A trail-blazing writer of great repute in her day, but now unjustly neglected, Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s name was synonymous with the mystery genre in the early twentieth century, particularly for her Scarlet Pimpernel books, set during the French Revolution.

But perhaps the most revolutionary of her works is the lesser-known Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, a short-story collection revolving around Molly Robertson-Kirk, a fictional London detective – indeed, published in 1910, Molly was one of the first fictional female detectives, and served as a prototype for many that followed.

Beautifully presented and with helpful explanatory notes, this edition celebrates Orczy’s heroine and aims to reintroduce her for a new generation of readers.