Thursday Thirteen

I'm taking a class called Detectives in Film & Literature at Hollins University. So today I think I'll list 13 female detectives. They can be from TV, movies, or books. And I am not current on my TV and movie viewing, so some of these go back to the 1980s simply because I haven't really watched that much TV since about 1995.

1. Stephanie Plum. She is the heroine of Janet Evanovich's books, and I have listened to all of these on audio, and read a few of them. She is a bounty hunter/amateur detective, and she doesn't so much detect as have stuff just sort of happen. She's a bumbling detective. The first book is called One for the Money, and the rest of the books have titles that have something to do with the number of the book in the series. A movie based on the first book is scheduled for release soon.

2. Kinsey Milhone. She is the heroine of Sue Grafton's ABC mystery series. These books are interesting in that they continue to be set in the 1980s as opposed to bringing the heroine up to the present day. She is a strong detective, a loner, who enjoys her work and is very serious about it. No bumbling here.

3. Nancy Drew. I grew up reading these stories. Nancy always saved the day. She was very much the amateur detective. These books were written under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene, and were actually the work of a series of writers.

4. DeeDee McCall. She is a sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department and the co-star of the 1980s TV series Hunter. She was played by Stepfanie Kramer. Rick Hunter is the other detective in the show. He was played by Fred Dyer.

5. Christine Cagney. She was a detective with the New York Police Department and co-star in the show Cagney & Lacy. She was played most famously by Sharon Gless; the role was first taken by Meg Foster. However, she only lasted a season.

6. Mary Beth Lacey. She was a detective with the New York Police Department and co-star in the show Cagney & Lacey. She was played by Tyne Daly throughout the series.

7. Amelia Peabody. She's a detective, of sorts, in the mystery series by Elizabeth Peters. She's actually an archaeologist, and the mysteries generally surround her work in Egypt.

8. Sabrina Duncan. She was one of three detectives in the original Charlie's Angels TV series. She was played by Kate Jackson.

9. Kelly Garrett. She was one of the three detectives in the original Charlie's Angels TV series, too. She was played by Jacqueline Smith.

10. Precious Ramotswe is a detective in a series of books called The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. The books were made into a series that showed on HBO, too.

11. Kay Scarpetta is the chief medical examiner in Virginia in a series of books by Patricia Cornwell.

12. Buffy Summers is a vampire slayer and solver of mysteries in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was played by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the TV series. I read a lot of the books that came out when the show was popular, and they were pretty good, too.

13. Goldy Bear. She is the heroine of the Goldy books, a series by Diane Mott Davidson. Goldy is a chef and so the mysteries tend to have something to do with cooking. There are recipes in the books, too.


PS I was using the amazon associates widget that allowed me to put pictures of the books up on my blog. However, it is no longer working. Anybody have a clue?



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 209th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.