Women in Mystery by Aliza Brylinsky
This week marks the anniversary of the passing of the amendment allowing women’s suffrage in the United States, fought for by women’s rights activists for many years before passing through the federal government. In order to celebrate this momentous occasion, this blog entry aims to commemorate the many women who have had a great influence over the realm of mystery or crime writing- those who have inspired future generations to write, or those who have introduced new concepts that still persist within the genre to this day. Throughout this week and the next, the following blog entries will commemorate three mystery authors each, briefly exploring their contributions to the genre and their most famous works. This will tie into a larger theme of appreciating the ways in which women have impacted our society, as a way of celebrating the passing of women’s suffrage.
Charlotte Jay
Geraldine Halls, better known under her pseudonym of Charlotte Jay, was an Australian mystery writer and novelist. Born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1919, she worked as a shorthand typist in both Australia and England and as a court stenographer in New Guinea between the years of 1942 and 1950. Marrying Albert Halls, who was an Oriental specialist working with UNESCO at the time, allowed her to travel to many exotic locations like Pakistan, Japan, the Trobriand Islands and Lebanon, which she was quick to include in many of her books. After a long career spent writing, she eventually passed away in 1996, in her home town of Adelaide.
Though she is only credited with writing nine crime novels throughout her career, Charlotte Jay is widely considered one of the best authors of the suspense era. The unorthodox nature of her novels allowed her to earn a place among the top authors in mystery novel history, as she would often write on developments of women (or their self-realization), and depicted the effects of racism and colonialism in her novel Beat Not the Bones. This same novel also won the very first Edgar Award for best novel in 1954, and her novel The Fugitive Eye was adapted as a crime series on TV in 1961. Not only did these accolades establish her as an accomplished writer of mystery, but in one of her last published interviews she offered advice to young women getting started in mystery writing, saying that she felt it was best if new authors had a true passion for writing and remembered that above all, they had to tell a story through their novels. The winning of her Edgar Award helped pave the way for future award winners, and it is not hard to imagine that her advice may have inspired many other women to take up careers in mystery writing as well.
Mildred Benson
It is likely that a great percentage of the general public has knowledge on the Nancy Drew series, featuring an amateur sleuth by the same name- a high school graduate who spends her time solving mysteries. What may not be known is that many different authors worked on the series to bring it together into a collaborative whole. “Carolyn Keene” is the pseudonym used by the authors of the series, spanning all the way back to 1930 when the first books were being written. Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired many authors to write the manuscripts for the Nancy Drew books, the first of which was Mildred Benson. Writing under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene from 1929 to 1947, Mildred contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, all of which were bestsellers. She worked as a journalist for 58 years of her life, writing a weekly column for the Toledo Blade and authoring many books, including other mystery novels under various pseudonyms. She continued to write full-time until her death from lung cancer in 2002.
Though the name of Mildred Benson may not be familiar to the public, the effect that Nancy Drew has had is certainly very widely known. At least 80 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide, being translated into over 45 languages. Various films, television shows, and video games have been created based around the premise of the series. The character of Nancy Drew is also cited as a formative influence on many famous women, including Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to former First Lady Laura Bush. Without Mildred Benson’s signing on to write so many of these novels, Nancy Drew very well may not have had the widespread popularity that it has maintained throughout the ages. Through being an accomplished writer and working on the manuscripts for the Nancy Drew series, Benson had a great influence on the novels and the series as a whole, allowing it to continue to influence young women to this very day.
Agatha Christie
One cannot talk about women authors- specifically those who write within the mystery genre- without mentioning Agatha Christie. An English writer who is known for her 66 detective novels, Christie is still listed among the Guinness World Records as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, as her books have sold over 2 billion copies worldwide. She is also credited as writing the world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap, which has been preformed in London’s West End since 1952, and in 1971 she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to the world of literature. She also served in hospital dispensaries during both World Wars, which allowed her to gain a knowledge of the poisons that were often incorporated into the crimes featured in her books. In 1955 she became the first ever recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, and many of her books and short stories have been adapted into films, TV shows, radio dramas and more.
As an author, Agatha Christie has had great influence on the mystery genre- not only because of the awards and accolades mentioned above, but also for her use of literary tropes that are still seen in modern detective novels. For one, Christie was one of the first mystery authors to use the least likely suspect as the actual perpetrator of a crime, and was considered a purveyor of the sub-genre “Coziness”- usually featuring settings of small English villages, a hero with high-ranking family connections, and plenty of red herrings throughout the plot. She is regularly referred to as the “Queen” of crime and mystery and is still considered to be a master of suspense and characterization. As recently as 2013, she was voted “Best Crime Writer” in a survey of members belonging to the Crime Writer’s Association of professional novelists. The Agatha Awards, cleverly named after her, are literary awards offered to mystery and crime writers who specialize in the aforementioned “cozy” setting, during an annual conference in Washington D.C. It is clear that Agatha Christie’s influence is widely spread throughout the world of mystery and crime fiction, as without her certain plot devices that are seen as commonplace now would likely not exist, or at the very least be much less commonly used within novels. Not only that, but without Christie’s contributions to the subset of cozy mysteries, Cozy Cat may not have come to fruition either!
This concludes this week’s showcase of woman authors within the genre of mystery. Next week’s post will feature another series of authors- tune in for more information!