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The Female Detective

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The Female Detective

By: Andrew Forrester
Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki
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About this listen

“Literary ancestor to Miss Marple, Lisbeth Salander, and Nancy Drew.” (The Guardian, London)

First published in 1864, decades before there were official female detectives or female police officers in Britain, The Female Detective features the original lady detective: the determined and resourceful Miss Gladden, known as “G”. She examines crime scenes incognito, tracks down killers, and solves mysteries employing all manner of skill, subterfuge, and charm to achieve her ends while attempting to conceal her own identity from others.

Miss Gladden’s deductive methods and energetic approach anticipate those of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and she can be seen as beginning a powerful tradition of female detectives in these seven short stories. The Female Detective is sure to enchant a new generation of crime fiction fans.

Public Domain (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Crime Short Story Sherlock Holmes
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Why isn't this outstanding work better known? It is truly puzzling; perhaps its enduring qualities have been heightened for the first time by the reading excellent for their intensification of irony & well-timed understatement.
NB some stories are much better than others: the best ones outclass -- in my opinion -- many of the Sherlock Holmes and Max Carrados series even when the latter two are read by Stephen Fry.
Conan Doyle's stories were, of course, outstanding for the inferences (NOT deductions) for which the books are famous but are marked by cardboard characters and a lack of social awareness.. The best of Forrester's stories are better in those respects.
Moreover 'The Female Detective' also reveals awareness of empathy which Conan Doyle and Bramah seldom do.
I reduced the stars for 'Performance' from 5 stars to 4 starts because of the cod English accents which are tolerable unlike the truly awful ones in 'The Best Crime Stories Ever Told'.

Neglected empathic classic drips w/ irony

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