These essays trace the femme fatale across literature, visual culture and cinema, exploring the ways in which fatal femininity has been imagined in different cultural contexts and historical epochs, and moving from mythical women such as Eve, Medusa and the Sirens via historical figures such as Mata Hari to fatal women in contemporary cinema.

'These bracing essays offer many fresh insights into the well-known trope of the femme fatale, a subject that has received much recent critical attention, but seldom with the skill and perception that characterizes this volume. [...] An excellent book for women's studies, film noir classes, or any course that studies the female protagonist in film history. [...] Highly recommended.' - G. A. Foster, Choice