Stella Rimington and her Liz Carlyle stories

[dearcathyandclare]

Anyone else read these? They are contemporary spy stories with a female lead. I really like them, as pure escapism andI trust the author's knowledge about how things are done.
Anyone else?

They're actually one of the few books I couldn't be bothered to finish! I found her style far too airport trash and had been hoping they'd be more genuine and insightful into the workings of MI6 etc
Sorry! :( :)

I read all the ones now out in PB, largely because I like spy stories and was trying to write my own, and was attracted to idea of female lead, etc and reckoned Stella R must know more about espionage than me . I'm sure that's still the case BUT She doesn't write dialogue well - it's very clunky and wooden - and the stories are a bit samey and predictable after a bit. The later ones may have been slightly better than the earlier ones. I plan to reread them soon, in the interests of research! then dump them cos they really aren't that good and giving house/shelf-room to, IMO.

Actually Flubba I do agree they are airport trash, but I've loved them for it. Usually I go for something more, well literary ( sp) but once in a while I like to dis-engage the brain.
( and hate chick lit/ crime/ horror)
Can you suggest other things that are trashy but not male dominated, such as Le Carre?

Oh, but I love Le Carré and hadn't considered the male domination of those kinds of books. I guess I was just frustrated by Stella's books because I thought she'd have meatier content ~ it was the kind of sentence along the lines of "he appreciated her slimline figure and sharp cut suit as she walked in" that drove me to giving up on them.

Hadn't picked up on that, maybe reading too quickly!

Try Henry Porter. He has a good female lead in a few of his books, and writes well. I do love Le Carre, though.

Actually what I really want is for Margaret Attwood to churn out at least a book a month, or perhaps Angela Levi or Kate Atkinson, Helen Dunmore or Sarah Waters

I have read one of the Stella Rimington books. I didn't think she was a very good fiction writer (dialogue, plot construction) though I'm sure that her descriptions of the methods used are probably fairly accurate! OK as an airport purchase/stuck in a holiday cottage for a wet week type read.

Thanks habbibu, I've a quick google and he sounds promising. Any particular titles?

Um. I think Empire State was the first one I read, but there might be some sense in reading them in chronological order. Main character in most is male, but Empire state has female lead/co-lead.

Oh, yes, Dying Light also has female lead, I think.