Feminist Issues in the Mystery Genre

     In our course for this half semester “Mystery, Murder and Mayhem” we have been exposed to two great female writers in the mystery fiction genre, Agatha Christie and P.D. James‒ both acclaimed in their field and considered pioneers. Christie was of course the matriarch, the queen if you will, of the classic “whodunnit” tale and is the best selling novelist of all time (Wikipedia, Web). James was a fellow Brit who followed in those footsteps with many successful novels of her own. Both enjoyed the added distinction of having their works adapted for film, television, and the theater. With these two distinguished representatives carrying the banner, and a number of other accomplished women mystery authors joining them, it is safe to say that there was never much of a gender barrier for female writers in the genre‒ after the early formative era.

     The first recognized mystery story is The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe (1841). By the later 1800s Arthur Conan Doyle gave a huge boost to mystery writing with the introduction of his Sherlock Holmes character, setting a popular template for the combination of a super sleuth and a sidekick (often the narrator). There were a couple other factors that drove the rise of mystery. Before the 1800s there were no large police forces, and hence no detectives. Murders were either solved relatively quickly or not at all. It was the Industrial Age that ushered in larger metropolitan areas needing more policemen and specialization, as well as the second factor‒ the means to publish in larger quantities, resulting in cheap pulp magazines and books. The two situations together created the opportunity for the mystery genre, making it one of the newer (about 200 years old) forms of popular fiction.

     The portrayal of female characters in early mystery novels and stories reflects the standards of their times. Poe's two female characters (Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter) serve a lesser and stereotypical role in The Murders in the Rue Morgue as the victims. It goes without saying that the characterization of females as the weaker sex, more or less defenseless and dependent on men for protection, is a longstanding cliché of literature. And literature often mirrors the realities of the historical era it is created in.

     Even as Agatha Christie made her mark as a female mystery writer, her characters remained in this mode. (In fairness, she was known more for her plot lines than her characters anyway, the latter tending to be stock, without much depth, and merely serving the story). In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd we find female roles such as Mrs.Cecil Ackroyd and her daughter Flora, both without their own means of support after Cecil's death; Caroline Sheppard, a spinster and gossip; Ursula Bourne, a maid; and Miss Russell, a housekeeper. Nothing remotely feminist there‒ typical female fodder. Christie did however create a female detective named Miss Marple, an elderly woman who solved cases as an amateur (and was one of Christie's most beloved characters alongside Hercule Poirot). It is implied, maybe, because Miss Marple is just an “amateur”, that her readers would not have accepted a professional female detective. But it was a step in the right direction at least, even given that concession.

     The first appearance of a lady sleuth in fiction was well before Christie's Miss Marple, however. Disregarding a couple instances of serial stories in pulp magazines, the debut in a book is The Female Detective, by Andrew Forrester, published in 1864. The character is Mrs. Gladden, an undercover police agent (women could not be formally hired as officers in London until 1923). She works on the premise that women will talk to another woman far more readily than they will to a man, allowing her to find answers more quickly. As a bonus, it is easy for her to go undercover as a maid or servant, where she can be almost “invisible” as she does her investigations. (Crime Fiction Lover, Web).

     Gradually, as has been the case in the real-life struggle for women to gain independence, female representation in crime fiction has evolved more or less parallel to their advancements in society. The character Cordelia Gray, in P.D. James' novel Unsuitable Job For a Woman, shows a marked degree of autonomy and resilience as a female investigator. While again there are some nods to the bias against such a role (including the title itself), she manages to rise above the sexism she encounters from the males and females who doubt her abilities. From a lady bartender comes the observation “You’ll be looking for a new job, I suppose? After all, you can hardly keep the Agency going on your own. It isn’t a suitable job for a woman” (James 25). This encapsulates the prejudice she is up against, an obstacle she nevertheless overcomes as the efforts to thwart her fail. It's a triumph of sorts, perhaps dimmed just a shade by the subterfuge she has to resort to, and her ultimate fate for having done so resting in the hands of P.D. James' most famous (and male) character, Adam Dalgliesh.

     While the differences between the female characters of Agatha Christie and P.D. James are not radical, they are significant. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, there are no strong female roles, with the possible exception of Caroline Sheppard- but she's been assigned the stereotypical role of village gossip. She certainly isn't intimidated nor dissuaded by her brother the doctor from behaving as she chooses, and one can infer that it is likewise with all men. But the remaining four women in the story are more subservient. We shouldn't be too surprised however, for a novel written in 1926. Perhaps the strongest feminist statement being made is by Christie herself.

     An Unsuitable Job For a Woman was published nearly fifty years after Christie's novel. When considered from that perspective, it actually doesn't show a whole lot of growth for feminine roles in mysteries. Yes, we now have a female detective in the character of Cordelia, but not without plenty of naysaying from the people she encounters (and she had to inherit the agency to become detective). She solves the mystery, but then compromises her integrity to a great degree by covering up the crime that ends the culprit's life. P.D. James was a gifted writer, and her story was a thrilling read. But it was only small steps made in the advancement of feminist literature (and that was never her agenda). For both Christie and James, we must remember that their most famous characters were male.

     One has to fast forward to the more recent decades to witness the great advances that feminist themes have made into the world of mystery writing. These modern females in feminist mysteries are very independent by default, and the majority are in their twenties, thirties, or forties. They share a unique ability to face the twin threats of crime and gender bias. While most are self-employed, such as Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone (she operates a low-budget detective agency), others are employed in police departments or as lawyers. They are highly capable of doing the jobs usually associated with men‒ solving mysteries and capturing and prosecuting criminals. (eNotes, Web).

     The themes often focus on women's issues, such as a desire for personal and financial independence and equal rights under the legal system. The history of female characters in general fiction, as well as in mysteries, has usually shown them being denied these basic rights. As noted earlier this is a reflection of the eras in the past when such was the norm. These revolutionary characters, along with the authors (male and female) who pen them, demonstrate that there has been an advance toward transcendence of these deep-rooted societal mores and the fictional stereotypes they created.

Works Cited

Agatha Christie. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

CIS: The First Female Detectives. Crime Fiction Lover. CrimeFictionLover.com, 21 

     Sep. 2013. Web.19 Nov. 2015.

Feminist Characters and Themes. eNotes. eNotes.com, 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

James, P D. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. New York: Scribner, 1972. Print.