Acknowledging that many television networks offer a glut of programs featuring male detectives, writer Jess McCabe pays homage to standout fictional female sleuths in an article for The Guardian. The top ten list features characters from literature, film and TV and highlights the reasons why these lady detectives “broke boundaries and helped redefine the image of the investigator.” Of her number one pick Nancy Drew, McCabe writes, “The original, the iconic teenage detective, any list of female detectives inevitably starts with Nancy Drew, who has been solving mysteries for more than 80 years, with Hilary Clinton and Sonia Sotomayor among the high-profile women to cite her as an inspiration.” Read more…

Eva Gabrielsson, author Stieg Larsson’s long time partner, is confident that she can complete the fourth installment of the Millennium series. “I am able to finish it … Steig and I often wrote together,” she tells AFP. Though she qualified this statement by explaining the Larsson family must first grant her the intellectual rights to the series before she will begin work. Larsson had written more than 200 pages of the fourth book before his heart attack in 2004, and Gabrielsson is in possession of this manuscript, though all rights to the series are currently owned by his father and brother. She refused to reveal any plot details of the book, except to admit that “Lisbeth little by little frees herself from her ghosts and her enemies.”

Millions of fans are thrilled at the prospect of a new Millennium book, and are anxious to set their eyes on Larsson’s last words about Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Though if this new installment is written and fails to meet audience expectations, it could become a disappointing chapter in an already checkered legacy. Would it be better to leave well enough alone and let the first three books stand on their own? Read more…

Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy starring the brilliant and enigmatic computer hacker Lisbeth Salander has the taken world by storm. Now, his father Erland, and brother Joakim are scheduled to appear on CBS Sunday Morning this Sunday to share details of a fourth book in the series. After Larsson’s death in 2004, it was revealed that a manuscript for a fourth installment existed, and rumors began to fly about how much of it he was able to develop before being felled by a heart attack. According to an article on the Los Angeles Times website, Erland claims to have seen and held the manuscript. His brother also speaks of receiving an e-mail mere days before the author’s death in which he writes of nearing completion of the book. Read more…

By Stieg Larsson
Knopf | 576pgs
Release Date: May 25, 2010

Rabid fans of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy rejoice! The final installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest arrives in stores tomorrow. The third novel, following The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire opens right where the second novel leaves off. “The Girl” in question, crazy-smart computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, lies in a hospital bed under police guard, suffering a gunshot wound to the head. The man who shot her, arch enemy and father, Alexander Zalachenko, is located a few doors down, convalescing from an ax wound in the head, the blow dealt by his daughter. Besides fighting for her life, Salander must also fight for her freedom as she stands accused of three murders, and will face a trial back in Stockholm, if she survives. She again teams up with journalist Mikael Blomkvist, to clear her name. Working with Salander, mainly through digital communications, and recruiting a group of hackers and journalists to aid in the fight, Blomkvist uncovers a long-term government conspiracy that has hurt many innocent people, chief among them, Lisbeth Salander herself.
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