The Death of Dora Black: A Petticoat Police Mystery by Lainie Anderson

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.*

About the Author: Lainie Anderson is a writer whose 35-year career in journalism and public relations includes 17 years as a columnist with Adelaide’s Sunday Mail, as well as stints at Melbourne’s Herald Sun, London’s The Times and the South Australian Tourism Commission. After being awarded a Churchill Fellowship, Lainie published her debut novel Long Flight Home in 2019. In 2024, Lainie completed a PhD with the University of South Australia, researching the life of Kate Cocks, the inspiration behind The Death of Dora Black. Lainie is a board member of Reconciliation South Australia, an ambassador with the Hutt Street Centre, sits on the executive committee of the History Council of South Australia and the selection committee of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. She is a History Guardian for the History Trust of South Australia and was announced as the 2023 Emerging Historian of the Year by the History Council of South Australia. She lives in the Adelaide Hills with her husband Max.

28 Aug 2024

The Death of Dora Black: A Petticoat Police Mystery by Lainie Anderson ISBN 9780733652066