In her characterization of Stephanie, Evanovich parodies a stereotype that dates back to the 1930s. Through absurd humor, Evanovich asserts that the traditional depiction of the private investigator and bounty hunter as hard-boiled heroes is both naive and sexist. From film noir to the novels of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Mickey Spillane, the audience is presented with a brave hero who faces corrupt police officers and vicious criminals alone, and ensures that justice prevails against all odds.
The critic Sally Munt, writing in Murder by the Book? Feminism and the Crime Novel (1994), describes this hero perfectly: The low-lit, monochromatic, American film noir of the 1940s springs to mind, with its city of mystery and shadows, violence and vengeance. Through the mist steps the messianic "man in the mac," dispenser of commonsense justice, alone.....
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