Wicked Wednesday – The Heat is On! Celebrating Fiery Female Protags

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Happy August! Liz here, loving every minute of the warm weather but I’ve gotta admit – it’s HOT. So what better topic for Wicked Wednesdays this month than celebrating fiery, change-making women?

I’ve been thinking a lot about females in books – both authors and characters – so this month we’ll talk about all of them. But let’s start with the imagined.

So Wickeds, tell me – who are your favorite women in fiction who stand up for equality and justice?

Barb: I feel like all the protagonists in crime fiction fight for justice, which is part of what draws us to the books. For this exercise, let me put forward women who have their own code of honor and sense of justice: Lisbeth Salander in Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, and Trey Reddy in Tana French’s The Searcher and The Hunter. But being fierce and damaged isn’t the only way to fight for justice. Miss Marple has a code, too.

Edith/Maddie: I like Barb’s take on the question. Annette Dashofy‘s deputy coroner Zoe Chambers fights for justice in her semi-rural Pennsylvania area. Julia Spencer-Fleming‘s Clare Fergusson, as an Episcopalian priest and amateur sleuth, has a strong code of honor and justice.

Sherry: I love Lisbeth Salander too, Barb! I also agree with what Barb said about all protagonists fight for justice. I also like Roxanne Weary (isn’t that a great name!) in Kristen Lepionka’s series and police detective Harriet Foster in Tracy Clark’s books.

Jessie: I love Persis Wadia in the Malabar House series by Vaseem Kahn. She is a determined woman in post-partition India. She doesn’t mince words, but has the best of motives for most of what she does.

Julie: Love this conversation! I’ll go with a slightly different take on this question. Amelia Peabody and Veronica Speedwell are both feisty feminists featured in historical fiction. Elizabeth Peters and Deanna Raybourn do a wonderful job at creating the world, giving us insights, and reminding us that there were lots of battles to fight.

Readers, who are your favorite female protagonists who are fierce about justice and quality?

Readers, add your favorite fiery women characters!

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Published by Cate Conte / Liz Mugavero

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in the Boston area with her rescue pals.

12 Thoughts

  1. How about V. I. Warshawski? Sara Paretsky did a great job making her a strong woman who fights for justice. Or Margaret Maron’s Deborah Knott, who’s a district judge as well as an investigator of murders. I’m also a great fan of Laurie R. King’s San Francisco detective, Kate Martinelli–she’s a tough-but-fair woman. Finally, I can’t resist putting in a plug for my own Canton of Bern homicide detective Giuliana Linder. She may be Swiss, but she can still be fiery, and she’s certainly a strong believer in justice!

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  2. Can’t go wrong with Phryne Fisher and Kinsey Milhone. From TV land, I’ll mention Harry Wild and Frankie Drake.

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  5. I agree with Barb that the search for justice is part of almost all crime fiction. Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Jane Ryland is another example of a woman who makes fighting for justice the core of her beliefs.

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  6. I just read my first book by Jessica Elliott and enjoyed both Beryl and Edwina. I enjoyed the timing, as I was also reading “Muse of Fire,” a book on the poets of WWI.

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  7. Kinsey Millhone, Sunny Randall, Stephanie Plum, Lizbeth Salander, Sarah Woolson (by Shirley Tallman), Katniss Everdeen, V.I. Warshawski, and so many more. Great women characters. Great books. Great reading.

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  8. Quaker midwife Rose Carroll in the Quaker Midwife Mystery series by Edith Maxwell is an excellent example.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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