Women Who Kill: The Image of Postfeminist Success as Motive in the Novels of Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid

Abstract

Within the crime genre, women who kill are provided with motivations that echo points of tension in society, killing to gain or retain something necessary for the successful life that they believe they cannot attain using any other method. The recent appearance of the image of postfeminist success, as outlined by Angela McRobbie, as a motive for murder in the novels of Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid is significant as it indicates a critical engagement with the neoliberal expectation that women need to achieve the postfeminist image of success to reach a feminine version of the good life. This article will examine how the image of postfeminist success becomes a motive for murder in Cleeves's and McDermid’s novels, highlighting societal concerns over the impact on women of the expectations of the postfeminist image of success.