Since the first female detective appeared in print in 1864—twenty years after Edgar Allan Poe invented the detective story—women have steadily gained ground as protagonists of the whodunits that keep readers on the edge of our seats. This impressive anthology boasts a collection of seventy-four carefully curated stories starring "gumshoe gals…debutant detectives…spinster sleuths…groundbreaking female cops…and contemporary crime-fighting PIs." Arranged chronologically, The Big Book of Female Detectives includes works by Baroness Orczy, Anna Katharine Green, Agatha Christie, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Sue Grafton, Max Allan Collins, Anne Perry, Laura Lippman, Jeffery Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates, and dozens of other female (and male) authors who deserve a spot on your mystery-loving bookshelf!