# Guys, which novels with a female main character do you particularly like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407 "2017-06-08T01:31:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/121 "2017-07-05T20:41:09Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I’m a big fan of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series. Me, too. I’m currently re-reading them. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/122 "2017-07-05T20:55:14Z")
CJ Cherry’s Morgaine. ---
**Author:** ![Dante\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/123 "2017-07-05T21:00:10Z")
The _Smokey Barret_ series by Cody MacFadyen. Barret is a female homicide detective, specializing in serial killers and is still haunted and traumatized by her past encounter with a killer during her childhood. Well written and fun characters. Highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/124 "2017-07-05T21:01:29Z")
CJ Cherryh’s Chanur series is an old favorite of mine, and written from the viewpoint of a felinoid female ship captain. Think “lion people”, basically. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/125 "2017-07-05T21:05:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That strikes me as excellent advice. Once the series goes bad for you, it will never get any better. Yeah, the progression from ‘fun action and corrupt politicians to overcome and exciting intrigue’ to ‘here’s another bunch of people at a conference table, after an intro consisting of multiple pages explaining the history of the table that has no relevance to anything else’ runs pretty linearly. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/126 "2017-07-05T23:27:12Z")
What killed the Honor Harrington series for me was when I picked up one in a bookstore, and wasn’t sure if I’d read it yet. So I read the blurb on the back… and still wasn’t sure if I’d read it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/127 "2017-07-06T13:27:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What killed the Honor Harrington series for me was when I picked up one in a bookstore, and wasn’t sure if I’d read it yet. So I read the blurb on the back… and still wasn’t sure if I’d read it yet. Definitely a bad sign. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/128 "2017-07-07T11:10:51Z")
I really enjoyed both **Virginia Woolf** ’s _Mrs Dalloway_ and **Margaret Atwood** ’s _Surfacing_. In fact, they’re probably among my favourite novels (it’s longish list, granted). ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/129 "2017-07-07T15:59:39Z")
_Enchantress from the Stars_ and _The Far Side of Evil_ by Sylvia Engdahl. _Clan of the Cave Bear_ and a couple of its sequels, by Jean Auel. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/130 "2017-07-07T20:55:37Z")
For something a little more modern than a lot of posts here, I submit Sunny Randall. > **[Sorry, pal…](https://thrillingdetective.com/2021/03/28/sorry-pal/)** > > Most likely it’s not your fault. You haven’t broken the internet. Chances are, the page you’re looking for doesn’t exist. At least not yet. Or at least not here. Maybe I cha… I’m a big fan of Robert B Parker (Jesse Stone, Spencer for Hire); Parker developed a female detective character that I really enjoyed. At one point Helen Hunt was supposed to turn her character into a movie franchise; but unfortunately it fell through. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/131 "2017-07-08T04:14:27Z")
R. A. Heinlein, Friday ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/132 "2017-07-08T12:40:18Z")
> [@snowmaster](#): > > R. A. Heinlein, Friday I never noticed that those zipper pulls were penii until someone recently mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/133 "2017-07-08T16:42:57Z")
I don’t think anyone has mentioned Sharon Shing’s stories, especially the four “Blessings” book that could have been titled (but weren’t) Zoe’s Tale, Josetta’s Tale, Corene’s Tale, and Leah’s Tale. A fifth book is required to complete the series, but the author claims she has no plans for one. It could be Celia’s Tale and take place 17 years later when the heroine has turned 18, been named Crown Princess, and her parents have undertaken to find an appropriate mate, which she, as a creature of Wood, will fiercely resist. Let me second the Tuesday Weld series and also Terry Pratchett’s witches and the Tiffany Aching stories. What a loss, was Pratchett’s death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407.md?page=6)