SOURCE: Walton, Priscilla L. “Form and Forum: The Agency of Detectives and the Venue of the Short Story.” Narrative 6, no. 2 (May 1998): 123-39.

In the following essay, Walton argues that the short story anthology is an ideal medium through which lesser-known women crime-mystery-detective authors can gain a popular readership in an industry that often favors male authors.

Long shot at that jumping sign, Visible shivers running down my spine; Cut to the baby taking off her clothes, Close up of the sign that says “we never close.” You snatch a tune and you match a cigarette; She pulls their eyes out with a face like a magnet, I don't know how much more of this I can take— She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake. She is watching the detectives, He's so cute. She is watching the detectives, Then they shoot, shoot, shoot. 

—Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello's...