Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s: A Library of America Boxed Set

The Library of America and editor Sarah Weinman redefine the classic era of American crime fiction with a landmark collection of eight brilliant novels by the female pioneers of the genre, the women who paved the way for Gillian Flynn, Tana French, and Lisa Scottoline.

Though women crime and suspense writers dominate todays best seller lists, the extraordinary creations of the mid-century female pioneers of the genre are largely unknown. Their work, influential in its day and still vibrant and extraordinarily riveting, is long overdue for rediscovery. Now The Library of America makes these classic books available in a deluxe two-volume collectors edition.

From the 1940s, here are Vera Casparys famous career girl mystery Laura; Helen Eustiss intricate campus thriller The Horizontal Man; Dorothy B. Hughess In a Lonely Place, the terrifyingly intimate portrait of a serial killer; and Elisabeth Sanxay Holdings The Blank Wall, in which a wife in wartime is forced to take extreme measures when her family is threatened.

The 1950s volume includes Charlotte Armstrongs Mischief, the nightmarish drama of a child entrusted to a psychotic babysitter; Patricia Highsmiths brilliant The Blunderer, which tracks the perverse parallel lives of two men driven toward murder; Margaret Millars Beast in View, a relentless study in madness; and Dolores Hitchenss Fools Gold, a hard-edged tale of robbery and redemption.

Boxed set contains:
Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1940s (Library of America #268)
Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s (Library of America #269)

Both volumes are available separately in print and e-book editions.