[Vassago]

There's a brief catfight in chapter one of Agatha Christie's "Pale Horse" when one girl gets some hair ripped out which later becomes important to the plot. It's really short but one wouldn't expect Christie - who was in her 70s when she wrote the novel - to feature such heroics.

Unfortunately, the TV movie which was based on this novel doesn't include the catfight scene which is obviously a big shame 

[gene smith]

Many of JT Edson's westerns had great catfights

True

[Agraf]

I arranged the titles in this interesting thread in chronological order, and added links to images (and text when available), for easier access.

Henry Fielding. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. UK: 1749. Book IV, Chaper VIII, a long fight in a churchyard, with a topless, bloody ending, after breast attacks:
http://www.bartleby.com/ebook/adobe/301.pdf

Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities: A story of the French Revolution.  UK: 1859. Madame Defarge and Miss Pross have a dramatic fight to the death. Several movie and TV versions rend this scene more interesting than Dickens' hasty narrative.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/98/98-h/98-h.htm#link2H_4_0039

A.E.W. Mason. The House of the Harrow. USA: 1924. Brief, one-sided fight:
http://jebsadventurebound.homestead.com/files/vintage_2.html
http://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.pt/2016/10/aew-masons-house-of-arrow.html

Kathleen Winsor. Forever Amber.  UK: 1944. Great catfight set in England in the 17th century.
https://instalove.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/forever-amber/

Ian Fleming. From Russia with Love. UK: 1957. Gypsy girls death fight, stopped before one ends the other.
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/jamesbond/images/c/c5/From_Russia_With_Love_Poster.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120720145849

Peter O'Donnel. Modesty Blaise. UK 1965. Modesty Blaise #1 series. Modesty figths vs Ms. Fothergill, a slim woman with strong muscles, who'd just strangled a man with her bare hands. Modesty's foe as as sadistic as she's lesbian, and that eventually helps the heroine to survive.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6f/4b/07/6f4b071a6365cbc99eff5b639ab76a53.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/bd/1c/be/bd1cbea1484509ace500be02509b9760.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51f-0laiqRL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Rod Gray. Kiss My Assassin aka A Agente da L.U.S.T Tomando Liberdades com o Tio Sam (Brazil title). The Lady From L.U.S.T. #7 [League of Underground Spies and Terrorists] series. USA:1968. Eve Drum, LUST agent fight Russian spy, gets in danger and is tortured, and the climax comes in a knife fight, with sexual attacks. [All paperbacks covers are "lusty".]
https://www.amazon.com/Lady-L-U-S-T-Kiss-My-Assassin/dp/B000N8IP60
http://suspenseandmystery.blogspot.pt/2012/02/kiss-my-assassin-by-rod-gray.html

Janet Gregory Vermandel. "Dine with the devil. USA: 1970. Two-part fight, one-sided, nudity, between slim blond-ash hair, nice model, and a dark hair, robust photographer.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=661249236&searchurl=tn%3Ddine%2Bwith%2Bthe%2Bdevil%26sortby%3D17%26an%3Djanet%2Bgregory%2Bvermandel

Xaviera Hollander. The Happy Hooker. USA: 1973. One chapter of the diary is about she catered to a catfight fan, by telling him stories of her (imagined) fights with other women. Very brief.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15156919W/Xaviera!

Aubrey Burgoyne. The Amazons. UK: 1975. Terence Young's film screenplay was made into a novel, as the film became a cult for its depiction of topless Amazons wrestling, dueling, and fighting. (A more clad version was made for release in Spain, and possibly other markets with strict censorship codes.).
The Universal Tandem edition has the best book cover I have ever seen, in the last 65 years...
http://s298.photobucket.com/user/andydecker/media/Amazons-1.jpg.html

J.T. Edson. QUIET TOWN. Floating Outfit #8 series. UK: 1982. The long fight that became a western classic.
Author caters for all tastes! Mostly catfights, occasionally martial arts, boxing, or wrestling. Mostly conclude with a clear winner, a few with the loser's death.

A. J. Quinnell [alias of Philip Nicholson]. Snapshot. UK: 1982. Good fight in bathroom at an airport, a mother fighting in a rage against a female spy.
http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1350346786l/333109.jpg

Donald Hamilton. The Revengers. Matt Helm #19 series. USA: 1982. On a boat, Matt is fighting with men, and instructs the good girl: "You are smaller and weaker, but if you fight with mentality and heart you can beat her." The bad girl is also tough, and spikeheel shoes take a part in the fight...
http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1248434853i/3589975._UY469_SS469_.jpg

Robert McCammon. Mine aka Mary Terror (Italy title). USA: 1990. Psychopathic "big woman with huge broad-shouldered six feet high" confronts the mother of a baby she kidnapped. The long fight starts with guns, but ends with bare hands.
http://www.robertmccammon.com/images/mine_60_pb.jpg

Ken Follett. Hornet Flight. UK: 2002. There is a catfight in it. (Other books by this author allegedly also contain women fight scenes.)
http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309202400l/92375.jpg

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I found problems with authors, or titles mentioned in the thread. I'm putting them here, apart from the others, in the hope the people who posted them, or others, are able to add more information.


William Shakespeare. A Midsummer Nights Dream. UK: 1590.
I revisited the play's text here, and did not found the alledged catfight. May be a confusion another of Shakespeare's plays?
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html

Jay Martin. The Sexy Egg Love-In. USA. Lucrezia Zipp, tall brunette working for the Mafia, jumps nude out of bed and attacks a little person, Popsy, a spy. The short fight is decided by a sustained crotch attack. Trouble, a blonde, brings trouble when she tangles with Upya, and "twists and pulls Upya's most prized posessions like a baker kneads dough."
May be this is a confusion with The Unhatched Egghead, 1966, #8 in Ted Mark's series?

Peter V. Brett. The Desert Spear. The Demon Cycle #2, a series. USA: 2010. Chapter 12, Witches, contains a savage catfight between two girls, including crotch attacks.
I found this title, and went through the long (and boring to me) text, without seeing trace of a catfight. I do NOT count monsters as of the female gender...
http://www.oodesk.com/share/ajsmen/details.php?path=%2FThe+Desert+Spear+-+Peter+V.+Brett.pdf

John Norman. Gor series. (Book titles needed!)

Robert Jordan. Conan series.  (Book titles needed!)

Troy Conway. Coxeman series.  (Book titles needed!)

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I'm adding 16 more titles to the list:


Emile Zola. L'Assomoir. Les Rougon-Macquart #7 series. France: 1877.  Cuckooed housewife starts a fight with another woman at a common wash-house, with nasty attacks and nudity to a humiliating end.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7UjgG8_emrI/UZZ2lD_omII/AAAAAAAAIMo/rSP34GArVPQ/s1600/l-assommoir-de-zola-emile-9782253002857.jpg - Original French version; scene starts at page 47)
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8600/8600-h/8600-h.htm - English version

Hal Ellson. Tomboy. US: 1950. The description of the title character prepares us for a showdown that feels half a page near the end, with her opponent running away.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7011/6835923227_6056a09ee4_b.jpg
https://mondomolly.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/rhapsody-in-orange-and-brown-15-favorite-classic-ya-covers/ - links to 4 covers

Auguste le Breton. Du Rifffi chez les femmes. France: 1957. In French slang, so hard that is has a dictionnary of several pages in the end. Strong willed women of the criminal underground, in a grimy tale of revenge with few survivors. There are two women fights that are difficult to forget.
The novel has been translated, and the a film shown under different titles: in English, Rififi for Girls, and retitled aptly, Riff Raff Girls; in Italian, Rififi fra le donne.
https://www.le-rayon-populaire.com/files/10759-1.jpg
http://www.cinemaretro.com/uploads/RIFFRAFFGIRLS.jpg
http://www.cinema-francais.fr/images/affiches/affiches_j/affiches_joffe_alex/du_rififi_chez_les_femmes02.jpg

Agatha Christie. The Pale Horse. UK: 1961. In the opening pages, the male narrator describes two local girls arguing, and fighting, in a Chelsea pub. Very short but nice.
http://www.agathachristie.com/stories/the-pale-horse

Ross Pynn [Roussado Pinto]. So-Long Jim. Portugal: 1964. Chapter 17 has a long jealousy fight in the Wild West, hairpulling, scratching and clothes ripping, watched by the man in dispute, who compliments the winner.
https://ogatoalfarrabista.wordpress.com/2015/07/14/no-aniversario-de-roussado-pinto-1471926/

Clyde Allison [William Henley Knoles]. Our Man from Sadisto. USA: 1965. Sadisto #1 series. Female spies fighting to the death.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/9a/7d/70/9a7d709437051d6fe510bdb049b10da5.jpg

Clyde Allison [William Henley Knoles]. Our Girl from Mephisto. USA: 1965.  Sadisto #2 series. Female spies fighting to the death.
http://spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.aspx?id=995

Robert Slatzter. The Hellcats. UK: 1968. A very fight between girls, that does not last more than six lines. The novel is OK, and the cover, excellent.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TnAAAOSwuLZY05sh/s-l300.jpg

Gérard de Villiers. Les Trois veuves de Hongkong. SAS #12 series. France: 1968. Several pages of detailed fighting, including crotch attacks and blade weapons, to death. The novel is translated in English, Italian, Dutch, and German (Tödlich Jagd in Hongkong).
http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1427644779l/25243455.jpg
http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1423152354i/24842381._UY200_.jpg
https://archividiuruk.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/0297.jpg?w=221&h=300

Gérard de Villiers. Les Trois veuves de Hongkong. SAS #17 series. France: 1970.
Dutch title: SAS Amok op Bali.
https://www.boekenwebsite.nl/files/imagecache/detail/1675-amok-op-bali.jpg
http://www.le-livre.fr/photos/R16/R160028047.jpg
https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/3/8/e/9/8e936720-8760-012c-d078-0050569439b1.jpg

James Noffatt. Virginia Box is The Girl from H.A.R.D. The Girl from H.A.R.D. #1 series [Hemisphere Administration for Regional Defence]. UK: 1974. The HARD setting made for a very brief fight between spies.
http://spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.aspx?id=511

Jonathan May. Confessions of a Stuntman. Confessions #16 series. UK: 1977. Describes lurid lady wrestlers, but no action between them - only mixed, brief and confused.
http://thetrashcollector.com/pbjonathanmay.html

Simon Finch. Golden Voyager. Voyager #1 series. US: 1978.  Man-to-man, mixed, and woman-to-woman arena fights, the last being two pages long.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518wrlrzEmL._SX315_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1285080014l/4178966.jpg
https://pictures.abebooks.com/BADMANBOOKS/md/md8971070772_2.jpg

Piers Anthony. Total Recall. USA: 1989. The elevator lobby fight (so memorable from the movie's first version) gets all in one page of Chaper 19, Escape.
http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1234149706l/15512.jpg

Liza Cody. Bucket Nut. UK: 1992. Chapter 23 describes in full how the title girl, not so pretty but tough, tries to get the title of Women's Heavyweight Wrestling Champion of Great Britain. Written by a woman, it was in the BBC Radio Woman's Hour serial.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1914366.Bucket_Nut

Russell Whitfield. Gladiatrix. Gladiatrix #1 series. US: 2008. High profile novel, featuring drama and action scenes with women-of-the-sword in Imperial Rome.
http://www.russellwhitfield.com/assets/example/team/gladiatrix.jpg

[jondo53]

That's an impressive piece of research Agraf! There was a girl fight in a Girl from Uncle story, but can't remember its title.
As for A Midsummer's Nights Dream, of the two protagonists, Helena and Hermia, one wants to fight, can't remember which, while the other doesn't, and runs away. She says something like "you're hands be quicker for a fray, but my legs are faster to run away." I did start a thread on girl fights in classics of literature, and quite a few people provided examples.

[colt 45]

Knew about Edson, Gor is new, must look them up.  Thanks for the info

[sinclairfan]

That's an impressive piece of research Agraf! There was a girl fight in a Girl from Uncle story, but can't remember its title.
As for A Midsummer's Nights Dream, of the two protagonists, Helena and Hermia, one wants to fight, can't remember which, while the other doesn't, and runs away. She says something like "you're hands be quicker for a fray, but my legs are faster to run away." I did start a thread on girl fights in classics of literature, and quite a few people provided examples.

In Antony and Cleopatra, Antony's wife Octavia tells Cleopatra she wants to scratch her eyes out.

[jondo53]

I expect Cleopatra would have been one hell of a fighter!

[Agraf]

In Antony and Cleopatra, Antony's wife Octavia tells Cleopatra she wants to scratch her eyes out.

In my post above, I have not included the mere allusion, or superficial mention, or the intention of two women fighting - as is the case you mention. By catfight literature, I expect there is actual a description of a fight, long or brief, but a fight in a published novel. This is difficult enough to summarize; enlarging the scope would render the task impossible...

[Agraf]

That's an impressive piece of research Agraf! There was a girl fight in a Girl from Uncle story, but can't remember its title.
As for A Midsummer's Nights Dream, of the two protagonists, Helena and Hermia, one wants to fight, can't remember which, while the other doesn't, and runs away. She says something like "you're hands be quicker for a fray, but my legs are faster to run away." I did start a thread on girl fights in classics of literature, and quite a few people provided examples.

Thank you for the compliment. I had some pleasure re-discovering those titles and authors, some in my personal library. I would love other users of this board would add further titles, as I'm sure there are much more than those mentioned above in my post!

The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. was a TV series that showed for just one season in 29 episodes (1966-1967). The series was not successful enough to have a second season, but several episodes' teleplays were developed into novels by Richard Deming, Charles Ventura and I.G. Edmonds, under the collective pen name of Robert Hart Davis, published in the companion The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine. See:  http://www.philsp.com/homeville/afi/t90.htm

Gold Key published a short series of pocket books, a spin off from the TV series, but the stories seem to be different from the TV episode titles:
#1 The Fatal Accidents Affair
#2 The Kid Commandos' Caper
#3 The Captain Kidd Affair
#4 The One-way Tourist Affair
#5 The Harem-Scarem Affair
See:   https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=346221

But I've not read neither of the above material, nor other titles published as pocketbooks by other publishers, so I can't tell what are the ones eventually featuring catfights.

What I can say from having seen many episodes, and from my notes of the 1970-1980s magazines, is that the TV episodes with fights are...
The Romany Lie Affair (knife duel),
The UFO Affair (harem fight),
The Moulin Ruse Affair (1 second fights, but astonishing women baddies!),
The Fountain of Youth Affair (mud-bath fight),
The Furnace Flats Affair (gun duel turns into possibly the best of the Girl from UNCLE catfights).

[Agraf]

Knew about Edson, Gor is new, must look them up.  Thanks for the info

Thank you.

I almost completed the collection of J.T. Edson's titles, an English gentleman who was into old guns (of which he had a huge collection at home) and writing about the old Wild West he had never visited... Once he did, invited by a fan club, and they were amazed - because of his accurate description of locations, way of living, characters, even the local differences in the use of specific words.

J.T. Edson was probably the man who wrote more books (westerns mostly, and a few detective and adventure books), with MANY including catfights between well dressed ladies, cowgirls, and bar girls, stripping each others to nudity, biting and clawing, some times recurring to knives and cavalry sabres to finish a long fight.

His books stopped being distributed, and reprints of some of his best books changed the cover art, and some books were re-titled to make them less appealing to would-be readers. I give you a few examples:

Diamonds, Emeralds, Cards & Colts became simply Cards and Colts (1988), thus losing the hint at the reader that women had a big part in the story;
Back to the Bloody Border is now Renegade (1989), thus losing the hint at the violent content of the story... of which again women had a lion's part;
Calamity, Mark and Belle became Texas Trio (1989)... and who would buy a book about three cowboys, instead of a guy and two of the greatest women in Western History, Calamity James and Belle Boyd?
Is-A-Man became Texas Warrior (1997), changing the appeal of an almost masculine profile of a female youth brought-up as a boy, even in name, for a presumable man warrior, indistinguishable from any other;
Wanted! Belle Starr became Oklahoma Outlaw (1997), again erasing the name of the female outlaw;
Calamity Spells Trouble is now The Road To Ratchet Creek (2005), and how many readers know where Ratchet Creek is, and how many more would know, and want to read, another adventure of Calamity James?
White Stallion, Red Mare was republished as Ranch War (2006), where the pairing of male and female animals hinted at a competition between a man and a woman in the story.

I won't try to list all the stories by J.T.Edson featuring catfights here, but they're at the following address, where there is also an interesting story about the author (I agree with most of it):
https://alchetron.com/J-T-Edson-990871-W

[Agraf]

With reference to my «Reply #39 on: May 23, 2017, 09:21:02 PM » above, I wish to make one correction, and one addition.

CORRECTION

My doubts about the catfight in the following title were unconfirmed, and it should be added to the general list of catfights in literature:

Jay Martin. The Sexy Egg Love-In. USA 1969.
https://www.amazon.com/Sexy-Egg-Love-Jay-Martin/dp/B000CSBCOS

ADDITION

Ben West [alias James W. Lampp]. Loves Of A Girl Wrestler. USA 1952 (2nd edition, Beacon 1960). Teaser: «Mauled... manhandled... exhibited before lusting eyes... this lovely creature fought depravity and disgrace at the hands of bone-crushing men and passionate amazons.» (unconfirmed catfight)

Daniel White [aka Day Keene]. Southern Daughter. USA 1953. (3 different editions, same two-page catfight)
http://billcrider.blogspot.pt/2011_10_02_archive.html

Stephen Longstreet. Wild Harvest. USA 1960. (California girls of the working kind, stripped, in the ditch.)
https://www.dpspbs.com/pages/books/3847/stephen-longstreet/wild-harvest
Also made into a movie that not many have seen!...
http://playmatesinthemovies.blogspot.pt/2014/09/wild-harvest-1962.html?zx=9a98defb74d55652

James Harvey. Lady Wrestler. Cover by Paul Rader. USA 1962. (from arranged pro-wrestling matches to real catfight)
http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=129838;p=0
&
https://twitter.com/pulplibrarian/status/596347268522971137

Clyde Allison [alias William Knoles]. Gamefinger. Adventures of 0008 #6 series. USA 1966. (women fight in the arena and in water against animals, and each other, to the death)
http://greenleaf-classics-books.com/vintage/book/el321
You may also find interesting to explore this site, about erotic literature from 1950 to 1975 in the USA...
http://greenleaf-classics-books.com/vintage/

James Moffat. Virginia Box is The Girl from H.A.R.D. The Girl from H.A.R.D. #1 series [Hemisphere Administration for Regional Defence]. UK 1973. (two page catfight)
http://spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.aspx?id=511

Paul Fairman. Coffy. USA 1973. (two good catfight descriptions, a bit different from the movie of the same title)
http://paperbackfilmprojector.blogspot.pt/2012/08/

Ron Goulart. Cleopatra Jones. USA 1973. (novel based on the movie, with the catfight)
http://paperbackfilmprojector.blogspot.pt/2012/08/

Ron Goulart. Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. USA 1975. (novel based on the movie, with the catfight)
http://paperbackfilmprojector.blogspot.pt/2012/08/

[DCameron]

Excellent list so far.  Here's one to add:

J. D. Robb - Treachery In Death

This is one of a series of police mystery novels written by Nora Roberts under the "J. D. Robb" pseudonym.  The main character is Eve Dallas, on the New York City police force about 50 years in the future.  In this particular story (page 369) Eve confronts another female officer to arrest her, and the woman slips out of her shoes in response to Eve's holding a gun.  You guessed it - down goes the gun and ...

[Agraf]

Excellent list so far.  Here's one to add:

J. D. Robb - Treachery In Death

This is one of a series of police mystery novels written by Nora Roberts under the "J. D. Robb" pseudonym.  The main character is Eve Dallas, on the New York City police force about 50 years in the future.  In this particular story (page 369) Eve confronts another female officer to arrest her, and the woman slips out of her shoes in response to Eve's holding a gun.  You guessed it - down goes the gun and ...

Thank you for the compliment. I wish more users of the board would do like you... and don't mean praising my work! I mean, everyone should add to the list their authors who gave their readers a good catfight!

I also thank for the teasing about the scrap. I was lucky to find the book online, and darted to the 23 and last chapter, all of it worth reading. I wonder if the rookie female cop who makes the arrest in the end, will follow on Eve Dallas' steps, and have fights of her own! JD Robb is a prolific author, so there is a chance for it.

[sinclairfan]

Book 5 Canto 7 of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser has a swordfight/fistfight between 2 women nights named Britomart and Radigonde.

[gene smith]

Knew about Edson, Gor is new, must look them up.  Thanks for the info

Thank you.

I almost completed the collection of J.T. Edson's titles, an English gentleman who was into old guns (of which he had a huge collection at home) and writing about the old Wild West he had never visited... Once he did, invited by a fan club, and they were amazed - because of his accurate description of locations, way of living, characters, even the local differences in the use of specific words.

J.T. Edson was probably the man who wrote more books (westerns mostly, and a few detective and adventure books), with MANY including catfights between well dressed ladies, cowgirls, and bar girls, stripping each others to nudity, biting and clawing, some times recurring to knives and cavalry sabres to finish a long fight.

His books stopped being distributed, and reprints of some of his best books changed the cover art, and some books were re-titled to make them less appealing to would-be readers. I give you a few examples:

Diamonds, Emeralds, Cards & Colts became simply Cards and Colts (1988), thus losing the hint at the reader that women had a big part in the story;
Back to the Bloody Border is now Renegade (1989), thus losing the hint at the violent content of the story... of which again women had a lion's part;
Calamity, Mark and Belle became Texas Trio (1989)... and who would buy a book about three cowboys, instead of a guy and two of the greatest women in Western History, Calamity James and Belle Boyd?
Is-A-Man became Texas Warrior (1997), changing the appeal of an almost masculine profile of a female youth brought-up as a boy, even in name, for a presumable man warrior, indistinguishable from any other;
Wanted! Belle Starr became Oklahoma Outlaw (1997), again erasing the name of the female outlaw;
Calamity Spells Trouble is now The Road To Ratchet Creek (2005), and how many readers know where Ratchet Creek is, and how many more would know, and want to read, another adventure of Calamity James?
White Stallion, Red Mare was republished as Ranch War (2006), where the pairing of male and female animals hinted at a competition between a man and a woman in the story.

I won't try to list all the stories by J.T.Edson featuring catfights here, but they're at the following address, where there is also an interesting story about the author (I agree with most of ittoo):
https://alchetron.com/J-T-Edson-990871-W

in two words political correctness