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Death of Dora Black: A Petticoat Police Mystery

Lainie Anderson
€19.99
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1910s australia
A01=Lainie Anderson
Adelaide
Adelaide author
Australian crime
Australian historical fiction
Australian women writers
Author_Lainie Anderson
Category=FFH
Category=FFJ
Category=FFS
clever crime
comforting reads
cosy mystery
cozy crime
detective duo
eq_bestseller
eq_crime
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Ethel Bromley
Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks
female main character
feminist crime
funny crime
funny murder mystery
Glenelg
historical cosy crime
historical fiction based on true stories
Kate Cocks
light crime
light mystery
murder mystery
police investigation
policewoman
South Australia
South Australia historian
the great war
uplifting cosy crime
women detectives
women sleuths
world war one mystery novel
WW1 mystery
WWI mystery

Product details

  • ISBN 9780733653612
  • Weight: 220g
  • Dimensions: 124 x 194mm
  • Publication Date: 26 Aug 2025
  • Publisher: Hachette Australia
  • Publication City/Country: AU
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Description

The irresistibly charming and cosy first novel in the bestselling Petticoat Police Mystery series, inspired by the true story of Australia's pioneering policewoman, Kate Cocks

'An outstanding debut - funny, poignant, historically fascinating, and an absorbingly good crime read - The Death of Dora Black keeps you guessing to the very end' PIP WILLIAMS

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?

'The perfect cosy read. How refreshing to read historical crime fiction set in Adelaide during the Great War and focused on women' ANGELA SAVAGE

'Will have you engrossed and addictively flipping those pages' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Armchair detectives will love this debut novel' WOMAN'S DAY

'Compelling . . . Anderson skilfully blends truth and fiction. It touches the heart as well as the mind - while inspiring a desire to play history detective' THE CONVERSATION

'Engrossing and entertaining . . . Anderson is an accomplished storyteller and she has crafted a cosy crime read that is equal parts intriguing mystery and fascinating historical study' BOOKS+PUBLISHING

'There is something profoundly addictive about Anderson's writing. It's warm, fast-paced and full of rich details that make it feel as though the story is oozing off the pages . . . Stunningly thought-out and accurately detailed' BETTER READING
About Lainie Anderson
Lainie Anderson OAM has worked with Adelaide's Sunday Mail, Melbourne's Herald Sun and London's The Times. After being awarded a Churchill Fellowship, Lainie published her debut novel Long Flight Home in 2019. In 2024, Lainie completed a PhD on Kate Cocks - the inspiration behind the Petticoat Police Mysteries. Lainie is a board member of the History Trust of South Australia, the vice-president of the History Council of South Australia and sits on the SA selection committee for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. She was SA's 2023 Emerging Historian of the Year and in 2026 was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to community history. Murder on North Terrace is the second novel in the Petticoat Police Mystery series, following The Death of Dora Black, which was longlisted for the 2025 Indie Book Awards for Debut Fiction and the 2025 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award. Lainie lives in Adelaide with her husband Max.

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