By Lainie Anderson
Publisher: Hachette Australia, 2024
Publisher’s blurb
A charming, uplifting cosy murder mystery inspired by the true story of Australia’s pioneering policewoman Kate Cocks
Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don’t let that fool you. She’s a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.
When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora’s workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and determine to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss Cocks?
*In 1915, Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary as men. This novel is a rich exploration of that little-known chapter of Australian history.*
Review
by Jane Patrick
Dora Black’s body is found in the water off Glenelg Beach in Adelaide in 1917. The circumstances of her death lead the police to conclude, rather conveniently, that the young shop assistant had deliberately ended her life. The head of the new women’s police branch, Miss Kate Cocks, suspects foul play. The difficulty for Miss Cocks is that her role in protecting women encompasses investigating child and family welfare concerns and ensuring proper moral behaviour in public. The latter aspect of her duties includes patrolling beach and park areas at night with a whip, ordering cuddling couples to stay three feet apart – and using the whip as required. Miss Cocks is ordered not to engage in any investigation of Dora Black’s death.
Miss Cocks is an interesting and compassionate but rather severe character with strong religious convictions. Her severity is leavened by her partner in crime solving, Constable Ethel Bromley, who enjoys the occasional bit of fun and her growing relationship with a young doctor. The first third of the story concentrates on Miss Cocks’ activities in protecting women and children. There is also some exploration of Miss Cocks’ background. Rather surprisingly Miss Cocks has a strong interest in fashion and shops in the department store where Dora Black worked. When another young female shop assistant disappears Miss Cocks and Ethel decide that they must try to find her and investigate the death of Dora Black.
The author, Lainie Anderson, draws a vivid picture of Adelaide during the First World War. Dr Anderson is an historian and journalist who wrote this fictional work as part of her PhD on the life of Fanny Kate Boedicea Cocks, the first policewoman in the British Empire to be paid the same rate as male officers. In her author’s note Dr Anderson explains that Miss Cocks’ life and career inspired the story and that Constable Bromley’s character deliberately reflects a 21st century sensibility. Clearly Dr Anderson’s accuracy on historical background can be relied on but this is a work of fiction.
In one instance the defence counsel in a child protection case Miss Cocks unsuccessfully prosecutes in the Magistrates’ Court is, rather surprisingly, a King’s Counsel. This supercilious leading citizen reappears in the course of Miss Cocks’ investigation. As a result of his demolition of Miss Cocks’ case, which is lost due to lack of firsthand evidence, Miss Cocks and Emily decide to borrow a friend’s law books and study them. This is an example of fiction reflecting historical facts (according to the author’s note). Miss Cocks and her team were trained in jujitsu but had to teach themselves the law.
The intrepid Miss Cocks and Ethel Bromley conduct their investigation against some opposition but with considerable support from other women in their social networks and from a senior police officer. They deal with a brothel madam, opium smugglers and a kidnapping ring, all of which turn out to be connected. Who’d have thought Adelaide could have been so exciting!
I felt the desire to reflect historical background and draw an accurate picture of Miss Cocks tended to overwhelm the murder mystery aspect of the book, particularly in the opening chapters. Without the involvement of Constable Bromley I would have got rather tired of Miss Cocks and historical details. Events did move along after that, through a rather convoluted pathway. The action sped up, the plot became tighter and the various threads were satisfactorily resolved.