A crime fiction course designed to investigate female investigators! Starting with two Victorian examples we'll proceed through the Golden Age and the post-war period to arrive at the present day. The archetypical detective is male, often detached and solitary. How have women sleuths been portrayed? Their personalities? Their approach to their work? Is it true that the female P. I. is 'not just there to solve a mystery but to learn about herself', as Ian Ousby commented? Students should have their own copies of Michael Sims The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime . In the second term we will discuss more modern examples of British female sleuths, referring to authors such as M.C. Beaton, Ann Cleeves, R.D. Edwards, Elly Griffiths, Val McDermid, Denise Mina and Joan Smith among others. A list of novels will be circulated nearer the start of the course.