Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense

Sarah Weinman has done us all a favor by snatching from obscurity some of the finest suspense writers of the post World War II era. Some, like Shirley Jackson, I was already familiar with, but others, such as Nedra Tyre, are new discoveries.And what discoveries they are. The stories present a wide range of female characters from every socio-economic class, with one thing in common...they're willing to cross the boundaries of acceptable behavior to get what they want. Even if that means murder.These writers were working during a time when America was at the height of prosperity and , one assumes, domestic bliss on the home front. After all, the United States had won the war, banished the Axis powers, and was the economic engine driving a global recovery. But not all was Sugar and Spice, as Vera Caspary explains in her sad tale of family rivalry. The men in these stories often little suspect the tensions and deceit simmering below the surface, as we see in The Stranger in the Car. Many of the women in this collection are caregivers, whose financial burdens lead them to take desperate actions. These often lead to a shocking end with a surprise twist, as in A Nice Place to Stay and Mortmain.You'll never look at that nice nurse caring for an aged loved one quite the same way after reading these stories.If this sampling of suspense leaves you hungry for more, check out the website that Sarah has put together celebrating these top notch writers, Domestic Suspense. It's packed with more photos, books covers and biographies than a box of Cracker Jack. It'll lead you to more stories and novels by these writers. It's time to bring these women out of the attic. Sarah Weinman has unlocked the door.Take a peek. Go ahead...I dare you.

Sarah Weinman is my new favorite editor based on this book alone. I'm only halfway through this book of short stories, but am hooked. She really did a great job of selecting superb crime fiction/noir stories by various authors. Most of the writing, itself, is rather good as well, particularly that of Vera Caspary.I also enjoy the whole other world and vantage point of female authors that Weinman has opened up. My next purchase are the two Women Crime Writers volumes.One caveat that other reviewers have made is that you have to be careful with Weinman's introductions, because one or more of them can spoil the story (suspense of progression or even outcome), but I do recommend reading her intros to these stories if for no other reason than she cites other works by the author at hand which essentially translates to further recommended reading.I'm very pleased to have a new passion for crime fiction in the form of under-acknowledged or overlooked female authors. I'm not a big fan of "private eye" noir - in fact I don't like it all - so the sub-genre of domestic suspense-noir is more to my taste.

A set of short stories deftly selected and edited by the mystery ace Sarah Weinman. Although there are several female mystery writers, including the Empress-- Agatha Christie-- I feel ladies are under appreciated when people think of true Noir Fiction. Kudos to Ms. Weinman for this and other works.Firstly the check boxes at the top of the review need to be clarified. These are murder mysteries, so there are dead people, but the crimes happen off stage, so when I state "Some Violence" the representation of this violence is minimal. Same with sexual content. I haven't finished the book but so far there isn't even any "making out".I'm not going to mention any of the individual stories but the authors of these stories seem to represent a wide spectrum of people both known and unknown to me before I got the book. Fortunately Ms. Weinman writes excellent introductions to each story adding a bit about the story after giving a short pertinent biography of the writer.Highly recommend this book for Noir lovers.

i purchased the Kindle version of this book after reading an article in the NY Times Magazine by Sarah Weinman. The theme of the anthology -- women mystery writers who tended to focus on the domestic relations side of criminality (as opposed to corruption, politics, greed, etc.) -- struck me as interesting, both historically and literarily. The writing is of consistently high quality, though some of the stories work better as mysteries than others. The themes of the stories are timeless, but the moral treatment in some of the stories will strike readers as stale, a feature that makes the book more interesting as history than literature. It was also very good to be introduced to a number of excellent writers of whom I had never heard; Weinman's short introductions to the different writers provides just enough background information to distinguish them as persons. In any case, there was sufficient variety and quality to keep me reading to the end.

This is a compilation of many authors' stories, so the questions don't fit. The introduction was very good. But I found the stories a little too noir for my taste. I only read the first four stories.Then I gave the book to a friend. I think the selections were appropriate, based on the editor's introduction. The authors' writing was very good.

This is a great collection of short stories all written by women that boarder from eerie to the macabre. From the nanny with issues from her past, to the death of a woman who's sister is convinced isn't a suicide, to the daughter who has suddenly shown up with a black eye and suspicious actions cause her father alarm this book is a page turner.

I adore psychological suspense, but lately am getting tired of the proliferation of the graphic forensic police procedurals. These stories deliver pure suspense and psychological insight without the gratuitous gore. The editor has selected supremely satisfying works by authors who you may not have heard of, but whose influence is felt in the genre today. My only "complaint" is that when the stories end, you are left aching for more, wishing the stories would have become novels.

I don't typically read anthologies but I bought this as my own writing has been adversely impacted by the Cornoavirus and I've got to the 45k-mark on my WIP and needed reminding of what great psychological suspense is and I thought what better way to rediscover my love of the genre than read these classic shorts. It's spurred me on to remember that crime fiction is about characters embarking on quests to either discover a criminal, stop someone from becoming one, or to figure out why oneself became one. However some of them aren't necessarily psychological nor do they really involve suspense. They're more or less based on the shock factor and twist endings but without the modern rule of including red herrings beforehand. Though they are all unique and include crime or derangement.

This is a fine collection of stories about women who don't behave as you'd expect - murderous nurses, runaways, jealous wives, psychotic orphans, etc - written by some excellent writers including well-known names like Patricia Highsmith. A highly enjoyable collection, varying in quality, but I haven't read a dud yet - I haven't quite finished the book. I keep it in my downstairs toilet to read in there as it lends itself to dipping in and out of.

Fabulous collection of 'domestic suspense' stories. If Sarah Weinman or the publisher reads this, please could we have another volume?

Excellent anthology showing women writers on the dark side.

This book is not just good because of the stories but also because it serves as a documentation of women crime fiction writers of the past.