These words often describe a male spy or counter insurgent who uses his wits to undermine enemy successes: brave, intelligent, resourceful, loyal (clean, thrifty, reverent – my adds). Women who outsmart their enemies with guile get this: conniving, manipulative, immoral. What’s up with this????
From the bad press about the completely unworldly Eve (who was duped by the master manipulator) to Cora Smith (The Postman Always Rings Twice) to Amy (the cheated-on wife of Gone Girl), strong women often get the connotative shaft. Even that wickedest of all, Jezebel, was, in part, a victim of the patriarchy because of the power she wielded.
The French called this female profile femme fatale. It stuck and it has hounded women forever since. The phrase is always pejorative. Why is this? Any woman who outsmarts a man in any book, play or film gets this tag. Doesn’t matter if the guy is already a moral morass, a willing and eager participant with the same goals as a woman who wants what she wants. It’s always going to be HER fault.
Why do I spring this on you? In the next book of my Rita Mars Thriller series, a new woman enters Rita’s circle of friends and exes. She is not a native to the area but arrives from afar. No one really knows anything about her and she’s not open about her personal life. She’s attractive and her eyes are for Rita only. And Rita, with a love history as bleak as Linda Ronstadt’s “When Will I Be Loved,” feels that undeniable pull of sexual attraction. Nonetheless, Rita can feel that nagging twinge of warning in her gut when she’s with this woman.
Rita’s best pal, Baltimore police captain, Mary Margaret Smooth, feels that uneasiness as well about the woman. Nonetheless, Mary Margaret, keeps her distance from interfering, hinting to Rita as to her feelings only in off-the-cuff remarks that question rather than criticize. Is this jealousy or respect for boundaries?
Rita plunges. All the while she’s accepted a knotty case that has her working blind on a family custodial battle she is determined to bring to safe resolution. Maybe this new liaison is an off-ramp for anxiety. Maybe it’s a fling. Even Rita cannot define it. She seems genuinely mystified by her own attraction. With apologies to the immortal voice of Tina Turner, maybe it’s “only the thrill of girl meeting girl” that makes her pulse react.
The Quality of Mercy: A Rita Mars Thriller debuts in 2026. Find out what love’s got to do with it as Rita Mars takes on one of her most intense and dangerous cases. She’s battling time and a fierce patriarch determined to exert his will to the point of violence. All the while, she is seduced by a woman who draws her in so completely that Rita pushes back on her own failsafe gut signals. Is this a femme fatale tale or is it just a matter of “it’s physical, only logical?”
