Torn between Two Genres Sex and Romance in Lesbian Detective Fiction

Lesbian detective fiction’s radical origins took the mystery genre to the extreme of the rape of the detective. More contemporary works foreground lesbian sex, romance, and identity. As a result, lesbian detective fiction has not continued to develop and failed to engage a wider audience. The author’s analysis includes works by M.F. Beal, Stella Duffy, Katherine V. Forrest, Clare McNab, Barbara Wilson, and Eve Zaremba. This article originally appeared in Clues: A Journal of Detection, Volume 27, Issue 2.