Book Reviews & Lists

My previous entry featured books by male authors.  It’s only fair that I share with you my five favorite mystery series by women authors too! I enjoy reading these as they are light on violence and language; I’m not one for the gory details.

• Susan Wittig Albert – First book…Thyme of Death. Features China Bayles, an herbalist and former attorney, in Pecan Springs, Texas.
• Margaret Maron – First book… Bootlegger’s Daughter. Features Deborah Knott, a district judge in North Carolina, along with her colorful extended family. 
• Donna Leon – First book… Death at La Fenice. Features Guido Brunetti, a police commissario in Venice, Italy. 
• JA Jance – First book… Until Proven Guilty. Features J.P. Beaumont, homicide detective in Seattle, Washington.  She writes another series worth checking out also: Joanna Brady, a deputy sheriff's widow, now elected sheriff in Cochise County, Arizona.  First book…Desert Heat. 
• Lisa Scottoline – First book… Everywhere That Mary Went. Features the staff of Rosato & Associates, an all-women law firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Bonus…Series written by a man featuring a woman: Thomas Perry writes about Jane Whitefield, a Native American guide who helps people disappear, based in Deganawida, New York.  First book…Vanishing Act.

Submitted by Alison Boutaugh, Thompson Public Library
Villager Papers, December 3, 2010