Henrietta Hay's Column

Last week the editorial board of the Modern Library, a very prestigious group of scholars, historians and authors, compiled a list of the 100 best English language novels written in this century.

None of my favorite authors was included. In my younger years I read "Ulysses" and "Brave New World" and "Lolita" and a lot of the others on the list. Today I am reading "Murder on the Prowl," by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. For those unfortunate readers who have not met him, Sneaky Pie is a tiger cat who solves mysteries and writes about them -- with a little help.

I'm not sure what this says about my reading taste, but at this point in my life, I read novels for entertainment, and that means mysteries. I have gotten a lot of static from some of my male readers for this, but I still prefer mysteries written by women. They build female characters of depth, women who are warm, funny and sexy, along with being smart and competent and often abrasive. They understand how independent women think and react.

Mysteries are comforting. You know the story pattern and basically how it is going to end. Virtue always triumphs -- well, nearly always -- and there is lots of variety and entertainment along the way. There is usually some blood and gore, but it doesn't bother you much since it's generic blood and you don't have to look at it. It's just a story. It could never happen. Reality is so much worse.

This summer's reading has included quite a variety of protagonists.

Rita Mae Brown is a fine writer and her books include biography, historical fiction and mysteries full of humor and animals. In her latest, "Murder on the Prowl," she comes back to Crozet, Virginia and murder in an exclusive private school. "Harry" Haristeen, in her position as postmistress, hears most of the gossip of the town, and with her fellow detectives, Mrs. Murphy the tiger cat, Pewter the fat cat , and Tucker the corgi, solves the mystery.

Joanna Brady, Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, is one of my favorites. She is a woman we would actually like to know. Her creator is J. A. Jance, and Joanna's latest adventure, "Rattlesnake Crossing," involves a serial killer. She shares the dilemma of so many modern women -- a hard-line, responsible job and single motherhood. She is good at her job and can be tough when she needs to be, as when she faced up and fired a belligerent deputy twice her size. But her warmth and compassion and love for her nine-year-old daughter and her friends gives her a wonderful balance.

Lest you think I have become completely uneducated as I read mysteries, Nevada Barr's books are almost textbooks on natural wonders. "Blind Descent" told me more than I ever wanted to know about caving. Anna Pigeon is a member of the National Park Service and her latest adventure is set in Lechuguilla Cave, just east of Carlsbad. I thought it was a fictional cave until I looked it up on the net and WOW. http://www.marcusj.com/cave/lech00.htm It is the deepest and possibly largest cave in the world, some 80 miles long under the New Mexico desert. This one is not for the claustrophobic.

Another favorite is Marcia Muller's private eye, Sharon McCone, who lives and works in San Francisco. In "Both Ends of the Night" Matty, her flight instructor is killed, and Sharon needs to use a lot of the lessons she learned from Matty. Each one of Muller's McCone books gets a little better. Sharon is learning to be almost as good a pilot as she is an investigator.

A fairly new addition to my list of crime solving females is Robin Hudson, the brainchild of Sparkle Hayter. Robin is not as well developed a character as Sharon McCone, but with an author's name like Sparkle, how can you miss? "Nice Girls Finish Last" has Robin working on improving her attitude as she struggles to keep her job with the All News Network. By the end, she has her old attitude back, along with her favorite weapon, a new hot glue gun.

These books won't make the "100 Best of the Century" list, but they have been great entertainment this summer.