The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how fictional female detectives have been portrayed between 1960 and the present in American series novels. Three novels were chosen to represent each of the decades between 1960 and 2006. Each of the fifteen novels was the debut novel in a series. A content analysis was performed based on a list of frequently occurring characteristics. The frequency of these characteristics was charted in order to determine trends that developed during the time period represented. Findings indicate that after the proliferation of the professional detective character in the 1980s and 1990s, the 2000s represent a return to a depiction of amateur detectives in addition to increasing autonomy in the primary occupations of these sleuths
