Catherine Louisa Pirkis

Catherine Louisa Pirkis (6 October 1839 - 4 October 1910) was a British author of detective fiction. Throughout her career as a writer, Pirkis would sometimes write under the name of "C.L. Pirkis", as to avoid gender association. Pirkis wrote a total of 14 novels in the years spanning between 1877 and 1894 and contributed to periodicals and magazines such as Belgravia, which had been founded by the sensation novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Her first major novel, Disappeared from Her Home, represented her foray into the mystery genre with the story of a young girl disappearing from her home. This would also serve as a prelude to the creation of the female detective character Loveday Brooke, for which Pirkis is best known. The character Loveday Brooke was showcased in The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective - a collection of seven detective stories that were so popular that she was dubbed the "female Sherlock Holmes".