The Landscape of Canadian Women's Crime Fiction

Tag: mystery

  • Colin Dexter’s Oxford and Nora Kelly’s Cambridge (by Way of Cryptic Crosswords)

    I’ve just ordered a niche item, Colin Dexter’s Cracking Cryptic Crosswords. The late detective novelist, who spent his early career teaching Classics, was also a famed creator of crossword puzzles of a type that British audiences appreciate far more than American ones. A recent New Yorker piece describes how Wordle creator Josh Wardle has created…

  • International Women’s Day 2026: My Current Top 20 Canadian Women Crime Writers

    Most of my reading this week is about Medusa, for a project. Gratuitous photo, because she is everywhere: My list of 20 current favourite Canadian women crime writers, in no particular order, and their sub-genre/s: Amy Stuart: domestic suspense fiction set in urban and suburban areas, with a strong sense of woman-in-peril Louise Penny: what…

  • Helen Baxendale in Poirot, Marple, and P.D. James

    Most non-UK viewers likely remember actor Helen Baxendale from her unfortunate role as Emily, the Englishwoman so unsuitably affianced to the appallingly selfish and immature Ross in Friends. David Schwimmer is a terrific actor, and I enjoy his portrayal of the worst person in the series: an academic who dates his student (oof–well past the…