Women Sleuths

Famous Female Detectives In Fiction
Jane Marple. ( created by Dame Agatha Christie)
Nancy Drew. ( first created in 1930 by Edward Stratermayer but more recently in the
novels of Carolyn Keene)
Harriet Vane. ( Dorothy L. Sayers
Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell)
Tuppence Beresford (Agatha Christie)
Real women sleuths

Alice Clement
In 1913, Alice Clement was sworn into Chicago’s police force as its first female detective.
Sporting pearls and packing a gun, Clement was a colorful character and an accomplished
female sleuth. One famed case involved the death of a young woman from typhoid. While male
colleagues saw nothing suspicious, Clement demanded further investigation. In doing so, she
uncovered a plot involving the girl’s long-lost aunt, a dulcimer, a sizeable fortune, and the
deliberate poisoning of the dulcimer’s strings with typhoid bacteria by the aunt, who sought to
gain the girl’s inheritance. A plot fit for an Agatha Christie novel!
Mary Doyle
Mary Doyle is the Chief Superintendent of the Manchester Police Force. Joining when she was
only 20, she’s had nothing short of an illustrious career. In 2011, as a female lead detective, she
led an intense national investigation into the murder of Indian student Anuj Bidve and helped put
his killer, who dubbed himself ‘Psycho’, behind bars. She now helps manage the policing of a
city with over 27 organized crime syndicates.
Kate Warne
Kate Warne was the first and only female detective Allan Pinkerton ever hired, and she was
deeply influential. Hired because she could make the acquaintance of women more easily than
men could, she soon found herself in the middle of the Pinkerton agency’s grandest exploits. Her
detective career saw her uncovering stolen fortunes, hunting down the occasional murderer, and
rescuing President Lincoln from an assassination attempt. All in a day’s work for one of
history’s least appreciated women sleuths.
Source: Top Ten Real Life Detectives. As retrieved from
https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/student-advice/what-to-study/top-ten-real-
life-detectives