These are the bad girls we've been waiting for. They're tough enough to take on thugs, tender enough to be moved to tears. Half Philip Marlowe, half femme fatale, their morals are questionable and their attitudes need adjustment. They're tarts. And they are the heroines of this collection with stories by:

Jessica Adams Jen Banbury Liza Cody Martina Cole Jenny Colgan Stella Duffy Liz Evans Sparkle Hayter Lauren Henderson Vicki Hendricks Lisa Jewell Laura Lippman Sujata Massey Val McDermid Denise Mina Karen Moline Katy Munger Chris Niles Jenny Siler Karin Slaughter

"An outgrowth of the Web site tartcity.com, this collection of short stories by a lineup of some of the most prominent female mystery writers vindicates the site's exasperation with women characters as tokens or frail damsels in distress. The collection was edited by Stella Duffy, author of the Saz Martin mysteries, and Lauren Henderson, author of the Sam Jones mysteries, and they've managed to corral an impressive array of their colleagues to contribute. Henderson's 'Tragic Heroines Tell All' imagines Phaedra, Medea and Lady Macbeth spilling all on a talk show. The author's trademark cheekiness is in evidence but also a fine satirical idea: how the Oprah-ization of feelings and experience reduces grand passions to nothing more than piddling neuroses....Among the other highlights are Jen Banbury's 'Take, for Example, Meatpie,' in which a mysterious and larcenous young woman moves from junior high to junior high, finding the most picked-on boy and providing him with a sexual education. It's not the follow-up to Banbury's debut, Like a Hole in the Head, that some of us have been waiting for, but it's a sexy — and pleasingly perverse — entry. Even sexier and much, much darker is Val McDermid's 'Metamorphosis.' In her introduction to the story McDermid says she has stayed away from writing about sex because it's so tough to do. Well, the only sweat that shows in 'Metamorphosis' is the sweat covering the lovers' bodies. And the eroticism of McDermid's writing here is matched by the twisted ending, which has the muffled deadliness of a brick wrapped in a towel." Charles Taylor, Salon.com

A stunning collection of stories which offers the best of female crime writing Tart Noir writers make their own rules. Part Philip Marlowe, part femme fatale, their heroines think it is entirely possible to save the world while wearing stiletto heels. Their morals are questionable and their actions are guaranteed to shock and delight. From classic crime to magical anti-realism, hot sex to cold calculation, these stories cover all the bases. There are well loved series characters together with brand new ones, just panting for half a dozen books of their own. Stories long and short, knowing laughs and nasty glances. Some are light as air, others are downright transgressive. All are an experience you are unlikely to forget.

Stella Duffy, "very near the top of the new generation of modern crime writers" (London Times), is the author of four crime novels featuring Saz Martin, as well as three other novels. She also writes and performs for radio and theater.

Lauren Henderson, the "dominatrix of the British crime scene" (Time Out London), is the author of seven crime novels featuring heroine Sam Jones. She has also written an anti-Bridget Jones novel.