Women Detectives Lure Fans of Mystery Books

Whodunits continue to fascinate the American reading public. And the most popular books in the category (authored by both men and women) feature a dizzying variety of female crime solvers. Eight authors who are creating mystery and adventure series starring women will be signing books or lecturing in Thousand Oaks, Ventura and Santa Barbara this week.

Paul Bishop, the Camarillo novelist and LAPD detective, says “Kill Me Again,” starring female homicide cop Fey Croaker, is his most successful novel to date. “Twice Dead,” his second Fey Croaker mystery, has just been published. Bishop’s mystery-writing workshop, “Kill the Victim Early, Bury the Clues Deep,” is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Learning Tree University’s Thousand Oaks campus. Call 497-2292 to register.

Four members of the national organization Sisters-in-Crime, Jonnie Jacobs (“Shadow of Doubt”), Lee Harris (“The Passover Murder”), Lora Roberts (“Murder Mile High”) and Valarie Wolzien (“Shore to Die”), will sign their books and describe why novels about female crime solvers have become so popular. They’ll appear together at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

Gayle Lynds of Santa Barbara, who wrote hard-boiled adventure novels using male pen names, has emerged under her own name with “Masquerade,” the story of a tough, bright, endangered woman who holds her own among international spies and killers. Lynds will address the Mystery Club at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Borders Books, 900 State St., Santa Barbara.

In Beverly Olevin’s modern fantasy, “The Breath of Juno,” a woman in a desperate fight against time confronts magic and an ancient enemy. She will read at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Borders store.

Unlike the quivering, helpless women written into so many historical novels, the women in Judith Merkle Riley’s three medieval novels, “A Vision of Light,” “In Pursuit of the Green Lion” and “The Oracle Glass,” use their wits and ingenuity to rescue themselves from dangerous intrigue.

Riley continues this tradition in “The Serpent Garden,” her romance adventure set in 16th-century England and France, which she will sign at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Borders’ Thousand Oaks store, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

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Henry and Michele Tarlow will display their doll collection and photographer Tom Kelley will sign “Century of Dolls” at 1 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., Ventura.

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If writing short stories or a novel appears to be an insurmountable challenge, Michael Foley’s one-day class, “Writing Fiction: Taking the Plunge,” could be helpful. The seminar, which costs $49, is scheduled from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ventura College, 4667 Telegraph Road, Ventura. Call 654-6459.

Frances Halpern, along with Jon O’Brien, are co-hosts of “Beyond Words” at 10 a.m. Sundays on KCLU 88.3 FM, Ventura County’s national public radio station.