SOURCE: “Gender and Genre: The Woman Detective and the Diffusion of Generic Voices,” in Feminism in Women's Detective Fiction, University of Toronto Press, 1995, pp. viii-xxii.

In the following excerpt, Irons discusses the importance of community to Paretsky's detective protagonist V. I. Warshawski, and how Paretsky's portrayal of her has changed the detective genre.

… Detectives in fiction have always seemed to be a response to what most generations feel is the uncontrollable murder and mayhem that surrounds them. Some have achieved international reputations: names like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Sam Spade are still better known than those of the authors who created them. The woman detective has also enjoyed worldwide appeal; yet, with the exception of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple or Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew, the names of female detectives have only recently gained wide recognition. Sharon McCone, Kinsey Millhone, and V. I. Warshawski are now well known...