Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar by Gray Cavender (classic literature list txt) 📕

to loosen up, and the actual moves, once they got into them, felt good at the end of the day…she had to focus and that got her out of her head. Mainly though, Jillian liked the moves, the repetition, and learning to take care of herself in a not-so-violent way that didn’t involve using a gun.

CHAPTER 8

As always after judo, Jillian felt a little tired and a lot refreshed. She maintained her good mood on the drive home although the traffic was bad on Scottsdale Road and on into Tempe, when the name changes to Rural Road. Remembering what it was like with Wes the other day, she turned right onto Broadway, found a wrinkle in the flow, and took a left on College Avenue. The water pipe construction was still underway, but at least the traffic on College was moving.

Back home, Jillian changed out of her gi and into shorts and a T shirt. Then, as she’d planned on the drive home, she went directly into her study and removed from the book case her own copy of Transgressive Detectives. First, she thumbed through the Table of Contents. She liked the articles about all those women detectives: Cagney and Lacey, Blanche White, Masie Dobbs, V.I. Warshawski, Kinsey Millhone, Lisbeth Salander, Veronica Mars, Precious Ramotswe, Jane Tennison, Sarah Lund, and of course, Nancy Drew. In all, there were 14 articles plus an introduction and a conclusion from Carolyn. Carolyn’s chapters provided the context for those fictional women in terms of the relationship between the history of detective fiction—in novels, on TV, and occasionally in movies—and changes in society, including changing perspectives on gender.

After pursuing the Table of Contents, she turned to the Acknowledgements section. There, among several other names were two ‘thank you’ sentences to Jillian Warne. This always made her smile.

Earlier, when Carolyn said “we’re still getting good reviews,” she actually meant the part about “we.” Jillian had helped on the book. She had been in her first full year of grad school and knocked on Carolyn’s door one day for a scheduled appointment. Carolyn looked-up from her computer screen toward the door, and clapped her hands (high to low) and said, “YES!” She’d just heard from a British cultural studies scholar who agreed to write a piece on Jane Tennison, the police detective in the U.K. series, Prime Suspect.

Carolyn said, “She’s one I really wanted, and she’s in.” When it became obvious that Jillian didn’t know what she was talking about, Carolyn explained that she was working on an anthology about fictional women detectives.

Jillian said, “That’s great, I love detective fiction.”

“Really? Who are your favorites?”

“I read a lot of John Grisham.”

“OK, but what about women detectives.”

“Well, I actually like Nancy Drew. When I was a kid, my mom gave me some of the books that she’d read when she was a girl. At first, I just liked them because they were Mom’s books, but then, I got into them. And because I liked them, we also watched some of the original movies on Netflix…from back in the 1930s. I even liked the one from about 10 years ago, the one where Nancy has a hard time fitting in when she goes to a new school in LA. And also the more recent one…” she thought for a couple of seconds…”OK, it’s Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase…it’s a remake of one of those back in the 1930s.”

“Seems like you know your Nancy Drew. So, who besides her?”

“That’s easy. Veronica Mars.”

“Veronica Mars…remind me…”

“It was a TV series…on cable. She’s a teen detective in Southern California—it’s called SoCal noir. She solves mysteries that are important to the kids in her school. I guess maybe one reason I liked her is that I was in high school, so the stories seemed relevant to me. I mean, it was like I knew some of the characters in the show…or kids like them. And, there’s a longer mystery as to who murdered her best friend. Kristen Bell played Veronica.

“OK, got it. I just never watched it.”

“Yes, it’s great. There were only three seasons, but since it went off the air, there’s been a movie, and now there’s a new TV series. She’s older…she’s finished law school and is working again as a private detective…with her dad.”

Soon, they were seated at Carolyn’s round table and talking about detective fiction with women protagonists. While Carolyn knew massively more about this, Jillian was a fan so she knew at least some of the detectives that they were discussing, from books or TV or movies. Before long, Carolyn suggested that Jillian should sign-up under a Research Apprenticeship number and work with her on the anthology. She said she could use the help, and thought Jillian would have fun. And, she’d earn 3 credit hours. So, Jillian signed on.

Over a semester, Jillian helped Carolyn with the correspondence with the contributors and even read and made comments on some of the papers, once they started to trickle-in. She also lobbied Carolyn to include a chapter on Veronica Mars, which was easy because, by then, Carolyn had streamed the first season. What was harder was finding someone to author a paper on ‘the teen detective.’ A few Google searches later, Jillian had found names of two potential contributors that she shared with Carolyn. The second one agreed.

Armed with a tentative Table of Contents, agreements by eight of fourteen contributors AND her intro, Carolyn had gotten a contract for the book. She started shopping for free images for the chapters and the book cover, and Jillian helped with that. Jillian had found two great (and free) shots of Veronica, and lobbied Carolyn to include one of them on the cover…it would crop well to fit with the other cover photos. Carolyn agreed, but on the condition that Jillian would read some detective fiction authors that she suggested…which is how she came to be reading Sue Grafton’s last novel. She’d already read A is for Alibi.

Of course, many of these women detectives