Crime is common ground for the twenty-one womenwriters in this extraordinary collection ofcontemporary mystery fiction. The voices here includeprofessional crime solvers who take you from the meanstreets of V.I. Warshawski'sChicago in a case of music and murder... to theCalifornia freeway where Kinsey Millhone's beloved VWskids into a shooting... to the gang-held turf ofSharon says mum's the word. And then there aremothers, grandmothers, battered wives, and socialworkers -- ordinary women in extraordinary situationswhose voices reveal contemporary life as seenthrough a woman's eye. From the opening tale of a girldown-and-out in London and what she steals from acorpse... to the final story of a summer vacationin the Berkshires, complete with romance andsudden death... this unique collection brings us greatmystery writing that engages both our intellectsand our hearts.From the Paperback edition.