Monday, October 8, 2007

Celebrating the Sisterhood



20 years ago, at Bouchercon, Sara Paretsky led the battle to give mystery and thriller writers of the female persusasion more clout in the publishing arena. To celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Sisters in Crime, Paretsky has edited a superb collection of 20 stories by SinC members, at least 16 of which appear to be written especially for this anthology.

All of the stories by SinC members P.M. Carlson, Barbara D'Amato, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Susan Dunlap, Kate Flora, Linda Grant, Kate Grilley, Carolyn Hart, Libby Hellmann, (who has just edited another fine collection, Chicago Blues), Sue Henry, Rochelle Krich, Charlotte MacLeod, Margaret Maron, Claire Carmichael McNab, Annette Meyers, Nancy Pickard, Medora Sale, Eve Sandstrom and Patricia Sprinkle, are immensely readable, not the least of which is Paretsky's own contribution (she also writes an inspiring introduction) called "A Family Sunday in the Park" which turns out to be a riveting number about V.I. Warshawski's first case. The ten-year-old Tori risks her life to save her cop father in a race riot in Chicago's Marquette Park, and solves a murder with her new Baby Brownie camera.

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