The Big Book of Female Detectives by Otto Penzler, Editor

Wow. This is a LOT of female detective stories all in one place. Divided mainly by date published, this book includes not only selected short stories but brief biographies of the authors as well. Not all of the authors are women but all of the main characters are. I say main characters advisedly because the last section is labeled "Bad Girls" (which, "girls", really? You couldn't call it Femme Fatales? or Wicked Women?) and includes characters who may not exactly be on the side of angels.
I rarely wish books were shorter but this would have been better served to be in a few volumes. It got long slogging through the stories. And it would have been more interesting with slightly longer biographies. Or biographies of the characters. These were all too brief.

This book was published October 16
Three stars
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley; Opinion is my own