The Fearless Mrs. Goodwin

by Elizabeth Mitchell

Manhattan, 1912. A time of greed, corruption, scandal and distrust, when the police commissioner had this advice for the “Don’t take a criminal investigation into your own hands. Don’t poke about a dead body. Don’t investigate a robbery all on your own.”

Then the most outrageous and brutal bank heist of the young century occurred, and the city combusted in fear and anger. Wall Street brokers were carrying guns. The police looked more ineffectual by the day. Not a single man could break the case.

But perhaps a woman could. Mrs. Isabella Goodwin was a smart and resourceful police matron who had gone about as far as a woman in police work could go. The bank robbery presented a unique career opportunity.

As Elizabeth Mitchell writes in The Fearless Mrs. Goodwin, a true story so astounding it reads like fiction, only a woman could penetrate New York’s underworld without attracting suspicion. When Goodwin got the call from headquarters, she was ready. With glimmering eyes, the widow with four children to support disappeared into Manhattan’s underbelly. Would she return with her man? Would she make it back at all?

In this Byliner Original from the new digital publisher Byliner, Elizabeth Mitchell has delved into New York City’s hurly-burly past and returned with a classic crime story all the more amazing for having actually happened.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, True Crime, Mystery, Historical, Essays

Nook

First published August 17, 2011

About the author

Elizabeth Mitchell is the author of four nonfiction books, including her newest, LINCOLN'S LIE: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street and the White House (Counterpoint Press/October 2020). Her other work includes Three Strides Before the Wire: The Dark and Beautiful World of Horse Racing (Hyperion, 2002), W.: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty (Hyperion, 2000), and Liberty’s Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty (Grove/Atlantic Monthly Press 2014). The Washington Post selected Three Strides as one of the best nonfiction books of that year.

Mitchell has authored novella-length nonfiction works for Byliner, including The Fire Horse (2012); Lady With a Past: A Petulant French Sculptor, His Quest for Immortality, and the Real Story of the Statue of Liberty (2011); and the Amazon nonfiction bestseller, The Fearless Mrs. Goodwin (2011), about the first female detective in the United States.

Mitchell’s freelance writing has appeared in such publications as the Paris Review, TIME magazine, Wall Street Journal, New York, Chicago Tribune, Details, GQ, Condé Nast Traveler, O, Glamour, and The Nation. She was a contributing editor to Newsweek and senior long-form writer for the New York Daily News.

Her editing work has included Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability – Designing for Abundance (FSG, 2013) by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, foreword by President Bill Clinton. She served as executive editor of Marlo Thomas’ number-one New York Times bestseller The Right Words at the Right Time (Atria Books, May 2002).

She was executive editor of George and features editor at SPIN.

Mitchell has been interviewed on numerous radio and television shows, including “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “The Charlie Rose Show,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Booknotes with Brian Lamb,” and many other CNN, MSNBC, network and local programs. She has delivered lectures on journalism and history at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and the New York Public Library, among other research centers; and at Harvard University and Fairleigh Dickinson University, among other educational institutions. She taught creative nonfiction at Columbia University.

She is the co-founder of ReadThis, a volunteer group that delivers books where needed, including to troops abroad, children living in poverty, and public schools with no library.

Reviews

[Jemera Rone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short but unique story of the way the City of New York hired and assigned the first womam police detective at the start of the twentieth century under Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt.
Mrs. Goodwin was married to a police officer who lost the office, disgraced, but his wife was allowed to work as a matron when women were arrested and as a cleaner in the police station to support ther four young children). Teddy Roosevelt strongly bcked her assignment to a notorious case--a daylight armed robbery of a van transporting bank funds in dowtown Manhattan. Weeks went by and the case remained unsolved
Teddy called in our heroine to see if she would work on the case.
One of the presumed robbers had a girlfriend who was traced to a boarding house in lower Manhattan. Mrs. Goodwin posed as a housekeeper and gained the confidence of a woman said to be the girlfriend of one of the robbers. She also patiently waiting outside the door eavsdropping on her conversations then using what she heard to steer later conversations with the girlfriend in the way she wanted them to go.

[Maeve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed learning about the first female police detective on the NYC police force, though the book is a 'kindle single' so it was short and left me wanting more.

[Jan C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about the first woman detective on the New York Police Department and how difficult it was to become that. It was a time of corruption on the force. Her husband had been a "roundsman" - I never was sure what that was. After he died, she got hired as a matron - escorting female prisoners, etc. Until the day came when they needed a woman to go undercover. And she knew how to blend.

It is pretty short and apparently some reviewers took exception to the shortness of it.

[Jesse Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little light on research but still a thrilling read about a not-very-well-known part of NYC history. Really well-written and it has all the makings of a modern police procedural. Goodwin was a hero.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story about the first female detective in New York City. Late 1800's. Interesting side note , she married at 55, a 23 year old singer. Way to go Mrs. Godwin.

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read and interesting

I forget that female police officers haven’t always been as high up in the ranks as they can be now. This was a very interesting story and Mrs. Goodwin definitely paved the way.

[Susan J. Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but that's all

Amazing woman but the reader remains on the outside. No sense of who Mrs.Goodwin was, or her inner thoughts or feelings.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Isabella Goodwin was a thirty-nine year old widowed mother of four and a police matron in 1912 when she was sent undercover as a maid at a boardinghouse in the tenderloin district to root out the whereabouts of Eddie 'the Boob' - a professional boxer and their - from his 'tea dancer' girlfriend Swede Annie, and bring him in, if she could, for the worst bank heist in New York's history. The Fearless Mrs. Goodwin relates how she succeeded in doing just that. This was my first kindle single experience and on the whole it was fine. The story of mrs. Goodwin, the first female detective in the new York city police department would have been better as a full length book. While there was clearly a lot of research put into this article, I feel like there was a lot of information missing - I wanted to know more about corruption the police department and more details about mrs goodwin's assignments, I wish that more information about the trial of the thieves who perpetrated this heist was available. Also, the end of the article where the outcome of the trial is described came as a bit of a shock and was treated as an aside. The writing lacked the panache necessary to police and detective stories and read like an eighth grader's book report. Not a terrible way to kill half an hour, but could have been much improved upon.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 3.5 stars that evokes a real sense of time and place. With that time and place being early 20th century New York City.

I would have liked more background on Isabella outside of her role as a wife and mother. Outside of needing to earn a living, we're not entreated to exactly why she joined the force. What was her education, socioeconomic background, etc. This book focused on how she was a great detective but it didn't delve much into why she was a great detective.

Still, recommended! More books about trailblazers like her, please!

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. A little choppy but worth the read. I happened to read this about the time of the Connecticut school shooting and I thought this was interesting:

"The newspapers complained that the Sullivan Law, which made it illegal for a civilian to carry a firearm without a license, had merely made robbers more bold."

Kind of interesting considering this was 1912! All this time and we still aren't getting it right.

[Nathalie Belkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had so much potential but i found it fell short on both the story of Mrs.Goodwin herself and the writing - which i hate to say since i know how much heart and soul writers pour into their work -- it just fell flat a little for me.

Mrs. Goodwin, buried in Green-Wood Cemetery was a fascinating woman that Ms. Mitchell barely focused on. The crime that got her involved was the main focus of the book (also very interesting, but not what i wanted to know about solely).

[Byliner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing true story of New York City’s first female police detective, and a the brutal bank heist that only she could solve. Imagine Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City" crossed with Caleb Carr's "The Alienist," and you've got the Fearless Mrs. Goodwin!

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mrs. Goodwin was indeed fearless. This could have been a very interesting book but it was more like a high-school theme paper. Mrs. G was a remarkable, tough, woman who did an almost impossible job. Perhaps someone will take this information and turn it into a good novel.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess if I was a teacher, I would be an Easy Marker, but this story deserves 5 stars, or perhaps I just like short stories? Anyway, in my opinion, this was a real gem of Woman's History. Should be on HS recommended-reading list.

[Petra Willemse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story goes bizarrely back and forth between a variety of glimpses into early New York policing. The lack of focus on the title character and the jumping of time periods makes it hard to get a sense for what the author was attempting to elucidate here.

[Felicity · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mrs. Goodwin is a really intriguing character. This short piece doesn't do her justice -- and not because it's short. When historians try and create atmosphere, they had better be damn good at it, otherwise it's cheesy. This, sadly, is melodramatic and boring.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story, but excellent information; who knew? A female police person in NYC way back when?
Would be good choice for high school lit class or even an outside reading for social studies class in first yr. high school or perhaps grade 8.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating history of how Isabella Goodwin became NY’s first female detective. A lot of her story appears to be lost to the sands of time, but what remains is well worth this quick and enjoyable read. She was a quite remarkable person.

[Gayle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting info from the early 1900's and what is was like to live in New York as well as what the police force was like. However, I found neither the writing nor the characters engaging.

[Atlantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fact-based book read almost like a long newspaper article. Mrs. Goodwin was a hard worker who deserves commendation for her efforts in helping to solve a famous bank robbery in New York City.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short Kindle essay tells the story of Isabella Goodwin, New York's first female detective.


She was awesome, a single working mother who believed women could do anything.

[Genevieve · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a long story, which could have been done in a footnote.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

wasn't very good kind of a waste of money.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but not much more than an article from a magazine

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

WAS TOO MUCH OF A TEXT BOOK FOR ME

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great topic for a story, but it was so poorly written that, in addition to a lack of character development and narrative, was almost impossible to follow.

[Val Wilkerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

About the first woman to wear a police uniform in New York,
1930's I believe. The book was short and just didn't grab my
interest, I think the author did not paint a very deep picture
of Mrs Goodwin.

[Paulette · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Some interesting information about what NYC was like in the early 1900s. Got it for .99 on ebooks so that was good.

[Shanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story told with artistic liberty, a fun read overall.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting bit if history I wasn't aware of.