Louise Penny and the Landscape of Canadian Women’s Crime Fiction

I’ve been working on a book project (tentative title above) on Canadian women’s mystery and detective fiction. Some of the authors I’m covering, like Penny, Gail Bowen, and Ausma Khan, are well-known to a wide range of readers; others may be less familiar.

Here are a few of my research questions:

• How does place–including locale, region, and nation–figure in the work of Canadian mystery writers, from coast to coast to coast?
• Is a sense of place more prominent in some regions than in others?
• Do women writers portray geography in specific or distinctive ways?
• How is place tied to Indigenous and settler colonial histories?
• How does geography shape culture in mystery fiction?

As I explore these, I’m using this site to share my reading and reflections. And if you’re acquainted with any of the books, I’d love to know what you’re thinking. Please see my contact information or feel free to comment.