Lady Detectives

Post by **ColleenMc** » February 18th, 2019, 7:01 am

Hi!

As I've mentioned elsewhere on these forums, I write a biweekly column for a largely F/SF-oriented fan site, File 770 (file770.com), though it often touches on the mystery genre as well. I was thinking of doing a topic of early female detectives, jumping off the recent release here of Judith Lee: Pages from Her Life, and I have a few other women detectives in mind (Violet Strange is one), but was also looking for suggestions and recommendations either of books already recorded here, or ones you have noticed out there in the public domain that may not have been done yet. Also, have there been any themed short story collections along those lines? That might be a fun thing to do at some point, if it hasn't been done already....

Also, I should mention that I'm looking for ones with PD texts already on line. I'm aware of the two earliest, mentioned frequently in articles on the topic -- Hayward's Lady Detective and Forrester's Female Detective, but so far haven't been able to turn up an online text.

Thanks for any pointers!

Colleen

Post by **dlolso21** » February 18th, 2019, 7:59 am

Colleen,

How about these?

Miss Frances Baird, detective
https://librivox.org/miss-frances-baird-detective-by-reginald-wright-kauffman/

Bobs, a Girl Detective
https://librivox.org/bobs-a-girl-detective-by-grace-may-north/

Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories
https://librivox.org/group/261

David O

Boomcoach · Post by **Boomcoach** » February 18th, 2019, 8:00 am

I have recorded a couple of the Loveday Brook stories, by C. L. Pirkis, and will try to add more when I get the chance. The rest of the Judith Lee stories is also something I want to work on, but I have a couple projects in hand already, so it may be a while.

Here is a link to the Loveday Brook stories:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/pirkis/brooke/brooke.html

I don't know of others off the top of my head, but would be glad to find out more.

Post by **Availle** » February 18th, 2019, 8:25 am

Anna Katharine Green has written lots of mystery books. I couldn't tell which ones have female detectives though, or rather: female sleuths, since obviously they couldn't have WORKED for the police 100 years ago. Not sure if that qualifies.

Boomcoach · Post by **Boomcoach** » February 18th, 2019, 8:30 am

I took a quick look at Mike Grost's Mystery page (a fantastic site for readers of mysteries) and found this external link:

https://womendetectives.weebly.com/

No idea how many have available etexts, but it would certainly be a starting point! If variety would be found online, I think a collection would be an excellent idea! I am currently BCing a project on Lovecraft's influences, but might try out my google-fu and see if a decent collection of stories could be put together.

Post by **ColleenMc** » February 18th, 2019, 7:07 pm

Thank you all! This is very helpful! I had not heard back from the editor about whether I could "sneak in" a mystery topic in a largely F/SF-themed newsletter (but there is a big crossover, esp with things like Wilkie Collins and Sherlock Holmes) so I did another topic for the current column. He did email me just a little while ago to say that he was cool with doing the lady detectives, so I'll be circling back to it at some point.

So keep those suggestions coming if any more occur!

I'll share the link here when I eventually do that column.

Colleen

Cori · Post by **Cori** » February 19th, 2019, 1:04 pm

This is an old collection, but one or two new ideas maybe ... https://www.pinterest.co.uk/librivox/female-detectives/