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The Case Of The Female Investigator


By Connie M. Bonnette
Sleuth Private Investigations, DPS-PSB A15462


There is a widely-held conception of a private investigator, whether it's a conscious choice or a subconscious bias reinforced by hundreds of mystery writers.

Fiction is populated with two basic types of private detectives: quirky intellectuals like Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe, and Jonathan Creek, and former cops like Hercule Poirot, Philip Marlowe, and Spenser. There is also a natural macho associated with these characters, epitomized by larger-than-life tough guys like Thomas Magnum, Sam Spade, and Mike Hammer.

In short, the popular perception of a private investigator is...a man.

That prejudice was even the basis of the television series Remington Steele, about a female detective forced to hire a man to act as the face of her agency because clients were unwilling to hire a woman.

The view of real-world investigators is just as skewed as in fiction, but that attitude needs to be reconsidered. Because, outside of the worlds created by Mickey Spillane and Robert B. Parker, female investigators possess skills and abilities that make them extremely effective.

In fact, some of the same sexist preconceptions that cause clients to hesitate to hire a female investigator actually give women an advantage over their male counterparts in the some key areas.

Since January of 2009, I’ve been surveying clients and other investigators (men and women) regarding the strengths and skills that female investigators possess, and here is what reported to me:

1. Women can hide in plain sight.

A woman may attract attention, but she rarely attracts suspicion. In many investigative instances, a man will attract suspicion.

Female investigators, on the other hand, have much more freedom of movement. I’ve been on surveillance in restaurants and shops, or in a country club looking for membership information without anyone suspecting that I’m on assignment.

Additionally, women can more easily disguise themselves than men. Women routinely wear wigs, different colored contact lenses, and different clothing styles that can dramatically change their appearance.

2. Women are excellent listeners.

Women tend to be more sympathetic than men, and people are much more likely to open up and talk honestly to a stranger who is a woman than a man.

3. Women have excellent interview skills.

In an interview situation, when a witness is being examined by a stranger, women are less intimidating and threatening than men, and that gives women a significant advantage in extracting information. The softer touch that women can bring can make an interview seem more like a friendly conversation than an interrogation.

4. Women want to know everything about a situation.

Women will keep talking until the information is produced. Here we play on our own stereotype – people chalk up such persistence to “just being a woman” or “being nosy.”

5. Women are not perceived as investigators.

No one believes I’m an investigator. Most people’s perception is that a P.I. is a man, and in my time performing investigative work, I've been told many times that "You don’t look like a P.I.”

That’s the best disguise of all.

Connie M. Bonnette is a licensed Texas private investigator with Sleuth Private Investigations.