Barbara Stanwyck: noir goddess
You may not know her name, but you know the look on her face means trouble. She’s got a shape that lures your gaze to fondle it, but her mind’s always working the angles. Someone’s going to end up on top — and it’s not you.
After looking at rogues last week, I figured it was time to look at their female counterparts: the femmes fatales!
They’re untrustworthy, conniving, double crossing and undeniably sexy. Whether it’s noir goddess Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity or The Strange Love of Martha Ivers or bad girl-who-wants-to-be-good Gloria Graham, they have incredible sex appeal. When she walks into the room, the femme fatale draws every eye like a slinky magnet. Her dress might be low cut and it’s probably tight as a second skin, and she’s bound to be tottering on stilettos with a dainty ankle chain just to make sure you’re looking at her legs — but it’s her expression that holds you. She knows too much and what she knows isn’t good for you.
But you can’t resist!
Gloria Graham
Can we imagine a romance novel with a femme fatale heroine? Or are they destined only for dark crime stories where everything goes wrong? It seems somewhat difficult to imagine, but surely someone must rise to the challenge!
Maybe she could be won over and leave behind her vampish ways. But if it were told from the heroine’s point of view, could the reader identify with the bad girl?
Do you have to be a bad girl to enjoy the femme fatale? I have written a good number of them in my crime stories but I have to admit most of my romances feature good women who mean well and only want the best for their paramours, too.
Well, maybe the Man City gals have a touch of the femme fatale: Shai and Lizzie scheme a little bit, but for a good cause: a ménage-à-trois! Surely they can be forgiven a bit of intrigue — after all, everyone shared the prize in the end. 
Can you imagine a femme fatale heroine in romance?
