Patricia Highsmith is my favorite female writer (regardless of genre), and one of my favorite crime writers. I would call her cynical rather than hard-boiled - a distinction that may not be worth much... In my opinion, everything she wrote is well worth reading. Besides the Ripley novels, I would highly recommend her "Edith's Diary", which is not a mystery but a psychological drama guaranteed to scare the reader to death. There is also "This Sweet Sickness", a harrowing tale of love gone mad. As far as I know, all her books are in print in paperback, which is nice (and unusual). Now somebody should reissue Margaret Millar's work! Regards, - # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" # to majordomo@icomm.ca