# A Suitable Job for a Woman

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/val-mcdermid/a-suitable-job-for-a-woman/9781890208158

![A Suitable Job for a Woman](https://quivercdn.com/covers/poisoned-pen-press/val-mcdermid/a-suitable-job-for-a-woman_978-18-9020-815-8.jpg?v=2026-07-16%2007%3A50%3A38)

- Book: [A Suitable Job for a Woman](https://www.bookquiver.com/val-mcdermid/a-suitable-job-for-a-woman) ([A Suitable Job for a Woman.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/val-mcdermid/a-suitable-job-for-a-woman.md))
- Authors: [Val McDermid](https://www.bookquiver.com/val-mcdermid)
- Publisher: poisoned_pen_press
- ISBN: 978-18-9020-815-8
- Pages: 320
- Published: 2011-09-30
- Language: en_US
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

"" But down these mean streets must go a man who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished or afraid."" When Raymond Chandler wrote these words in his classic The Simple Art of Murder, he drew a blueprint for the male private eyes who descend from Philip Marlowe to populate the world of crime fiction. But what if the private eye is a woman? And what if she is not a character in a novel but a real, working investigator testing not only the meanness but the absurdity of life on seamy streets? Who will tell her story? Enter Manchester's Val McDermid, herself a skilled writer of the P. I. novel but for years a professional journalist. In an effort to plumb the real world of working women--and throw new light on her own craft--she has interviewed women private eyes from both sides of the Atlantic and assembled their stories with an eye for the absurd and a keen grasp of the gritty nuts and bolts of the profession. As fascinating as fiction, A Suitable Job for a Woman is, in the words of Edgar-winning author Nevada Barr, "" a concise and eye-opening trek through the competence, humor, and humanity of women.""