"Ms. Murder" includes some of the best fiction by such writers, including Amanda Cross, Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Antonia Fraser. The book traces the evolution of the female sleuth from F. Tennyson Jesse's Solange Fontaine (in a newly discovered story making its first appearance here in any book) to Sarah Paretsky's tough Chicago investigator V. I. Warshawski, who lives life entirely on her own terms.

The detectives in these stories are shrewd, sophisticated, even hard-boiled. Amateur or professional, they unravel mysteries that involve the reader right from the start. From Edwardian London to sleek modern Chicago, from discerning academics to gun-toting P.I.'s, "Ms. Murder" presents the best by the best. It is destined to become a collectable classic.