ENTERTAINMENT

Why doesn't that reclusive housewife across the street ever come out of her house during the day? Could just be that she's writing a mystery.

More Texas women than you'd think are doing just that. Texas has six chapters of Sisters in Crime. That's the organization started in 1986 by Sara Paretsky (author of the V.I. Warshawski series) to fight discrimination against women in the mystery-writing field and generally promote the careers of female mystery writers.

About the same time as Sisters in Crime was founded, author Phyllis Whitney wrote a letter to Mystery Writers of America protesting the lack of female nominees for awards. Women mystery writers were on their way and speaking for themselves.

Sisters in Crime isn't just for writers. Are you a mystery reader? If so, you'd be more than welcome at the next chapter meeting in your area. The network also includes publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians and people who love mysteries.

Sisters in Crime has special-interest subgroups, such as Senior Sleuths (people who are writing novels with older protagonists – think Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote) – and Guppies (Going to be Published), for writers who have yet to break into publication. These women (and some men) spend a lot of time marketing themselves, discussing agents and how to write a query letters, etc. – it's most informative.

Texas has some major mystery novelists, as well as Guppies. Deborah Crombie, a native of Dallas who now lives in McKinney, writes about Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James of Scotland Yard in a series of 12 novels that are British in tone and absolutely engaging. Each carries readers not only through the mystery of the current book but also the developing relationship between Duncan and Gemma.

Her newest title is the just-released Where Memories Lie. But you really should start with A Share in Death and read the series in order if possible.

Carole Nelson Douglas of Fort Worth writes the Midnight Louie mysteries, set in Las Vegas and telling stories of the "funniest, hairiest, hard-boiled P.I. on the planet," a cat named Louie. There are now some 17 titles in the series, and Louie is still going strong. The latest title is Cat in a Red Hat Rage.

Ms. Douglas is also the author of the Irene Adler series, featuring the only woman smart enough to outsmart Sherlock Holmes. This series, now complete with 11 titles, required extensive research into the Holmes canon as well as 19th-century Europe and New York City. Begin with the first one, Good Night, Mr. Holmes.

Allana Martin used to write mysteries set in West Texas and featuring a curandera (traditional Hispanic folk healer), but no new novels have appeared in several years. More's the pity.

The best known mystery writer who uses a Texas setting these days is Susan Wittig Albert, who lives in the Hill Country and has written 16 novels about China Bayles, an herbalist in the fictional Hill Country town of Pecan Springs. Pecan Springs is a university town halfway between Austin and San Antonio (sound like San Marcos?). The latest title, released in late 2007, is Nightshade.

There's certainly room for more mysteries set in Texas and written by women. I'm trying to do my part, with a mystery featuring a woman who renovates old houses in Fort Worth. I thought there were enough cooking mysteries! Alas, no agent or publisher yet, but as the Guppies are teaching me, being a mystery writer is hard work and takes patience.

Judy Alter is director of the TCU Press in Fort Worth.

Find a sister: For information on Sisters in Crime chapters in Texas, visit GuideLive.com/ texaspages.