"By their shock of pink shall you know them. Mysteries that double as "chick lit" always display something pink on their covers -- a flamingo-hued bikini, a bubblegum-bright mini skirt, a stiletto heel the shade of Pepto Bismol -- as a kind of insider wink to the hip reader." -- Pink Mysteries (Book World, Aug. 14)

Reviewer Maureen Corrigan was online Tuesday, Aug. 23 to field questions and comments about the latest titles in this emerging subgenre of "chick lit."

Corrigan is the book critic for the NPR program "Fresh Air."

Catch up on your summer reading with Great Escapes , Book World's summer reading guide.

Join Book World Live each Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET for a discussion based on a story or review in each Sunday's Book World section.

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Wilmington Del.: What are some good mystery series that aren't too cute (e.g. the Scumble River ones where she always has the cute sayings that she seems to think are so clever) and don't have the hunky cop/investigator/reporter as a love interest? There seem to be some good ones but so many seem to get too zany (Evanovich) or are just romance novels with a dead body in the mix. Are there ones that you particularly enjoy?

Thanks, Liz

P.S. Your reviews are great!

Maureen Corrigan: Hi Liz,

I really like Janet Dawson's Jeri Howard series (don't know if she's still writing them). Other series that are good but inconsistently so are Karen Kijewski's Kat Colorado mysteries and April Smith's books. For sharp social commentary and great humor I still don't think Susan Isaacs and Lisa Scottoline can be beat.

Thanks for your nice words about my reviews!

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Bethesda, Md.: Do Kelsey Mulhone and VI Warshafsky (Excuse spelling) fit in the Pink genre?

Maureen Corrigan: Hi Bethesda,

Kinsey Milhone and VI would be red with rage to be thought of as pink girl detectives. They're more pinko than pink in fact! Pink girl detectives obsess over designer clothes and boys and broken fingernails. VI and Kinsey are part of that generation of female detectives who owe their livelihood and politics to the Second Women's Movement. They're definitely not into material acquisition or mooning over men. In fact, Kinsey owns one dress and cuts her own hair!

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Janet Evanovich : Am I missing something? My wife, who is a very intelligent woman, is a HUGE Stephanie Plum fan. She turned her sister on to the whole series at the beach in July and her sister read all 11 in 2 weeks. And obviously loved them. I read the first 4 but burned out as the cast of characters grew more and more absurd. Is this a chick book or am I just humorless moron?

Maureen Corrigan: I'm not a big fan of Evanovich's either but I guess the problem is with me rather than her because she obviously has zillions of loyal fans out there. Stephanie Plum just never feels "real" to me.

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Seattle, Wash.: The term "chick lit" really bugs me, because it implies that these books are somehow subpar to regular lit. Do we call James Patterson and Carl Hiassan "dude lit"?

Maureen Corrigan: Well, we do have the term "lad lit" that's been used to identify a certain group of writers who are into exploring models of young, urban manhood in literature. These "chick lit" writers embrace a post-feminist "Sex in the City" vision of young women who are single, self-sufficient, acquisitive, and unsentimentally on-the-make sexually in a way we traditionally associate with men. "Chick" is a term that seems to convey the hip and somewhat tough image of themselves that their characters have.

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Charlottesville, Va.: Enjoyed this article much more than I enjoy "pink mysteries" - loved your line about cotton candy and Tab. Gave up on Scottoline after "Courting Trouble," which just about made me insane, and haven't been able to get into Evanovich either. It's not that I don't like the color pink, or lipstick, or heels, etc., etc. - but, seeing these books, I do end up identifying with Reese Witherspoon and her comments about Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson - i.e, her discouragement that her daughter is getting the message that it's okay to be an airhead, obsessed with looks, possessions, etc. What kind of picture of women is being painted here? Granted, there are plenty of mystery writers out there pushing macho stereotypes at us, but I do find this phenomenon troubling - and am troubled, as well, by the fact that my favorite writers, at present, are mostly male - Lehane, Pelecanos, Connelly.

On a lighter note, I have a day off tomorrow, and could use a good book recommendation - no chick lit, please - or, okay, the best of the chick lit.

Oh, and one other comment - saw you at the Connelly/Pelecanos/Hunter event last year, and really enjoyed your questions.

Maureen Corrigan: I, too, enjoyed thinking and writing about some of these books more than I liked reading them. Yeah, I'm not enthusiastic about the reactionary values being promoted by these books but it's always hard to say how "dangerous" literary images are. I inhaled the "yellow" Nancy Drews as a child and I'd have to say that the vision of independent womanhood promoted by that generation of Nancy's was qualified at best. Scottoline falters sometimes but, then, I can't think of any writer who publishes a lot who doesn't produce a lemon once in a while.

Okay, recommendations: Henning Mankell's mysteries, Richard Stevenson (my Post Mystery Page colleague who writes a very funny series of gay detective mysteries), Kermit Roosevelt's "In the Shadow of the Law" (this summer's must-read thriller) and, if you can find it, CW Grafton's classic legal thriller, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. (Yes, he is Sue Grafton's father.)

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Alexandria, Va.: Just picked up "Death Takes a Honeymoon" by Deborah Donnelly -- great book. Got it for the plane home from Sun Valley, and as it's set there, was especially fun.

Maureen Corrigan: Thanks for the recommendation! I always read mysteries on planes too.

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Baltimore, Md.: What do you think of the new "hobby" related mysteries? I've seen needlework ones, and golf series etc. They all seem to have tips related to their hobby at the end of the book.

Maureen Corrigan: My last Mystery Page before this one (maybe it was April's Page) was devoted to mysteries that teach the reader skills (i.e. meditation, home decorating, horticulture, etc.) I always used to love Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy mysteries because I had the illusion, at least, that I was learning something about antiques. I think it's a real skill to be able to interweave those "lessons" into a taut plot. It's a little far afield from the "crafts" category, but one of the reasons why I enjoy Qui Xiaolong's mysteries so much is because I feel like I'm learning something, painlessly, about modern China when I read them. Maybe it's a holdover from the days when mysteries were devalued as literature that readers like me still feel that we've spent our time in a worthwhile way when we're learning something as we're being entertained by the mystery plot.

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Washington D.C.: I'm curious about your inclusion of Lisa Scottoline as one of the "grandmothers" of this sub-genre. While her novels feature women protagonists, the stories are heavy with legal ethics and dilemmmas, not lip gloss and dating.

Maureen Corrigan: Yes, I said Scottoline and Isaacs might be considered the "grandmothers" of this kind of mystery series not because they share the "pink politics" of the latest crop of writers but because they really introduced a certain wry comic tone about the trials and tribulations of everyday female. This latest group of pink writers is trying to carry forward that comic tradition, I think, but they lack the politic edge of their foremothers. For what it's worth, I got a nice--and, of course, funny--note from Scottoline after my pink piece ran and, while she took comic umbrage at being labeled a "grandmother" of the genre, she was very complimentary about the piece.

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Washington, D.C.: This doesn't count as mystery, but I was hoping that you could point me to some good new chick lit titles along the lines of "The Nanny Diaries" or "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing." I usually stick with more substantial literature, but like something light for the evening commute. Sidenote: I didn't like "The Washingtonienne" and am not pleased it'll be making its way to HBO.

Maureen Corrigan: I have to admit I usually push the pink review books to the side when they arrive at my door. A little of this type of literature goes a long way with me. Something lite for the home commute, eh? How about Kingsley Amis's classic academic comic novel, "Lucky Jim"? It's not pink, but I think it's the funniest novel I've ever read.

Comic women's lit that are decidedly not pink but make for wonderful reading include Barbara Pym and Angela Thirkell. And two women writers who always make me feel better about the universe are Laurie Colwin and Jeanette Haien.

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Arlington, Va.: While maybe not strictly chick lit (although maybe the are?), I love Laurie R. King's novels-- from the funny prudish Mary Russel books to her dark and philosophical mysteries. Not enough stores stock Laurie R. King, so thought I'd pass along the recommendation. Thanks!

Maureen Corrigan: Yes, I think King has really created a classic with Mary Russell. Many of the Holmes' knock-offs aren't worth reading, but King's Mary Russell mysteries make the notion of a female mate for Holmes seem like an inevitability.

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Detroit, Mich.: Are all chick lit heroines white, blonde, upper middle class? I read a great book in this genre, Dish It Up, Baby! with a feminine gay girl as the main character but haven't happened on any series with -diverse- heroines.

Maureen Corrigan: Kyra Davis's "Sex Murder and a Double Latte," which was included in my review features a half-Jewish; half-African American heroine; "Sophie Metropolis" (also in my review) features a Greek-American gal from Queens N.Y. I think the images of Briget Jones and Carrie Bradshaw have become the standard profile of the "chick lit" heroine but not all are blonde and white and rich.

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Rockville, Md.: I am a librarian at the Montgomery County Public Libraries and we have developed a Chick Lit list on our Reader's Cafe link off of our website. Just wondered if you were familiar with Katie Fforde who is a British Chick Lit author and who is married to Jasper Fforde who writes the Thursday Next mysteries. Both are wonderful writers.

Maureen Corrigan: I've seen Jasper F's books, but don't know Katie Fforde. Thanks for the recommendation!

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Rosslyn, Va.: So where do writers like Elizabeth Peters fit in? I've always thought of her books as above the level of the usual paperback (learning something, as it were), but there are discernable patterns in her plotlines.

The author herself is fantastic - I've been to two of her talks and she is a lot of fun to listen to.

Maureen Corrigan: I almost got my head chopped off years ago when in a review of one of Elizabeth Peters' novels I said something like "it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I anticipated." For me, Peters veers close to cuteness but, thankfully, she never crosses the line. And, politically, her character is much more "emancipated" in thought and deed than a lot of these contemporary pink heroines. She obviously has a very devoted literary following.

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Kalorama, Washington, DC: Hi, Maureen, I just joined the chat, but I hope you're going to mention Sparkle Hayter and Lauren Henderson, two of the most edgey writers of the genre. Henderson's Sam Jones is especially entertaining, with a bit of the London/NYC art scene thrown in to keep things interesting.

Maureen Corrigan: Hi Kalorama,

I'll let you do the mentioning since I haven't read them. What makes these writers stand out as "edgy"?

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Philadelphia, Pa: Good Afternoon, As a mystery lover, who loves Sue Grafton and Laura Childs (the tea house mysteries),I do not see the point of distinguishing between mysteries and "chick lit" mysteries. If it is good book that keeps you guessing to the very end (which in mind makes a good mysterty), why does it matter?

Maureen Corrigan: I agree that the two most useful categories in lit are "good book" and "bad book." Beyond that, though, it's interesting for me as a critic and reader to try to discern the literary conventions and the politics of an emerging popular subgenre. Why all these pink books now? What is it about them that's speaking to, or not, contemporary readers?

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Arlington, Va.: I have to admit, i read a lot of chit lit, only because I need something lighter to read between heavier novels.. I read Nanny Diaries between Lovely Bones and Middlesex, and then read the devil wears prada.. now i'm reading life of Pi.. what's a good chic lit or lighter book to read before I start reading reading lolita in tehran?

Maureen Corrigan: How about the Bertie Wooster novels and stories by P.G. Wodehouse? A good biography of Wodehouse came out last year and refueled interest (not that it ever seriously lags) in Wodehouse's work. Some of the funniest stuff ever written.

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If you think Evanovich is bad...: Just try the Bubbles series by Sarah Strohmeyer (sp?). I couldn't get through the second one. I am a voracious reader and went to the back of the Wheaties box after this. So I am curious to know your thoughts.

And I thought the first couple of Stephanie Plum books were okay but they did just start to get too zany and "chicky".

Are there any women writing in the group of Florida writers other than Edna Buchanon (who I think is great)? Sort of the female equivalent of Tim Dorsey/Hiassen?

Maureen Corrigan: Don't know about Florida but how about Linda Fairstein (NYC DA and best-selling mystery writer)whose series is set in Manhattan and environs. She was on a panel with Buchanan (who's got a new series going, by the way) that I moderated this past June and I guess I now associate the two of them in my mind because both write out of their own "true crime" experience.

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Munich, Germany: Is Chick Lit, and particularly detective Chick Lit, limited by definition to American fiction? How about British fiction or others such as Sweden's Liza Marklund and Japan's Banana Yamamoto?

Maureen Corrigan: I think you're right that chick lit--like Hilary Duff cd's and kudzu--is sweeping the planet. Certainly Briget Jones's Diaries 1 and 2 qualify as the ultimate expression of "Brit chick lit."

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Oklahoma City, Okla.: Hi Maureen... Her covers aren't pink but Cara Black's AimV educ mysteries which take place in Paris are a lot fun. She's written five so far, Murder in Clichy being the latest. My favorite is Murder in the Marais.

Any comment on Beach Girls, the novel? I stumbled onto the television series on Lifetime (It stars Rob Lowe. What can I say?) so am now curious about book. Thank you in advance. Terri Savage, OKC

Maureen Corrigan: I too like the Cara Black mysteries that I've read. Good reminder!

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Philadelphia, Pa.: Mini-skirts, female detectives? I should think these would appeal to a male market as well. Do you know about what percentage of pink mystery readers are male?

Maureen Corrigan: It's pretty impossible to say how the readership of pink mysteries breaks down by sex. Men probably read blockbusters like Briget Jones's Diary in order to suss out the contemporary female mind.

Literature works in funny ways. I love the hard-boiled guys--Hammett, Chandler, etc--but their sexual politics are certainly scary, to say the least. For more discussion of mysteries and their meaning and the subterranean effects of literature, allow me to recommend one more book--my own. It's called, "LEave Me Alone, I'm Reading" (Random House) and it's available September 6th!

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CubevilleDC20004: Hi....

Don't know if its considered "chick lit" or not but one of my favorite mystery series is April Woo - by Leslie Glass.

Also, Jennifer Weiner's next novel due out in the fall in a pink mystery - anyone interested in the first chapter preview go to www.jenniferweiner.com.

Just a fan - not affilliated.

Maureen Corrigan: Yes, I like April Woo too.

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Washington, D.C.: Is there some requirement that every other chick lit heroine be named "Sophie"?

Maureen Corrigan: Sophie is a hot name these days--just check out any preschool roster!

Got to wrap things up, but it's been a great discussion.

Thanks everybody,

Maureen

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