Gender Bending Detective Fiction - A Critical Analysis of Selected Works

Since the middle of the last century, views on gender norms have shifted dramatically. Reflecting these changes, storylines that involve cross-dressing and transgender characters have frequently appeared in detective fiction--characters who subvert the conventions of the genre and challenge reader expectations.
This examination of 20th and 21st century crime novels reveals what these narratives say about gender identity and gender expression and how they contributed to the evolution of detective fiction.

List of contents

Table of Contents

Introduction: Dressed to Kill

¿1.¿Policing Gender in Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury and Vengeance Is Mine

¿2.¿Uncovering a Double Life in Ruth Rendell's A Sleeping Life

¿3.¿Corporeality, ­Cross-Dressing and a "Cozy" Mystery Novel: Charlotte MacLeod's The Corpse in Oozak's Pond

¿4.¿Criminality and ­Cross-Dressing in Sue Grafton's "D" Is for Deadbeat

¿5.¿Disguise and Deviance in P.D. James' Devices and Desires

¿6.¿Subverting Stereotypes in Val McDermid's The Mermaids Singing

¿7.¿Transitioning to New Ground in Detective Fiction: Renee James' Transition to Murder

¿8.¿Detecting Gender in Mark SaFranko's The Suicide

¿9.¿The Transgender Presence in Robert Galbraith's The Silkworm

10.¿The Transgender Detective in T.E. Wilson's Mezcalero: A Detective Sánchez Novel

Conclusion: Criminality, Conventions and Concealment in ­Post-World War II Detective Fiction

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Heather Duerre Humann teaches in the Department of Language and Literature at Florida Gulf Coast University. She is the author of multiple books and has contributed essays to edited collections and published articles, reviews and short stories in African American Review, Women's Studies, South Atlantic Review and Studies in American Culture.

Product details

• Authors: Heather Duerre Humann
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.03.2017
• EAN: 9781476668208
• ISBN: 978-1-4766-6820-8
• No. of pages: 200
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 10 mm
• Weight: 263 g
• Illustrations: Raster,schwarz-weiss
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; English, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, Literary studies: general, Gender studies, gender groups, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, LITERARY CRITICISM / Novel as Form, LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Gender Identity