Related Subjects: Author Index
Book reviews for "Heising,_Willetta_L." sorted by average review score:

Detecting Women: A Readers Guide and Checklist for Mystery Series Written by Women
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (1994)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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The Ultimate Guide
This 3rd edition of Ms. Heising's invaluable reference guide to women mystery series writers, with 225 new authors, belongs in every mystery lover's home. As with Ms. Heising's previous edition of DW, as well as her excellent Detecting Men series guide, there are informative biographical entries and chronological book listings for every author. Ms. Heising also provides helpful cross reference guides, a list of award winners and nominees, author pseudonyms and a complete index to the book. This book is as much fun to read as a mystery novel. Who wrote it? Who won it? Who is it? You'll want this wonderful book close by at all times. It's the perfect mystery lovers' companion.

A survival guide for mystery fans
Willetta Heising reigns as queen of mystery reference. If you want to find out about the order in which the series is written, are trying to find the author of a favorite character, looking for a sleuth with a certain profession, or trying to find mysteries that are set in your locale, Detecting Women 3rd edition is the book for you. Of course, if you want male authors, or female authors of mysteries that are no longer with us, you can check out Detecting Men and Detecting Women2. This is no "dry as dust" research tome, but a lively and fascinating look at female authors of mystery series that will keep you turning the pages and even provide a few chuckles. If you are serious about your mystery reading, you will want to own all of Willetta Heising's excellent bio-bibliographies.

Reviewing THE mystery book directory
This is THE authoritative book on mystery book series written by women. It is such a pleasure to have this book and be able to look up a female author and find biographical information, books written with dates, etc., and to be able to have that informtion sorted in a number of ways. I carry the Detecting Women 3rd Edition paperback in my purse for visits to the book store and library but I copy information from the hardback, which is so much more extensive, into the paperback if I need to jot down a little more information. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you love mysteries whether by male or female authors (there is a Detecting Men also), you need this book. Its guidance is invaluable.


Detecting Men: A Readers Guide and Checklist for Mystery Series Written by Men (1st Ed (Trade Paper))
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (1998)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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Outstanding reference work for mystery lovers!
No, this is not a sequel to "The Rules." "Detecting Men" is a gorgeously produced, well-edited and probably comprehensive catalog of over 600 men who have written mystery series.

Take note of all those qualifiers, because the format is slightly different from Heising's companion volume, "Detecting Women 3." While that reference (a third edition, hence the "3") covers all living female writers and a good portion of those who have since died, space limitations forced "Detecting Men" to limit itself. So, while Anna Katherine Green (who wrote mysteries back in the 1880s) and Agatha Christie are in "DW3" you won't find Ellery Queen and Rex Stout in "DM." Even under those restrictions, "Detecting Men" still offers nearly 450 pages of information, compared with 384 pages in the other book.

So what do you get for your money? A paragraph on each author accompanied by a checklist of each series book, with notations for those which were nominated or winners of writing awards like the Edgar, Anthony and Shamus.

While that section is fascinating in itself for the minutae about the authors, the second half of "DM" contains charts, charts and more charts that can help the series reader locate all kinds of information. Readers of police procedurals will find four pages listing authors, when they wrote, the character's name and profession and setting. Looking for mysteries involving journalists? "DM" lists 25, from Dick Belsky' reporter Lucy Shannon to Collin Wilcox' Stephen Drake (a newspaper reporter with ESP). There's 14 small-town sleuths, two surburban detectives, 15 gay and lesbian detectives and 14 disabled detectives. Detectives are also listed by first name, settings, the year they appeared, and by title. The latter category appeals to the trivia buff in me; not surprisingly, there are a long list of titles beginning with dead, death, and murder, but I didn't expect 31 beginning with "gently." Sounds like the ideal niche for a book collector.

The pseudonym section can help straighten out who wrote want, as well as help find a favorite author's other works. P.C. Doherty, for example, has published books under his own name as well as under Michael Clynes, Ann Dukthas, C.L. Grace and Paul Harding and, possibly, Anna Apostolou. Best-selling author Jack Higgins ("The Eagle Has Landed") has also written as Martin Fallon, James Grapham and Hugh Marlowe. This section may prove disappointing to those who learn that Lydia Adamson's light-hearted animal mysteries was, in fact, written by Frank King.

It Slices, It Dices
No, this book is not a Vegematic. Call it the Cuisinart of crime. Ms. Heising takes her well-researched author bios, book chronologies, award info and handy cross-references, blends them together and produces this tasty concoction of P.I.s, M.O.s and FYIs. Great book!

As great a read and reference as Detecting Women 2.
Outstanding reference for all mystery fans as a companion to Heising's award winning Detecting Women 2. Makes Mystery reading even more enjoyable.


Detecting Women Pocket Guide: Checklist for Mystery Series Written by Women (Mystery Series)
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (1998)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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THOROUGHLY DISGUSTED
Is it possible to give a negative amount of stars? The author should have titled her work "Detecting Lesbians", as an inordinate amount of the books have lesbian central characters. I could not have been more disappointed in the paltry number of books I found that I would actually read. I found the lesbian references in their plot descriptions by Amazon to be offensive enough. These books would hardly be appropraite to donate to the senior center, as I usually do, when I am finished with them. Whatever happened to clean-cut Agatha Christie novels appealing to the masses? Since when is gay and lesbian fiction considered mainstream? These books should come with a warning of some sort. Such ilk is more suited to adult bookstores for those who engage in deviant behavior. I purchased the pocket edition to take shopping with me and the harbound edition which I won't even bother opening now. Although it will be a waste of money, I will thoroughly enjoy throwing them in the garbage. The author has done a great diservice to the many talented writers than she does mention. Perhaps she could write two versions in the future: one for book lovers who enjoy mysteries and one for homosexual lovers obsessed with their "alternate lifestyle".

Great place to keep track of mystery reading
It's indicative of the size of the mystery market that the third edition of this book - restricted solely to female writers with active series - still contains more than 3,700 titles in 224 pages. Editor Willetta Heising has gone to great lengths to improve the readability of the third edition of this pocketbook-sized reference work. Each author is listed along with the name of the series character, the list of books, their publication dates, and small stars indicating titles which were nominated or winners of the various mystery-related awards. Check boxes are included as well as space for writing in new entries. Note that this pocket-book sized version is meant to be used as a tickler when shopping for your next mystery. Look for the reference book of the same name for the large-format version, which contains a mini-biography of each writer and an extensive index of author's names, aliases, mystery locations, occupations and time periods.

A must for mystery readers
Following her magnificent "Detecting Women2" and "Detecting Men," Willetta Heising has written the third edition of Detecting Women. As of now, only the pocket guide is available. It lists living women authors of series in mystery fiction. The authors are alphabetical, the titles are chronological. It also has neat boxes for the owner of the book to check off books purchased and read to avoid those duplicate copies. Along with "Detecting Men", "Detecting Women" 3rd edition is a must-buy for all fans, librarians, book store owners, etc. Don't throw out "Detecting Women2" because that has deceased autors as well. If the mystery reading community were "in to" canonization, Ms. Heising would be St. Willetta.


Detecting Women 2 Pocket Guide: A Checklist for Mystery Series Written by Women
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (1996)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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Don't buy this edition!
Detecting Women 2 Pocket Guide (1996) is the older version of Detecting Women Pocket Guide 3rd Edition (1999). Buy the 3rd edition. It's fabulous for keeping track of what you've read. I highly recommend it.

Compact, well-organized and easy-to-use, for serious fans.
The serious reader and fan of crime and mystery fiction couldn't ask for a more useful guide. Well organized and easy to use, it contains practically all the salient information one could ask for about women writing series. Take it to the book store and you'll undoubtedly save lots of time, money and aggravation, trying to remember whether you already have that book. Works with Amazon too!


Detecting Men Pocket Guide: Checklist
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (1997)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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Wiletta's Guide to Police Detective Series
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (2004)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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Willetta's Guide to Private Eye Series
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (2004)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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Detecting Women 2: Reader's Guide and Checklist for Mystery Series Written by Women
Published in Paperback by Purple Moon Pr (1996)
Author: Willetta L. Heising
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Related Subjects: Author Index

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