July ScaredyKIT: Femmes Fatales

July's theme is Femmes Fatales, so we will be reading thrillers where either the main character is a woman or the author is a woman (or both, of course)! You can also narrow the theme and read a book about a villainous woman, a true femme fatale, if you like.

If you'd like to read something older, some good authors to explore include Dorothy B. Hughes, Patricia Highsmith, and Shirley Jackson. If you'd like to read something more modern, consider Laura Lippman, Megan Abbott, and Gillian Flynn.

Here are some title recommendations from my recent reading:
Queenpin by Megan Abbott
Tangerine by Christine Mangan
Sunburn by Laura Lippman
Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes

Have fun and let us know what you're reading here and in the wiki.

I will be reading two classics next month for this theme: Laura by Vera Caspary and Now, Voyager by Olive Higgins Prouty. I may make it a double feature and also watch the film versions of each.

Via tagmash, a couple of options that have come up for me include:
- Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs
- Pretty Baby / Mary Kubica

I've been looking forward to this theme! I recently purchased a number of books from the Femme Fatales Publishing Company so I will definitely be reading one of those, The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee. Also I have a book called The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle that is a ghost story about two female ghosts - one being very good and the other wicked - we just have to figure out which is which. I've seen the 1944 film that was made from The Uninvited and it is one of my favorite ghost stories.

>4 DeltaQueen50: I also have The Uninvited. If I have time, I might read that one too!

I've got In a Lonely Place on the shelf. I checked out Femme Fatale as a tag, and found I had these on my shelves also: She, The Robber Bride and My Cousin Rachel - not sure how well any of these fit, but I'll consider them.

>5 sturlington: Always good to have company! :)

>6 LisaMorr: Lisa, I read The Robber Bride recently and there is definitely a great femme fatale in that book and from what I remember of My Cousin Rachel it would fit as well.

>6 LisaMorr:, interesting. I might try to read She. have it as a TBR and it is tagged horror so I think that one would work.

>7 DeltaQueen50:, >8 Kristelh: Awesome - lots of choices! And I have a week of (stay-at-home) vacation in July, so more time to read!

I may read Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense. I'm betting some femmes fatales will show up.

>7 DeltaQueen50: And yes, My Cousin Rachel definitely fits.

>10 NinieB: OMG you should read that, definitely. That anthology is what started me on a femmes fatales kick that is still going strong!

>11 sturlington: Oh, that's really good to hear! The author list is quite strong so I've been looking forward to it for awhile.

I'll read Megan Abbott's, Bury Me Deep, which I think is the only noir from her that I haven't read yet.

>1 sturlington: Thank you for the suggestions. I have both Tangerine by Christine Mangan and Sunburn by Laura Lippman so I'll choose one of them.

I am reading Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie. It is a female author and 4 of the 6 suspects are female. One is bound to be a femme fatale.

I just completed The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle, it was a very well done ghost story that I enjoyed as much as the 1944 film.

>10 NinieB: & >11 sturlington: Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives is such a great anthology. >10 NinieB: I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Laura by Vera Caspary (4*)

If you are familiar with the film version of this novel, then you know the story. The film is pretty faithful, although the afterword of the Femmes Fatales publication provides an interesting account of how the author disagreed with the director on certain decisions he made. What interested me in reading this was the insight into Laura's character, particularly found in the section that is written in her voice, which was the best part of the novel, in my opinion. She is not a femme fatale as we may think of that stereotype, but rather a woman who believes in independence as achieved through work, and a woman who can take a frank look at herself and see her own flaws and mistakes, but also who knows what she wants from life and doesn't apologize for it. Her character was more in-depth and multilayered than I was expecting, and it elevates this novel above mere pulp noir.

>18 luvamystery65: Two strong recommendations for this book—now I'm really glad I have it ready to read!

This is my first time hosting a challenge. I am working on the details now and will have the August thread posted no later than the 20th.

>21 lowelibrary: Sounds good! Looking forward to it!

I have completed The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee and I really enjoyed this "whodunit", the author writes about the world of Burlesque with knowledge and plenty of humor.

Completed She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard for my femmes fatales. I think she fully achieved that fame.

I'm reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle with my sister, who's never read it, and I think it will do nicely for the category.

August thread is up here

I have finished Footsteps in the dark which is not among Georgette Heyer's best.

Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson
4.5 stars

Jenna was an actress until an accident on her last movie. She quit and left for a small town in Oregon, after divorcing her husband and taking her two teenage daughters with her. Unfortunately, there seems to be a serial killer in the area, and Jenna seems to be the target of smaller crimes.

Probably not the most exciting summary, but I was really hooked on this one! I could call it a mystery, a thriller, suspenseful, and horror. I added in horror after reading one night before bed and having to convince myself to get up and do the nightly routine, including heading to the basement to clean the cat litter! Didn’t want to head down there... Although she wrapped up this book, at the end she started up what will be the second book in the series. I had already decided if it was a series, I’d be continuing; she didn’t need the cliffhanger to convince me.

I read the short story anthology Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives over the last few days. >11 sturlington: and >18 luvamystery65: did not steer me wrong--these are great stories and yes, in addition to being written by women, they contained some femmes fatales! Probably the women in Vera Caspary's "Sugar and Spice" were the closest to my idea of a femme fatale, basically a siren. I found the Dorothy Salisbury Davis a bit odd, as it barely has a woman in it. Another LT reviewer comments that the story introductions contain spoilers, so I'm glad I read them after the stories.

>29 NinieB: So glad you enjoyed it!

>29 NinieB: Really glad you liked it! I felt like that short story collection was just the right length, and excellently edited.

>31 sturlington: I did make sure to go back and read each introduction after the story.

I've read Bury Me Deep, which turned out to be inspired by the 30's "Trunk Murderess" Winnie Ruth Judd. For much of the story the main character could be categorized as an innocent with her two friends being femme fatales more than she, but there's a twist. Oh, you just knew there would be a twist ;-).

Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs
3 stars

Mercy is a shapeshifter (coyote) who was raised by werewolves. She is brought into a fae community to help sniff out a murderer. Somehow someone Mercy knows who is not the murderer (or was this a retaliation murder?) is arrested, so Mercy is trying to help find who is the (one of the?) real murderer(s?). In addition, Mercy is torn between two men, one the alpha werewolf.

Listened to the audio, and I had a hard time focusing (that may be obvious from my summary!). Enjoyed what I paid attention to, but I’ll try to remember not to listen to another audio in this series, for as long as I continue the series. I’ll at least try the next one (not audio) and see if I want to continue after that at all.

The title I just read for my BingoDOG female authors card Behind a Mask by A. M. Bernard, the pseudonym under which Louisa May Alcott wrote thrillers and mysteries, is a novella about Jean Muir, a femme fatale. Jean Muir, an actress in her 30s, dressed up as someone much younger and took a position as a governess for a wealthy family in rural England. Besides the girl for whom she was governess, the family included 2 males of marriageable age, the mother, and an "elderly" 55-year-old uncle who lived next door. Ms. Muir achieves her goal.

Adding one more which was not very good, unfortunately: Das Gedächtnis der Insel features a very bad stepmother.