The police are portrayed as useless which I'm not fond of in my mystery stories, but I just adored the character of Mrs. Warrender.
The Calico Dog by Mignon Eberhart is about a woman whose husband had just died and left her with a fortune, just in time for their long lost son to show up, followed closely by yet another boy claiming to be her precious baby Derek. She's confident that one of them is her son but she gets her friend's opinion on who it is. This story was cute and very much a cozy mystery; the solution is found by a plan that gets away from our sleuth-of-the-day and ends in a panicked call to her policeman husband and a dead body in the ballroom. A good story but not a memorable one.
The Book that Squealed by Cornell Woolrich is the best best best story in this book. The police are useless up to the end, but it's done in a way where their inaction is understandable and something they seek to rectify as soon as possible. And the mystery is solved by a stubborn librarian determined to discover the source of the vandalism to one of the books. Prudence is methodical and clever and I just adored her.
The Broken Men by Marcia Muller tells the tale of a murdered man dressed in the costume of a missing circus clown and the bodyguard determined to track down her charge. It's a good bit of detective work and a clever bit of play on a bland motive, and it's probably only the second best piece in the book because I didn't have much of a connection with the cardboard bodyguard protagonist.
THE VERDICT? These stories were all pretty good so I'll recommend picking it up, but not bothering to add it to your collection.
First on the block is the Academy Mystery Novellas Volume 1: Women Sleuths .
The Toys of Death by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole is about the murder of a writer who makes a habit of giving high hopes to young people and dashing them as his fancy wanes. We discover that the main character is the shy, elderly mother of a police detective, who always brings her along on holiday with him. At first I thought this was really sweet of him, but the detective turns out to be an asshole. He talks down to her and intends to abandon this meek, nervous woman alone for the next ten days. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Anyway, the writer dies during a party and once the detective’s finished ordering the other guests around and helping himself to the dead man’s lunch I was really hoping he was the murderer. The police are portrayed as useless which I'm not fond of in my mystery stories, but I just adored the character of Mrs. Warrender.
The Calico Dog by Mignon Eberhart is about a woman whose husband had just died and left her with a fortune, just in time for their long lost son to show up, followed closely by yet another boy claiming to be her precious baby Derek. She's confident that one of them is her son but she gets her friend's opinion on who it is. This story was cute and very much a cozy mystery; the solution is found by a plan that gets away from our sleuth-of-the-day and ends in a panicked call to her policeman husband and a dead body in the ballroom. A good story but not a memorable one.
The Book that Squealed by Cornell Woolrich is the best best best story in this book. The police are useless up to the end, but it's done in a way where their inaction is understandable and something they seek to rectify as soon as possible. And the mystery is solved by a stubborn librarian determined to discover the source of the vandalism to one of the books. Prudence is methodical and clever and I just adored her.
The Broken Men by Marcia Muller tells the tale of a murdered man dressed in the costume of a missing circus clown and the bodyguard determined to track down her charge. It's a good bit of detective work and a clever bit of play on a bland motive, and it's probably only the second best piece in the book because I didn't have much of a connection with the cardboard bodyguard protagonist.
THE VERDICT? These stories were all pretty good so I'll recommend picking it up, but not bothering to add it to your collection.
April 15, 2019
Volume 1 of a set of 4 books. The choices of the works seem to be based on collecting stories that are almost too long to be considered short stories and too short or close to novellas. They also seem to prefer either golden age mysteries or ones of the 50’s to 60’s. So, why grab this? Many of these stories might have been printed and this was a way to bring back stories from complete oblivion.
On to the stories. The Toys of Death is a Mrs. Warrender story and I happened upon this earlier having read a book collecting all the short stories featuring her. Her son is a detective and she also has her own eyes open and solves things as well. This is one of the better shorts of this series.
The Calico Dog & The Book that Squealed are of an earlier era in terms of feel but are a bit shorter and are fun to read. Most of the detecting has to do with reading people, and paying attention to details. (Both of these I have not read before.)
The last one by Marcia Muller is the most contemporary of them and, this one deals more directly also with her getting guff for being a woman. She handles it well, and also has a really interesting way of handling people to get them to reveal themselves.
So, should you read this? 1. If you like mysteries of the golden age and those influenced by it yes. If you’re looking for some mysteries you may not have come upon yes, these aren’t common to find.
On to the stories. The Toys of Death is a Mrs. Warrender story and I happened upon this earlier having read a book collecting all the short stories featuring her. Her son is a detective and she also has her own eyes open and solves things as well. This is one of the better shorts of this series.
The Calico Dog & The Book that Squealed are of an earlier era in terms of feel but are a bit shorter and are fun to read. Most of the detecting has to do with reading people, and paying attention to details. (Both of these I have not read before.)
The last one by Marcia Muller is the most contemporary of them and, this one deals more directly also with her getting guff for being a woman. She handles it well, and also has a really interesting way of handling people to get them to reveal themselves.
So, should you read this? 1. If you like mysteries of the golden age and those influenced by it yes. If you’re looking for some mysteries you may not have come upon yes, these aren’t common to find.
November 30, 2019
Four stories - four lady sleuths. Enjoyable afternoon's reading.
April 20, 2022
It was a fun read, I really enjoyed the last two stories.
June 28, 2022
Enjoyable. I liked three of the stories and am keen to read more from some of the authors.
September 8, 2022
Well, Prudence is awfully stereotypical and unlikable 🙄
Want to read
May 17, 2011WOMEN SLEUTHS, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Bill Pronzini
1985, #1 Academy Mystery Novellas
Superb collection showcasing four stories that have pretty much been overlooked - too long for most anthologies, and too short to be reprinted on their own, with a short (but tasty) introduction.
THE TOYS OF DEATH, G.D.H. Cole/Margaret Cole
1939, Mrs. Warrender, a nice little old lady
[novella, amateur sleuth - A-toA/4.25]
The unassuming mother of a detective on holiday at the seaside solves several intertwining cases. Cleanly plotted cosy from the classic period, with a style of detection that was extremely popular at the time (Miss Silver, Miss Withers, Tish, et.al; Marple had had only one novel at this point). A bit slow and with a few somewhat incredible-seeming bits at times, but beautifully done, with smooth writing and wonderfully sharp characterizations. The Coles were extremely prolific but published only one book of stories about the lady, MRS. WARRENDER’S PROFESSION, which is, unfortunately, extremely expensive and hard to find now.
THE CALICO DOG, Mignon Eberhart
1934,
THE BOOK THAT SQUEALED, Cornell Woolrich
1939,
THE BROKEN MEN, Marcia Muller.
1985
1985, #1 Academy Mystery Novellas
Superb collection showcasing four stories that have pretty much been overlooked - too long for most anthologies, and too short to be reprinted on their own, with a short (but tasty) introduction.
THE TOYS OF DEATH, G.D.H. Cole/Margaret Cole
1939, Mrs. Warrender, a nice little old lady
[novella, amateur sleuth - A-toA/4.25]
The unassuming mother of a detective on holiday at the seaside solves several intertwining cases. Cleanly plotted cosy from the classic period, with a style of detection that was extremely popular at the time (Miss Silver, Miss Withers, Tish, et.al; Marple had had only one novel at this point). A bit slow and with a few somewhat incredible-seeming bits at times, but beautifully done, with smooth writing and wonderfully sharp characterizations. The Coles were extremely prolific but published only one book of stories about the lady, MRS. WARRENDER’S PROFESSION, which is, unfortunately, extremely expensive and hard to find now.
THE CALICO DOG, Mignon Eberhart
1934,
THE BOOK THAT SQUEALED, Cornell Woolrich
1939,
THE BROKEN MEN, Marcia Muller.
1985
February 7, 2015
"Many of the short novels in this exciting new series have never before been collected. The editors have chosen works by some of the most respected writers of mystery fiction and have organized these novellas into separate genres."
~~back cover
Not as much fun as I thought it was going to be. Of the four novellas, only one was worth reading, imho, which is as much a function of the mystery genres I do and don't enjoy as it is of the writing. I'm still very much an English cozy fan, so crime fiction and suspense fiction rarely get my vote.
~~back cover
Not as much fun as I thought it was going to be. Of the four novellas, only one was worth reading, imho, which is as much a function of the mystery genres I do and don't enjoy as it is of the writing. I'm still very much an English cozy fan, so crime fiction and suspense fiction rarely get my vote.
September 13, 2025
Another little old lady sleuth, a prim librarian sleuth, a San Francisco investigator, and a plucky bright young investigator - they couldn't be more different, and each enjoyable. I'd actually forgotten about Mignon Eberhart since you so rarely see her books anymore, but I remember loving her as a preteen, and wanting to name a child Mignon! Must look up some more and see if I can find any online.
May 8, 2008
It was okay, but not really much more than that.
December 30, 2015
Above average, but not exceptional.
April 28, 2008
A fun re-read.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews