This book is a study of the 'mothers' of the mystery genre. Traditionally the invention of crime writing has been ascribed to Poe, Wilkie Collins and Conan Doyle, but they had formidable women rivals, whose work has been until recently largely forgotten. The purpose of this book is to 'cherchez les femmes', in a project of rediscovery.

List of Illustrations Foreword by Val McDermid Acknowledgements Introduction: Look for the Women 'Origins are Multifarious and Unclean!': the Beginnings of Crime Fiction Mrs Radcliffe as Conan Doyle? 'A Most Preposterous Organ of Wonder': Catherine Crowe 'I'm a Thief-taker, Young Lady' Getting Away with Murder: Mary Braddon 'Dead! And...Never Called Me Mother': Ellen (Mrs Henry) Wood The (Feminine) Eye of the Law: Mary Helena Fortune A Jill-of-all-Writing-Trades: Metta Victoria Fuller Victor ('Seeley Regester') The Art of Murder: Anna Katharine Green Conclusion: 'She Has Got a Murderess in Manuscript in her Bedroom' A Timeline of Early True Crime and its Fiction Bibliography

LUCY SUSSEX is a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne University, Australia, with interests in Victoriana, Australiana, crime and women writers. She has published widely, having edited five anthologies, written three short story collections and the award-winning neo-Victorian novel The Scarlet Rider. In addition she is a weekly newspaper columnist.