10 Crime Novels with Female Protagonists (Exclusive)
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The crime fiction genre is a wide umbrella, stretching from murder mystery via police procedurals, all the way to thrillers, each one requiring different tools. In a murder mystery, everything is about the plot. Who did it, how, and why, are the questions that both the protagonist and the readers try to solve simultaneously, normally without any expectations of realism.
A police procedural, by comparison, is all about realism, while battling the challenges of the justice system in order to catch the murderer.
In a thriller, the suspense is built around a challenge posed to the protagonist — the last big score before retiring, being innocently accused of a crime or accidentally getting involved in something dangerous and deadly. And finally, in a psychological thriller, nobody and nothing can be trusted — sometimes not even the narrator of the story.
Regardless of the sub-genre, every story needs one or several strong protagonists — more often than not with personal and/or professional challenges that tie into the story. Throughout my writing career, I’ve tried to explore as many of the sub-genres and writing tools as possible.
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In the Asker series I have created detective inspector Leonore Asker who, instead of being promoted to run the major crimes department as she is expecting, suddenly finds herself in the basement of the police organization managing the department of lost souls — the damaged or broken employees placed there to be out of the public (and management’s) eye. A frustrated high performer set to manage a group of low performers investigating cases no other department wants —how’s that for a challenge?
Here are some of my favorite stories starring strong female characters.
‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ by Stieg Larsson
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Lisbeth Salander is part Western hero, part expert hacker, part international spy and part Pippi Longstocking. (Bet you didn’t know that last one!) Smart, capable, violent and with lots and lots of troubled background. Lisbeth is the gold standard of a strong female thriller protagonist. And no, I’m not just saying that because I’m Swedish.
‘Sharp Objects’ by Gillian Flynn
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Gillian Flynn is a master at creating strong female-centered psychological thrillers. Camille Preaker in Sharp Objects is probably my favorite, closely followed by Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. And the twist at the end of the story — So good!
‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ by Thomas Harris
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Clarice faces a manipulative FBI boss, therapy sessions with none other than Dr. Hannibal Lecter and finally a violent showdown with Buffalo Bill himself. Talk about challenges! (And if you haven’t seen it, the film is also pretty good).
‘Winter’s Bone’ by Daniel Woodrell
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I loved this book way before the film version, which is also worth a watch. Ree Dolly is so well-written and her challenges so different from anything I’d previously read that I could not put it down.
‘Small Mercies’ by Dennis Lehane
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I read this book last summer and loved it. Mary Pat Fennessy is such a brilliantly written character and the challenges she faces are so painful and heartbreaking. One of the few books where I wished for just a few more chapters just because I didn’t want to say goodbye.
‘Big Little Lies’ by Liane Moriarty
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A lot of my favorite books have been adapted for the screen, and so has this one. This time you get a whole group of strong female protagonists — all navigating different obstacles — woven into an intricate and suspenseful web with a very clever premise.
‘The Marsh King’s Daughter’ by Karen Dionne
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A dark take on the H.C. Andersen tale of the same name with a little hint of John Rambo. What’s not to like?
‘The Hulda Trilogy’ by Ragnar Jónasson
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Iceland, cold, darkness and an expertly crafted female detective solving cases with more layers than the volcanic landscape. Ragnar is one of the very best Nordic crime writers, as skillful in thrillers like this series as in murder mystery stories.
‘The Maid’ by Nita Prose
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Protagonist hotel maid Molly Gray manages to both get involved in a murder case, and be innocently accused of the crime. Two classic thriller tools at once and in a very clever and interesting setting.
‘The Surgeon’ by Tess Gerritsen
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The Rizzoli and Isles series offers not one, but two strong female protagonists with different skills, talents and challenges, all set in a classic police procedural setting.
The Glass Man by Anders de la Motte is available now, wherever books are sold.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
