Sara Paretsky, who is credited with changing the role of women in crime fiction, visits the library on Sunday February 21 for a preview event for this year’s Scarborough Literature Festival.

She was also one of the first female crime writers – as distinct from detective novelists – to hit the best-seller lists.

Her Chicago-set novels feature private detective VI Warshawski, played on the big screen by Kathleen Turner, an intriguing personality who will happily break in to premises in her search for the truth but also sings along to opera on the radio.

Her appearance, in the library’s concert hall at 7pm, comes just three days after the publication of her novel Hardball.

The festival runs from Thursday April 15 to Sunday 18 and appearing will be the first female head of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington, the creator of suburban subversive Reggie Perrin, David Nobbs, and historical fiction writer Philippa Gregory.