The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective [The Legendary Women Detectives] by Catherine Louisa Pirkis

The classic adventures of a "female Sherlock Holmes"! Return to the era of the gaslight and the Hansom Cab. Encounter murder Victorian-style in this classic first published in 1893.

Loveday Brooke was one of the most popular of the fictional female detectives to rise to popularity on the wave of demand for mystery stories that swept the U.S. and U.K. in the wake of Sherlock Holmes' unprecedented success. Loveday was also one of the most unique and modern of all fictional female detectives of her day. Unlike the others, who were all as beautiful as they were smart, Loveday is a serious businesswoman and eschews the call to be a heroine by the usual fictional standard: "She was not tall, she was not short, she was not dark, she was not fair; she was neither handsome nor ugly. Her features were altogether nondescript."—intellectually, however, she was anything but.

A true detective in the mold of Sherlock Holmes, as Chris Willis writes, "In her detective work, she uses 'male' qualities of logic and observation rather than the infamous 'feminine intuition' which was to become the stock-in-trade of many female investigators." Travel back with Loveday to the day of the shirtwaist, the top hat, and the horseless carriage, and follow her exploits as she solves the case of "The Black Bag Left on a Door-Step," the riddle of "The Murder at Troyte's Hill," the crime of "The Redhill Sisterhood," the problem of "A Princess's Vengeance," the puzzle of "The Ghost of Fountain Lane," and other baffling mystery tales. With special introduction and recommended reading lists of works by an about the author.