When you spend your formative years in the company of ballsy women who take no prisoners, you can't help but soak up the girl power. The great thing about crime fiction? It's heavy on the feminism. Female sleuths are superheroes. Think about it. They're detectives, forensic pathologists, reporters; they don't just solve crimes, they blaze trails through Alpha-male-dominated worlds. Do they moan about it? Nope. They brush off the sexism and get on with the job. I owe everything to the strong female voices on my bookshelf. Without them, I wouldn't have known how to create a kick-ass character of my own. Here are my favourites…
Nancy Drew
[top] La Drew was every girl's older, cooler, smarter sister. Plus she drove a convertible. And had a dreamy boyfriend. FYI, she's been banging up bad guys since 1930, just ten years after women were given the right to vote in the US (I know).
Clarice Starling
When ingénue FBI student is sent to interview serial killer (slash wine buff) Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Starling uses both her whip-smart brain and her vulnerability to gain his trust - and solve the case. Hurrah!
Lisbeth Salander
Socially dysfunctional but razor-sharp, Salander is one of a kind. Steig Larsson based his anti-heroine on the grown-up version of another rebellious Swede, Pippi Longstocking.
Kay Scarpetta
Patricia Cornwall's cool, blonde medical examiner's personal life is as compelling as the cases she solves. Her icy exterior may soften throughout the series but her astonishing brain holds firm. Also, fun fact: Cornwall has installed a forensic lab in her house so she can perform her own book research. Goals, people.
Modesty Blaise
Dubbed the 'female James Bond', Peter O'Donnell's comic-strip heroine out-smarts and out-fights any man in town. Blaise later starred in eleven novels - and if there's a female sleuth with a better name I don't know about it.
Lindsay Gordon
Any character who describes herself as 'a cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist' deserves to be on this list. Val McDermid's fearless, straight-talking journalist holds a special place in my heart.
Breaking Dead by Corrie Jackson is out now
