Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives

Edited by Sarah Weinman

The fourteen short stories in this collection were originally published between the early 1940s and the mid-1970s. In her introduction, Sarah Weinman says these stories showcase a generation of women crime writers who came of age in the Depression, emerged from WWII, and paved the way for another wave of women mystery/suspense writers who then surged to the fore. (Think Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, or more recently Gillian Flynn, Tana French, Louise Penny… and many more.)

Stories include:

• The Heroine by Patricia Highsmith. This was Highsmith’s first published story, written as a student at Barnard College and published in Harpers Bazaar in 1945. A young girl takes a position as a nanny to two children, and wants to show her devotion by saving them from a disaster.

• Louisa, Please Come Home by Shirley Jackson. Best known for The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, Jackson is a master of atmosphere and chilling twists. In this story, a girl who has run away from home listens, once a year, to her mother on the radio begging her to come home. Then a former acquaintance finds her...

• Everybody Needs a Mink by Dorothy B. Hughes. A young housewife shopping for underwear and socks for her second-grader encounters a surprisingly generous elderly man.

• The People Across the Canyon by Margaret Millar. Named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America., Millar began publishing suspense before her husband (better known as writer Ross Macdonald). In this story, a young girl becomes fascinated by new neighbors the Smiths, drawing her parents into a peculiar investigation.

• …and ten more. Each story is a pleasure to read. Weinman has done us a favor by bringing them back into the light.

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