Catherine Louisa Pirkis (1839–1910)

I probably enjoyed this a bit more than 3 stars worth. An interesting short collection of seven loosely linked mystery stories, nearly all of which don't involve murders, so in that sense they are pleasant. Pirkis's formula seems to be that we follow the protagonist, watch what happens as she solves the mystery in a kind of mysterious manner, and then we get her detailed account of how she did it, or what was behind it... Probably the stories and protagonist were more remarkable for their show more time than nowadays, but they hold up well and the book is quite worth reading. And it's short. I read the Feedbooks eBook version. show less

Not the first lady detective, but an early one; interesting short stories though with a rather mushy sentimental frame story.

Catherine Louisa Pirkis who died in 1910,wrote several melodramas and this one volume of short stories. These seven stories which feature the early female detective Loveday Brooke are of considerable interest both to the general reader of crime fiction and to the more enthusiastic specialist.
Brooke is employed by Ebenezer Dyer who runs a detective agency in London. This firm is frequently consulted by the official police (things just don't change do they ?) Loveday is most useful in working show more undercover in a variety of jobs close to the scene of the crime,where a man could not go.
These are well written early stories in this ever popular genre. show less

This was first published in 1893, so it was perfectly without anachronisms. The mysteries were cleverly solved by a Holmes/Marple combination of astute observation and logic.