Jean Swanson & Dean James
By a Woman's Hand: A Guide to Mystery Fiction by Women
A reader's guide to mystery fiction by contemporary women writers. The book includes profiles of almost 300 writers. including such writers as

. . . and many more! With over 70 new entries in the new edition.
Writers included are those who have been published chiefly since 1977, when Marcia Muller's first Sharon McCone novel, Edwin of the Iron Shoes was published, or writers who were published earlier but who are still actively publishing, like Ruth Rendell and P. D. James. Another criterion for inclusion is that writers must have three books published (or two available and a third imminent). Each profile lists author pseudonyms, if any, discusses the author's style, series characters, and other salient features, and concludes by offering recommendations for further reading, based on similar qualities. For example, readers who have enjoyed Sue Grafton are encouraged to read Marcia Muller.
Finally, the book includes various helpful index lists by series character, type of detective, and broadly defined geographic area.
"A tour de force of a reference source on contemporary women mystery writers." Nancy Pickard
Nominated for the Edgar and Anthony Awards, By a Woman's Hand won the Agatha and Macavity Awards for Best Non-Fiction or Critical/Biographical Work for works published in 1994.
(New York: Berkley Publishing, 1994; second edition Sept./Oct 1996 ISBN 0 425 15472 6)

The Authors
Jean Swanson is a librarian at the University of Redlands in California. She is an avid mystery reader, and collects mysteries by contemporary women authors.
Dean James is the manager of Murder by the Book bookstore in Houston, one of the nation’s oldest mystery speciality bookstores. Dean has kindly supplied us with copies of his wonderful bibliographies: THE FEMININE PERSPECTIVE: CRIME FICTION BY AND ABOUT WOMEN and his HISTORICAL MYSTERY BIBLIOGRAPHY