Violet Strange and Phoebe Daring: Girl Detectives Before Nancy Drew

Stephanie Gorton Murphy writes about the girl detectives who predated Nancy Drew. Both Daring and the more conservatively named Mary Louise were created by L. Frank Baum. Violet Strange starred in a collection of short stories by Anna Katherine Green, who had earlier created the spinster detective Amelia Butterworth.

Frontispiece to The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange, 1915. Art by A.I. Keller.

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