Crime fiction has tended to feature women predominantly in roles of either ‘cozy’ amateur investigators or else as the victims of violent crime. However, now we are seeing a rise of narratives featuring female hard-boiled professionals, and many of them are being written by ex-justice professionals themselves.

Speaking with us today about this progression we have Dr Lili Parquet, lecturer in Writing at the University of New England, and author of ‘Crime Fiction from a Professional Eye – Women Writers with Law Enforcement and Justice Experience’.