Crime Fiction from a Professional Eye

Book excerpt: There is a new category of authors blurring the line between fiction and nonfiction: women who work or have worked in criminal justice--lawyers, police officers and forensic investigators--who publish crime fiction with characters that resemble real-life counterparts. Drawing on their professional experience, these writers present compelling portrayals of inequality and dysfunction in criminal justice systems from a feminist viewpoint. This book presents the first examination of the true-crime-infused fiction of authors like Dorothy Uhnak, Kathy Reichs and Linda Fairstein.