Table of Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Part I The crime lab: Gender and the Detective Genre
1 Introduction: The Case 3
2 Detecting Critism: Theorizing Gender and the Detective Genre 17
Part II The rise and Demise of the Classical Female Detective 1929 to 1950
3 Movie Modernization: The Film Industry and Working Women in the depression 43
4 Detecting as a Hobby: Amateur and Professional Detectives in the 1930s 69
5 Sob Sisters Don't Cry: The Girl Reporter as Detective in the 19305 93
6 In Name Only: The Transformation of the Female Detective in the 1940s 135
7 The Maritorious Melodrama: The Female Detective in 1940s: Film Noir 163
Part III From Crime-Fighter to Crime Scene Investigator 1970 to today
8 Femme Might Makes Right: The 1970s Blaxploitation Vigilante Crime-Fighter 191
9 Detecting the Bounds of the Law: The Female Lawyer Thriller of the 1980s 221
10 Detecting Identity: From Investigative Thrillers to Crime Scene investigators 257
Appendix I 299
Appendix II 301
Appendix III 331
Notes 333
Selected Filmography 353
Works Cited 361
Index 375