List of Female Detective Characters - C

C

• Christine Cagney is a New York City police detective played by Sharon Gless on the 1982-1988 CBS series Cagney & Lacey.
• Hailey Cain is a West Point drop-out with a mysterious past, in two novels 2010 and 2011 by Jodi Compton, who also wrote two earlier novels featuring missing persons investigator Sarah Pribek.
• Jenny Cain is the director of a philanthropic foundation in a series commenced 1984 by Nancy Pickard.
• Cat Caliban is an older woman who owns an apartment building and is learning to be a private detective, in a series 1993-1997 set in Cincinnati, by 'D.B.Borton' (Dr Lynette Carpenter).
• Miranda Callendar is a detective on the 2007 BBC One series Jekyll
• Sarah Calloway is a magazine reporter in crime novels 1986 to 1990 by Jean Warmbold.
• Anna Cameron is a police sergeant in a series of books by Scottish crime novelist Karen Campbell (debuted 2008).
• Letitia 'Tish' Carberry was embroiled in comic adventures in short stories in the Saturday Evening Post, and from 1911 in books, by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
• Carlotta Carlyle is a private detective in Boston in a series of books by American crime novelist Linda Barnes (debuted 1987).
• Caroline Carmichael is a CIA intelligence analyst in a series of books by Francine Mathews who held such a job herself for some years.
• Mary Carner is a store detective in five books 1938-1942 by Zelda Popkin.
• Hollis Carpenter is a lesbian and an investigative reporter in 1930s Houston. in two novels 1991 and 1992 by Deborah Powell.
• Sandra Carpenter is an American dancer in London, played by Lucille Ball, who agrees to help police investigate the death of a friend in the 1947 film Lured.
• CeCe Caruso is an LA based biographer of crime writers and film makers who becomes involved in mysteries in the course of her work, in a series by Susan Kandel.
• Harlow Jane Cassidy is a talented fashion designer who returns to her home town and finds she has other gifts, in the first book of a proposed series by Melissa Bourbon, published 2011.
• Molly Cates is a reporter in Austin, Texas in the late 1940s, in The Red Scream 1995.
• Jordan Cavanaugh is a forensic pathologist played by Jill Hennessy in the NBC series Crossing Jordan, aired 2001-2007.
• Lady Grace Cavendish is a 13 year old girl at Queen Elizabeth I's court, in a series for children by Patricia Finney, but with author credit given to 'Lady Grace'.
• Laura Caxton is a Pennsylvania State Trooper turned vampire hunter in a fantasy series by David Wellington (debuted 2006).
• Lois Cayley is an adventurous young woman in an early mystery novel by Grant Allen (1899).
• Corinna Chapman runs a bakery in Melbourne and solves neighbourhood puzzles in a series commenced 2004 by Australian Kerry Greenwood.
• Nora Charles is a Nob Hill heiress married to Nick Charles, a retired Pinkerton detective. The pair solves a crime in The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett and in the successful movie of the book, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Five movie sequels to "The Thin Man" were made, followed by radio and television series. A remake of "The Thin Man" will be released in 2013. Witty banter between husband and wife was a hallmark of the book and films.
• Annabeth Chase is a criminal prosecutor, played by Jennifer Finnigan, in the television series Close to Home, broadcast on CBS 2005-2007.
• Lydia Chin is a private detective in New York City with partner Bill Smith in a series of books by American novelist S. J. Rozan (debuted 1994).
• Ellah Clah is a Navajo police officer; written by Aimée & David Thurlo
• Denise Cleever is an undercover agent in a series of books by Australian crime novelist Claire McNab (debuted 2000).
• Nancy Clue is an amateur detective and lesbian parody of Nancy Drew in a series of books by American crime novelist Mabel Maney (debuted 1992).
• Phyl Coe was a ‘beautiful lady detective’ in Philco’s Mysteries of the Air, a radio program sponsored by Philco Radio Tubes in 1936. The next season the detective was changed to a man, Phil Coe.
• Dr Cory Cohen is a psychologist in two novels 1999 & 2002 by Dr Sandra Levy Ceren, a clinical psychologist raised in New York and based in California.
• MIdge Cohen is a divorced writer whose mother fixes her up with men who seem death prone in two novels 1991 & 1993 by Toni Brill.
• Julie Collins is a secretary in the sherriff’s office in 'Bear Butte' who takes up private investigating in a series with Native American themes started 2005 by Lori G Armstrong.
• Nikki Collins is a debutante and detective story enthusiast, played by Deanna Durbin, who sees a murder from a train in the comedic mystery film Lady on a Train (1945).
• Kat Colorado is a private investigator in Sacramento, California in a series of books by American crime novelist Karen Kijewski (debuted 1989).
• Harper Connelly is an investigator in a series of books by American crime novelist Charlaine Harris (debuted 2005).
• Natalie Cook is a private detective played by Cameron Diaz in the 2000 film Charlie's Angels and its 2003 sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.
• Bertha Cool is a private investigator in the Cool and Lam series of books by American crime novelist A. A. Fair (debuted 1939).
• Alexandra Cooper is a Manhattan prosecuter in a series of books by American crime novelist Linda Fairstein (debuted 1996).
• Iris Cooper is a flapper-era college student in Oregon who solves crimes with journalist Jack Clancy in three books 1984 to 1989 by K. K. Beck who also writes the Jane Da Silva book series.
• Miranda Corbie is a private investigator in San Francisco, California in the 1940s in a series of books by American mystery-thriller novelist Kelli Stanley (debuted 2010).
• Rachel Cord is a lesbian private detective in America's Heartland in two books by American mystery novelist R. E. Conary (debuted 2008).
• Meg Corey is an amateur sleuth whose adventures start after she inherits a colonial house and apple orchard in a book series by Sheila Connolly, debuted 2008.
• Grace 'Candi' Covington is a small town social worker and amateur investigator in eight novels 1994-2001 by Nora DeLoach.
• Shandra Covington is a journalist who spends her off-hours playing investigator in the books by Jeffrey S. Savage (2005–2010).
• Bess Crawford is the daughter of military man and a battlefield nurse in World War I in a book series (2009-) by Charles Todd.
• Anya Crichton is a forensic pathologist in Sydney, Australia, debuted 2004 in a series of books by Kathryn Fox.
• Stella Crown is a dairywoman by day and a biker by night in a series by Judy Clemens debuted 2004.
• Florence Cusack is a young "lady detective" in stories 1899-1900 by L T Meade and Robert Eustace. In the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the story "Mr. Bovey's Unexpected Will", she was played by Elizabeth Conboy.