Dr. Linda Mizejewski is professor and chair of the Women's Studies Department at Ohio State University. She is an author of poetry books, many reviews of books dealing with women's issues, essays on women in popular culture, as well as three books: Hardboiled & High Heeled: The Woman Detective in Popular Culture (2004); Ziegfeld Girl: Image and Icon in Culture and Cinema (1999); and Divine Decadence: Fascism, Female Spectacle, and the Makings of Sally Bowles (1992).

A Brief Overview of Dr. Mizejewski's latest book, Hardboiled & High Heeled, includes the following description: Can a gumshoe wear high heels? In a genre long dominated by men, women are now taking their place-as authors and as characters-alongside hard-boiled legends like Sam Spade and Mike Hammer. Hardboiled & High Heeled examines the meteoric rise of the female detective in contemporary film, television, and literature. Richly illustrated and written with a fan's love of the genre, Hardboiled and High Heeled is an essential introduction to women in detective fiction, from past to present, from pulp fiction to blockbuster films.