Anthologies
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Female Sleuths | 1993 | Buy |
| Women of Mystery II | 1994 | Buy |
| First Cases, Volume 2 | 1997 | Buy |
| Canine Crimes | 1998 | Buy |
| Women of Mystery III | 1998 | Buy |
| Malice Domestic 8 | 1999 | Buy |
| The Oxford Book of Detective Stories | 2000 | Buy |
Kate Fansler Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| In the Last Analysis | 1964 | Buy |
| The James Joyce Murder | 1967 | Buy |
| Poetic Justice | 1970 | Buy |
| The Theban Mysteries | 1971 | Buy |
| The Question of Max | 1976 | Buy |
| Death in a Tenured Position | 1981 | Buy |
| Die Tote von Harvard. | 1981 | N/A |
| Sweet Death, Kind Death | 1984 | Buy |
| No Word From Winifred | 1986 | Buy |
| A Trap for Fools | 1998 | Buy |
| Players Come Again | 1990 | Buy |
| An Imperfect Spy | 1995 | Buy |
| The Puzzled Heart | 1998 | Buy |
| Honest Doubt | 2000 | Buy |
| The Edge of Doom | 2002 | Buy |
Amanda Cross was the mystery-writing alter ego of Carolyn Heilbrun, a respected literary scholar and feminist critic at Columbia University. Writing under her pen name from 1964 onward, Heilbrun created the Kate Fansler series, which brought an intellectual, feminist perspective to the mystery genre. Fansler, a witty English professor at a fictional New York university, solved murders that often took place in academic settings.
The Kate Fansler novels are known for their literate style, drawing on everything from James Joyce to Greek tragedy. Heilbrun used the mystery format to comment on academic politics, gender discrimination, and social conventions. Her books found a loyal audience among readers who appreciated mysteries that mixed sharp plotting with cultural criticism. The series ran for 14 novels, beginning with In the Last Analysis in 1964 and ending with The Edge of Doom in 2002.