The Landscape of Canadian Women's Crime Fiction

Tag: books

  • Nancy Drew Enters the Public Domain

    Ninety-five years after their original publication, the first four Nancy Drew novels (all published in 1930) have just entered the public domain in the United States. Without having glanced at them in more than four decades, I can still picture all of the covers and conjure up some plot details from The Secret of the…

  • Jane Austen’s Emma as a Mystery Novel

    As we shift into the New Year (happy January 1!), a reminder that 2025 was a year of Austen tributes. Here’s my own belated contribution. Austen has been of central importance in my life. My closest friend from high school and I remain united in significant part through our love of Austen, a passion which…

  • Investigating Frances Shelley Wees

    Frances Shelley Wees (1902-82), a now largely neglected crime writer, was so popular during the 1950s and 60s that she was known as “the Agatha Christie of Canada.” And thanks to Véhicule Press’s Ricochet Books, two of her mystery-suspense novels have been re-issued over the last decade. An American-born author of educational works and children’s…