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Lady Molly of Scotland Yard
*Beautifully illustrated with 12 period drawings
*Includes original essay “Who was Baroness Orczy?”
*Fully corrected text
From the author of The Scarlet Pimpernell, comes a series of 12 stories featuring one of literature’s first female detectives. Molly Robertson-Kirk a.k.a. Lady Molly shares the same mental prowess as C. Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes but brings a woman’s wit to the table making for a formidable crime buster. Join her as she solves the crimes that plague the hills and highlands of Inverness, Scotland.
Here presented together are all 12 stories:
THE NINESCORE MYSTERY
THE FREWIN MINIATURES
THE IRISH-TWEED COAT
THE FORDWYCH CASTLE MYSTERY
A DAY'S FOLLY
A CASTLE IN BRITTANY
A CHRISTMAS TRAGEDY
THE BAG OF SAND
THE MAN IN THE INVERNESS CAPE
THE WOMAN IN THE BIG HAT
SIR JEREMIAH'S WILL
THE END
*Includes original essay “Who was Baroness Orczy?”
*Fully corrected text
From the author of The Scarlet Pimpernell, comes a series of 12 stories featuring one of literature’s first female detectives. Molly Robertson-Kirk a.k.a. Lady Molly shares the same mental prowess as C. Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes but brings a woman’s wit to the table making for a formidable crime buster. Join her as she solves the crimes that plague the hills and highlands of Inverness, Scotland.
Here presented together are all 12 stories:
THE NINESCORE MYSTERY
THE FREWIN MINIATURES
THE IRISH-TWEED COAT
THE FORDWYCH CASTLE MYSTERY
A DAY'S FOLLY
A CASTLE IN BRITTANY
A CHRISTMAS TRAGEDY
THE BAG OF SAND
THE MAN IN THE INVERNESS CAPE
THE WOMAN IN THE BIG HAT
SIR JEREMIAH'S WILL
THE END
158 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1910
255 people are currently reading
962 people want to read
About the author
Emmuska Orczy
858 books1,096 followersFull name: Emma ("Emmuska") Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orczi was a Hungarian-British novelist, best remembered as the author of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1905). Baroness Orczy's sequels to the novel were less successful. She was also an artist, and her works were exhibited at the Royal Academy, London. Her first venture into fiction was with crime stories. Among her most popular characters was The Old Man in the Corner, who was featured in a series of twelve British movies from 1924, starring Rolf Leslie.
Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born in Tarnaörs, Hungary, as the only daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a noted composer and conductor, and his wife Emma. Her father was a friend of such composers as Wagner, Liszt, and Gounod. Orczy moved with her parents from Budapest to Brussels and then to London, learning to speak English at the age of fifteen. She was educated in convent schools in Brussels and Paris. In London she studied at the West London School of Art. Orczy married in 1894 Montague Barstow, whom she had met while studying at the Heatherby School of Art. Together they started to produce book and magazine illustrations and published an edition of Hungarian folktales.
Orczy's first detective stories appeared in magazines. As a writer she became famous in 1903 with the stage version of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born in Tarnaörs, Hungary, as the only daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a noted composer and conductor, and his wife Emma. Her father was a friend of such composers as Wagner, Liszt, and Gounod. Orczy moved with her parents from Budapest to Brussels and then to London, learning to speak English at the age of fifteen. She was educated in convent schools in Brussels and Paris. In London she studied at the West London School of Art. Orczy married in 1894 Montague Barstow, whom she had met while studying at the Heatherby School of Art. Together they started to produce book and magazine illustrations and published an edition of Hungarian folktales.
Orczy's first detective stories appeared in magazines. As a writer she became famous in 1903 with the stage version of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
July 10, 2024
Born in Hungary, in 1865, Baroness Emmuska Orczy de Orczy, left her homeland in 1868, and settled in England.
A gifted artist, with classical training, Baroness Orczy did not take up writing until after the birth of her first child.
It wasn’t until her publishing of The Scarlet Pimpernel that she became successful as a writer and later a producer of her play from the novel.
Although her Lady Molly series never became as successful, it enjoyed a popularity. The Lady Molly mysteries are narrated by her maid and (friend), Mary Granard, who, ever loyal, reminds us repeatedly throughout the book, that she loves Lady Molly more than she loves anyone else in the world. It is not known if Lady Molly feels the same.
Like Sherlock Holmes’s Dr. Watson, Mary’s job is a dogged determination to reveal Lady Molly as a sage. And she is. She brilliantly solves every case. We know this from Mary’s narrative.
We also know from her narrative that intolerance and prejudice is very much the norm in early 20th century. How else to explain descriptions of a poor suspect as being slatternly because she is dressed shabbily with holes in her garments?
The outrage that is directed towards this person enveloped in poverty is never directed towards the person who pays the slave wages that cause lives of desperation.
Well, this is the reason that I had to walk away from the book for awhile, but I returned because I enjoyed reading the mysteries. In fact I’ll probably read some more.
4.5 stars. ✨✨✨✨✨
A gifted artist, with classical training, Baroness Orczy did not take up writing until after the birth of her first child.
It wasn’t until her publishing of The Scarlet Pimpernel that she became successful as a writer and later a producer of her play from the novel.
Although her Lady Molly series never became as successful, it enjoyed a popularity. The Lady Molly mysteries are narrated by her maid and (friend), Mary Granard, who, ever loyal, reminds us repeatedly throughout the book, that she loves Lady Molly more than she loves anyone else in the world. It is not known if Lady Molly feels the same.
Like Sherlock Holmes’s Dr. Watson, Mary’s job is a dogged determination to reveal Lady Molly as a sage. And she is. She brilliantly solves every case. We know this from Mary’s narrative.
We also know from her narrative that intolerance and prejudice is very much the norm in early 20th century. How else to explain descriptions of a poor suspect as being slatternly because she is dressed shabbily with holes in her garments?
The outrage that is directed towards this person enveloped in poverty is never directed towards the person who pays the slave wages that cause lives of desperation.
Well, this is the reason that I had to walk away from the book for awhile, but I returned because I enjoyed reading the mysteries. In fact I’ll probably read some more.
4.5 stars. ✨✨✨✨✨
February 2, 2023
For my Geek blog called the Mustache and the Beard, my buddy and I usually celebrate March as a month for Women's Empowerment. This allows us, two male Grey Geeks, an opportunity to feature female-centric properties during an exclusive month. Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is supposed to be the first female Sherlock Holmes, and I choose to believe that these stories may have had an impact on the chauvinistic impulses that prevented women from serving as detectives until a full decade after these stories were published in 1910. However, before one celebrates Baroness Orczy as a pioneer, it is important to note that a modern audience may have some real issues with these 12 stories. Since Lady Molly never reached the acclaim of other male detectives, I leave it to everyone to form their own opinion, but there were several things that I found striking. Almost every time the writer described the impoverished, they are dirty, slattern, and lazy while the more affluent are considered beautiful, radiant, and intelligent. Mary who ostensibly is Lady Molly's Watson is in love with Lady Molly and is sometimes overly impressed with what amounts to dumb luck. Lady Molly's great instincts are really celebrated as a strength and really are pretty sexist in there own way. Now what I have mentioned might make it seem like I didn't like these stories, but that's not true. I can read these stories as representative of a distinct milieu different from mine and find joy in them even as I critique from a post-modern perception, but you should only read these if you are as open-minded. Otherwise, you just may not enjoy these stories.
March 12, 2023
There was a comment recently on a Lord Peter discussion group about "the Lady Molly stories", or Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. I'd never heard of them, so I did a search, and was surprised to find that they were written by the same author as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy. A few minutes later I had the collection of twelve stories sitting before me on the screen.
It didn't take long to figure out why Lady Molly Robertson-Kirk is not as famous as Percy Blakeney.
The idea is that Lady Molly is officially a detective, assisted by her faithful (so very, very faithful) companion Mary Granard; what if any actual rank either lady holds in the Metropolitan Police Department is never specified, and in any case would seem to have no bearing on their behavior. In fact, the latter severs her association with Scotland Yard in the second or third story of the collection, to become Lady Molly's full-time assistant – which is, I thought, extraordinary considering how hard-won any place in 1910 Scotland Yard would be for a woman, if it had been possible at all.
Lady Molly herself goes where and does what she will, and the chief's opinions and orders be damned. She is, perhaps, something of an ancestress of Albert Campion's; her peerage is kept mysterious, a sort of inside joke, her lineage and title never specified yet conferring all of the benefits of her position in society without any of the restrictions. Waving aside the little fact that in 1910 it would have been considered rather more than unladylike for a well-bred woman to play detective, and that not a soul would have taken her (a woman and a lady) seriously, she is not something that would be desirable on any police force. She's … I think I hate her, actually. Lady Molly flouts procedure and chain of command continually; I wonder why she was not simply created as a private enquiry agent like Holmes, since she behaves like one.
As far as I remember, though, Holmes never used the methods Lady Molly stoops to – which are therefore considered a "feminine" take on things, getting the job done when the boys can't. Unfortunately, the very first example of her feminine slant involves her, off her own bat and unsanctioned by her superiors, perpetrating a very cruel hoax on a baby's mother. That sets the pattern for the rest of the stories: Molly's investigative technique involves trickery, deceit, lots of disguises, a cruel streak, and wild unsupported illogical leaps of intuition, acted on by her as if they were reasonable conclusions reached by quantifiable means. These leaps not only ignore all generally accepted methods of investigation but also cheat the reader of any possibility of figuring out the puzzle on her own. At least a third of the stories concluded with a smug flourish on Molly's part and a "Wha - ?" on mine.
On the other hand, the stories which don't pull a solution out of the air are thoroughly and utterly predictable. I was being charitable in the beginning and allowing for a less experienced and jaded original audience for the stories, but even so I knew what happened in the first story before the narrator had finished telling the details of the crime - and I'm never very good at working out the puzzle on my own. I would not recommend these stories for anyone who is.
For one thing – and for rather obvious reasons, I suppose, primitive equal rights and all that – most of the miscreants are women. Can't have some mere female actually outsmarting and incarcerating men, you know.
The solutions aren't the only things that are too obvious. The writing tends to run along the lines of the example in which a maid is found with her throat cut. "The sight was horrible. ... Poor Roonah was obviously dead." Yes. Thanks. Got it.
The message board comment that led me to these stories was made in a context of disapproving of the fawning tone of the narrating sidekick. I thought that as long as it was on a par with Watson's tone that I'd find it tolerable at worst. It's not on a par. Where Watson, iirc, admires Holmes and expects great feats from him, Mary Granard almost literally worships Lady Molly. It's nauseating. I had collected a few of the examples as I read, but lost them, and it's just as well; no anti-emetics are provided with this review. Suffice to say many of them feature "my dainty lady". Yeah. (Wait, just one, with apologies: "No one can be so winning or so persuasive as my dear lady. In a moment I saw the girls' hostility melting before the sunshine of Lady Molly's smile.")
What makes this particularly difficult to take is that Mary’s worship of her is based on her cleverness – which, again, is almost pure “women’s intuition”, the illusion of shrewd thinking being maintained largely by keeping Mary and therefore the reader in the dark about many details – and on her ladylike loveliness. In fact, I think Lady Molly could be dumb as a stump and Mary would still revere her pretty shoulders and charming smiles and dainty white fingers. (Mary gives very little indication of brains herself.) Molly’s behavior toward her is often abominable. Mary is subservient and very, very inferior to Molly throughout, and is treated accordingly, sent off on strange, sometimes unpleasant, sometimes frightening or downright dangerous missions without a clue of what’s going on. Whether the ignorance she is kept in is a reflection of her ability, her intelligence, Molly’s idea of preserving verisimilitude, or Molly’s thoughtlessness, it would in reality probably have gotten the woman killed at least once, and no one, male or female, would put up with it now. I hope.
There is a nasty vein of snobbery through all of these stories. Mary is largely disregarded, by everyone from Molly on down. In addition to beauty almost automatically equaling innocence, it is a given that the poor are slovenly, poor women are slatterns, and they're usually the ones who did it (poverty outweighing beauty in the unlikely event of a pretty pauper). Even when the narrator acknowledges that the disadvantaged are disadvantaged, there is still a tone of "but even so!" The rich, of course, are under no obligation to lift a finger toward anyone less fortunate, and they are given the benefit of the doubt and the assumption of innocence: given stories from two people, one "noble" and one "common", the noble's word is taken as gospel and the commoner's is suspect. And it's all presented with a matter-of-fact air, as if offering the statement that grass is green.
"The somewhat uncouth manners suggestive of an upbringing in a country parsonage" – like Jane Austen's?
And of course Catholicism is equated to a heathen fear of the supernatural.
It's a pity. There are the seeds of some good ideas here (hence a reluctant two stars instead of a well-deserved one): the clock in "A Castle in Brittany" (made pointless by a cheat); the disguises in "The Man in the Inverness Café"; the revelation of the hat in "The Woman in the Big Hat". But – to carry the metaphor, they're too smothered in fertilizer to grow.
This was so bad it inspired even more of a rant than appears here. The unabridged version of this review is on my blog.
It didn't take long to figure out why Lady Molly Robertson-Kirk is not as famous as Percy Blakeney.
The idea is that Lady Molly is officially a detective, assisted by her faithful (so very, very faithful) companion Mary Granard; what if any actual rank either lady holds in the Metropolitan Police Department is never specified, and in any case would seem to have no bearing on their behavior. In fact, the latter severs her association with Scotland Yard in the second or third story of the collection, to become Lady Molly's full-time assistant – which is, I thought, extraordinary considering how hard-won any place in 1910 Scotland Yard would be for a woman, if it had been possible at all.
Lady Molly herself goes where and does what she will, and the chief's opinions and orders be damned. She is, perhaps, something of an ancestress of Albert Campion's; her peerage is kept mysterious, a sort of inside joke, her lineage and title never specified yet conferring all of the benefits of her position in society without any of the restrictions. Waving aside the little fact that in 1910 it would have been considered rather more than unladylike for a well-bred woman to play detective, and that not a soul would have taken her (a woman and a lady) seriously, she is not something that would be desirable on any police force. She's … I think I hate her, actually. Lady Molly flouts procedure and chain of command continually; I wonder why she was not simply created as a private enquiry agent like Holmes, since she behaves like one.
As far as I remember, though, Holmes never used the methods Lady Molly stoops to – which are therefore considered a "feminine" take on things, getting the job done when the boys can't. Unfortunately, the very first example of her feminine slant involves her, off her own bat and unsanctioned by her superiors, perpetrating a very cruel hoax on a baby's mother. That sets the pattern for the rest of the stories: Molly's investigative technique involves trickery, deceit, lots of disguises, a cruel streak, and wild unsupported illogical leaps of intuition, acted on by her as if they were reasonable conclusions reached by quantifiable means. These leaps not only ignore all generally accepted methods of investigation but also cheat the reader of any possibility of figuring out the puzzle on her own. At least a third of the stories concluded with a smug flourish on Molly's part and a "Wha - ?" on mine.
On the other hand, the stories which don't pull a solution out of the air are thoroughly and utterly predictable. I was being charitable in the beginning and allowing for a less experienced and jaded original audience for the stories, but even so I knew what happened in the first story before the narrator had finished telling the details of the crime - and I'm never very good at working out the puzzle on my own. I would not recommend these stories for anyone who is.
For one thing – and for rather obvious reasons, I suppose, primitive equal rights and all that – most of the miscreants are women. Can't have some mere female actually outsmarting and incarcerating men, you know.
The solutions aren't the only things that are too obvious. The writing tends to run along the lines of the example in which a maid is found with her throat cut. "The sight was horrible. ... Poor Roonah was obviously dead." Yes. Thanks. Got it.
The message board comment that led me to these stories was made in a context of disapproving of the fawning tone of the narrating sidekick. I thought that as long as it was on a par with Watson's tone that I'd find it tolerable at worst. It's not on a par. Where Watson, iirc, admires Holmes and expects great feats from him, Mary Granard almost literally worships Lady Molly. It's nauseating. I had collected a few of the examples as I read, but lost them, and it's just as well; no anti-emetics are provided with this review. Suffice to say many of them feature "my dainty lady". Yeah. (Wait, just one, with apologies: "No one can be so winning or so persuasive as my dear lady. In a moment I saw the girls' hostility melting before the sunshine of Lady Molly's smile.")
What makes this particularly difficult to take is that Mary’s worship of her is based on her cleverness – which, again, is almost pure “women’s intuition”, the illusion of shrewd thinking being maintained largely by keeping Mary and therefore the reader in the dark about many details – and on her ladylike loveliness. In fact, I think Lady Molly could be dumb as a stump and Mary would still revere her pretty shoulders and charming smiles and dainty white fingers. (Mary gives very little indication of brains herself.) Molly’s behavior toward her is often abominable. Mary is subservient and very, very inferior to Molly throughout, and is treated accordingly, sent off on strange, sometimes unpleasant, sometimes frightening or downright dangerous missions without a clue of what’s going on. Whether the ignorance she is kept in is a reflection of her ability, her intelligence, Molly’s idea of preserving verisimilitude, or Molly’s thoughtlessness, it would in reality probably have gotten the woman killed at least once, and no one, male or female, would put up with it now. I hope.
There is a nasty vein of snobbery through all of these stories. Mary is largely disregarded, by everyone from Molly on down. In addition to beauty almost automatically equaling innocence, it is a given that the poor are slovenly, poor women are slatterns, and they're usually the ones who did it (poverty outweighing beauty in the unlikely event of a pretty pauper). Even when the narrator acknowledges that the disadvantaged are disadvantaged, there is still a tone of "but even so!" The rich, of course, are under no obligation to lift a finger toward anyone less fortunate, and they are given the benefit of the doubt and the assumption of innocence: given stories from two people, one "noble" and one "common", the noble's word is taken as gospel and the commoner's is suspect. And it's all presented with a matter-of-fact air, as if offering the statement that grass is green.
"The somewhat uncouth manners suggestive of an upbringing in a country parsonage" – like Jane Austen's?
And of course Catholicism is equated to a heathen fear of the supernatural.
It's a pity. There are the seeds of some good ideas here (hence a reluctant two stars instead of a well-deserved one): the clock in "A Castle in Brittany" (made pointless by a cheat); the disguises in "The Man in the Inverness Café"; the revelation of the hat in "The Woman in the Big Hat". But – to carry the metaphor, they're too smothered in fertilizer to grow.
This was so bad it inspired even more of a rant than appears here. The unabridged version of this review is on my blog.
March 19, 2017
Free download available at Faded Page.
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
The Ninescore Mystery
Episode 1 of 10
Lady Molly and her assistant Mary use feminine intuition over the gruesome village murder of a young woman. Lady Molly's assistant Mary is the narrator.
The Irish-Tweed Coat
Episode 2 of 10
Lady Molly and Mary take on the Mafia to try and prove the innocence of a young man accused of murder.
A Day's Folly
Episode 3 of 10
When a Countess becomes the victim of blackmail, she calls in Lady Molly who's soon in hot pursuit.
Read by Sophie Thompson.
The Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories by Baroness Orczy feature Molly Robertson-Kirk, one of the first female detectives in literature. Originally published in 1910, Lady Molly pre-dates her real-life counterparts by almost a decade.
Relying on brains rather than brawn to solve crimes, she and her faithful assistant, Mary Granard, take on the cases of The Ninescore Mystery, The Irish-Tweed Coat and A Day's Folly, applying feminine tact and intellect to catch the culprits.
Orczy's characters The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Old Man in the Corner are literary classics, but the lesser-known Lady Molly stories are some of the first to feature a female detective as the main protagonist.
The reader, Sophie Thompson received an Olivier Award nomination for the 1995 London revival of the musical Company, before winning the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of Into the Woods. Her film appearances include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Persuasion (1995) Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Gosford Park (2001), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010). She also played Stella Crawford in the BBC's EastEnders (2006-07), for which she won "Best Bitch" at the Inside Soap awards. Other Olivier nominations include Wildest Dreams (RSC 1994), Clybourne Park (Royal Court and West End, 2010), and Guys and Dolls (Savoy Theatre, 2015-16).
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Jo Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Greenlit Productions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gjg2g
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
The Ninescore Mystery
Episode 1 of 10
Lady Molly and her assistant Mary use feminine intuition over the gruesome village murder of a young woman. Lady Molly's assistant Mary is the narrator.
The Irish-Tweed Coat
Episode 2 of 10
Lady Molly and Mary take on the Mafia to try and prove the innocence of a young man accused of murder.
A Day's Folly
Episode 3 of 10
When a Countess becomes the victim of blackmail, she calls in Lady Molly who's soon in hot pursuit.
Read by Sophie Thompson.
The Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories by Baroness Orczy feature Molly Robertson-Kirk, one of the first female detectives in literature. Originally published in 1910, Lady Molly pre-dates her real-life counterparts by almost a decade.
Relying on brains rather than brawn to solve crimes, she and her faithful assistant, Mary Granard, take on the cases of The Ninescore Mystery, The Irish-Tweed Coat and A Day's Folly, applying feminine tact and intellect to catch the culprits.
Orczy's characters The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Old Man in the Corner are literary classics, but the lesser-known Lady Molly stories are some of the first to feature a female detective as the main protagonist.
The reader, Sophie Thompson received an Olivier Award nomination for the 1995 London revival of the musical Company, before winning the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of Into the Woods. Her film appearances include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Persuasion (1995) Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Gosford Park (2001), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010). She also played Stella Crawford in the BBC's EastEnders (2006-07), for which she won "Best Bitch" at the Inside Soap awards. Other Olivier nominations include Wildest Dreams (RSC 1994), Clybourne Park (Royal Court and West End, 2010), and Guys and Dolls (Savoy Theatre, 2015-16).
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Jo Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Greenlit Productions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gjg2g
September 3, 2022
So was anybody going to tell me that Emmuska Orczy wrote a knockoff genderbent Sherlock Holmes collection in 1910 that is even gayer than the original or was I just supposed to find out myself?
March 14, 2018
(Maybe 3.5 stars) This was a fun find about a female detective in 1910 England. Lady Molly is a woman ahead of her time. The first real-life female detectives didn't show up until a decade or so after Baroness Orczy's fictional one. Whether Emmuska Orczy (yes, the author of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL books) helped pave the way for real policewomen and detectives isn't provable, but I'd like to think her stories did.
Lady Molly is quite the character. She relies on her brains and female intuition and picks up on information and clues that her male counterparts don't notice or don't feel is important. Oh, and let's not forget that she's also young and attractive. Why? Because the narrator of the stories, Molly's assistant, Mary Granard, won't let us. She manages to get in a lot of heroine worship in each story, letting us know how brilliant and beautiful Lady Molly is.
There are 12 mysteries in total for Lady Molly to solve. They are all included here. You can try to solve them along with or before Lady Molly but there's always a wee bit of information not quite divulged to us and that is usually some female intuition of Lady Molly's that I, although female, am not able to intuit. But no matter if you can or cannot solve the mysteries before Lady Molly, they are all still fun period pieces and are as valuable to read for period language, behavior and history as they are for the mysteries themselves.
As the stories progress, you will discover something about Lady Molly and her reason for working at Scotland Yard. I won't spoil it for you but if you are a feminist or empowered-woman fan you may find the way everything ends slightly disappointing. Or not. Molly is still a woman ahead of her time.
Lady Molly is quite the character. She relies on her brains and female intuition and picks up on information and clues that her male counterparts don't notice or don't feel is important. Oh, and let's not forget that she's also young and attractive. Why? Because the narrator of the stories, Molly's assistant, Mary Granard, won't let us. She manages to get in a lot of heroine worship in each story, letting us know how brilliant and beautiful Lady Molly is.
There are 12 mysteries in total for Lady Molly to solve. They are all included here. You can try to solve them along with or before Lady Molly but there's always a wee bit of information not quite divulged to us and that is usually some female intuition of Lady Molly's that I, although female, am not able to intuit. But no matter if you can or cannot solve the mysteries before Lady Molly, they are all still fun period pieces and are as valuable to read for period language, behavior and history as they are for the mysteries themselves.
As the stories progress, you will discover something about Lady Molly and her reason for working at Scotland Yard. I won't spoil it for you but if you are a feminist or empowered-woman fan you may find the way everything ends slightly disappointing. Or not. Molly is still a woman ahead of her time.
March 2, 2023
I read this for a book club and it was decent for what it was- a collection of mysteries solved by Lady Molly (aka Girlock Holmes as my husband called her 😂) written in the early 1900s.
My main issue with it (besides the uncomfortable amount of times the author used the word “ejaculated” instead of “exclaimed” 😳) was that each short story had soooo many characters, so it was kind of a chore learning a whole new set of characters every 15-20 pages. I kind of wish she had just taken one of the mysteries and made a novel about it.
So it was decent, but i wouldn’t necessarily recommend it unless you are looking for a collection of short mysteries written in early 1900s style.
My main issue with it (besides the uncomfortable amount of times the author used the word “ejaculated” instead of “exclaimed” 😳) was that each short story had soooo many characters, so it was kind of a chore learning a whole new set of characters every 15-20 pages. I kind of wish she had just taken one of the mysteries and made a novel about it.
So it was decent, but i wouldn’t necessarily recommend it unless you are looking for a collection of short mysteries written in early 1900s style.
March 2, 2017
28 FEB 2017 - am listening to these from BBC Radio4EX. I have also downloaded a copy from Fadedpage.com. I am enjoying these shorties very much.
BBC series begins here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gjg2g
Fadedpage.com download here - http://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php...
Enjoy!
Fadedpage.com description - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is a collection of short stories about Molly Robertson-Kirk, an early fictional female detective. It was written by Baroness Orczy, who is best known as the creator of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but who also invented two immortal turn-of-the-century detectives in The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard.
First published in 1910, Orczy's female detective was the precursor of the lay sleuth who relies on brains rather than brawn. The book soon became very popular, with three editions appearing in the first year. As well as being one of the first novels to feature a female detective as the main character, Orczy's outstandingly successful police officer preceded her real life female counterparts by a decade.
2 MAR 2017 - fast, fun shorties. Recommend!
BBC series begins here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gjg2g
Fadedpage.com download here - http://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php...
Enjoy!
Fadedpage.com description - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is a collection of short stories about Molly Robertson-Kirk, an early fictional female detective. It was written by Baroness Orczy, who is best known as the creator of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but who also invented two immortal turn-of-the-century detectives in The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard.
First published in 1910, Orczy's female detective was the precursor of the lay sleuth who relies on brains rather than brawn. The book soon became very popular, with three editions appearing in the first year. As well as being one of the first novels to feature a female detective as the main character, Orczy's outstandingly successful police officer preceded her real life female counterparts by a decade.
2 MAR 2017 - fast, fun shorties. Recommend!
January 24, 2024
Written in 1910 by the creator of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Lady Molly joins Scotland Yard to help clear her lover's name after a murder. The book is a series of short stories written by her maid/companion, relating the various cases the pair solved during her ladyship's time with the Met. Lady Molly always manages to solve the complex cases, by picking up on little domestic details her male colleagues miss. Very well plotted with ingenious solutions each time. The final story is how she solves the case against the man she loves.
Interestingly, she was a female detective a decade before women were actually allowed to join the force.
Lively narration by Heather Tracy. Free audiobook from Apple Books. Well worth a listen.
Interestingly, she was a female detective a decade before women were actually allowed to join the force.
Lively narration by Heather Tracy. Free audiobook from Apple Books. Well worth a listen.
March 16, 2023
Sooooo boring. I feel bad saying that, but this book was a drag. I felt like it would have been better to have one long in depth mystery, rather than many short ones. By the time I got into one, it was onto the next. Plus there were so many characters to remember. I also felt like the amount of times Mary said “the woman I loved best in all the world” to describe Lady Molly was wayyyyy too many. We get it. You love her. Find a different phrase 🫠
September 29, 2023
4,5 stars
This book is the female version of Sherlock Holmes and I really loved it! I could see that the author has read many Sherlock Holmes books, but Lady Molly's stories had their own charm as well. My favorite character is Mary ("Watson"). She is such a funny woman and she loves and adores Lady Molly like a madwoman. She was really a good protagonist.
My only problem was really Lady Molly. In the first few stories she was really cold and you didn't get to know her very well. It's not until the last two stories (they are connected) that we learn more about Lady Molly and what type of person she is. I wish we could have seen some characteristics earlier.
Still, it was a lot of fun to listen to the audiobook. Good job to the author and to the narrator! I haven't heard the Christmas story yet, but I will definitely listen to it for Christmas!
This book is the female version of Sherlock Holmes and I really loved it! I could see that the author has read many Sherlock Holmes books, but Lady Molly's stories had their own charm as well. My favorite character is Mary ("Watson"). She is such a funny woman and she loves and adores Lady Molly like a madwoman. She was really a good protagonist.
My only problem was really Lady Molly. In the first few stories she was really cold and you didn't get to know her very well. It's not until the last two stories (they are connected) that we learn more about Lady Molly and what type of person she is. I wish we could have seen some characteristics earlier.
Still, it was a lot of fun to listen to the audiobook. Good job to the author and to the narrator! I haven't heard the Christmas story yet, but I will definitely listen to it for Christmas!
May 19, 2023
Female Sherlock Holmes and Watson.
maybe
March 11, 2017http://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php...
Description: ady Molly of Scotland Yard is a collection of short stories about Molly Robertson-Kirk, an early fictional female detective. It was written by Baroness Orczy, who is best known as the creator of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but who also invented two immortal turn-of-the-century detectives in The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard.
First published in 1910, Orczy's female detective was the precursor of the lay sleuth who relies on brains rather than brawn. The book soon became very popular, with three editions appearing in the first year. As well as being one of the first novels to feature a female detective as the main character, Orczy's outstandingly successful police officer preceded her real life female counterparts by a decade.
March 9, 2025
How to rate this?? It's among the silliest things I've read since I was required to read "Deadwood Dick" for an English class in college. It's not well written; it's sappy; it's ludicrous; it's like Baroness Orczy was writing a parody of Sherlock Holmes if Holmes were a woman written by a man (if you can follow that). The narrator adores her subject, worships the ground she treads on, and never misses an opportunity to tell you how "literally" (a favorite word) AMAZING Lady Molly is. She is KIND and CLEVER and DARING and her INTUITION NEVER FAILS. By the way, "feminine intuition" is how Lady Molly solves most of these mysteries -- though some of us would call it "jumping to conclusions." It's all rather nauseating. And yet at the same time it's fun to ride along? And I wanted to see how each of the stories turned out, even though they were simple? I don't think I'd advise spending any money on these short stories, but as freebies and pure brain candy, I enjoyed reading them.
November 11, 2025
Hear me out: pick up the book, look at the cover. Read the title out loud: "Lady Molly of the Scotland Yard." Wow. A woman in the Scotland Yard. Amazing. That Emma Orczy author was a real visionary.
Then you put the book back on the self and read a Peter Wimsey Mystery instead. Trust me. You will be a lot happier.
Why, you ask?
It appears that the author prefers uneven relationship dynamics. The all powerful Scarlet Pimpernel and his flailing adoring wife. The all knowing Lady Molly, so beautiful, so wise and her humble sidekick Mary, who obeys her blindly and adores her and is always clueless as that what is happening in the case. A Our POv is the same as Mary's. We are clueless, constantly admiring Lady Molly.
But that is not my main issue with this book. I have reached the story where a woman is married to a mentally disabled man and the narrator is busy being disgusted, and appalled by what seems to be an impossible heartbreaking situation. They are dirty. They are slovenly. They look guilty. Oh no, poor people exist!
So, I am going to put the book down and read a Peter Wimsey Mystery instead.
Then you put the book back on the self and read a Peter Wimsey Mystery instead. Trust me. You will be a lot happier.
Why, you ask?
It appears that the author prefers uneven relationship dynamics. The all powerful Scarlet Pimpernel and his flailing adoring wife. The all knowing Lady Molly, so beautiful, so wise and her humble sidekick Mary, who obeys her blindly and adores her and is always clueless as that what is happening in the case. A Our POv is the same as Mary's. We are clueless, constantly admiring Lady Molly.
But that is not my main issue with this book. I have reached the story where a woman is married to a mentally disabled man and the narrator is busy being disgusted, and appalled by what seems to be an impossible heartbreaking situation. They are dirty. They are slovenly. They look guilty. Oh no, poor people exist!
So, I am going to put the book down and read a Peter Wimsey Mystery instead.
January 2, 2025
Step aside, Holmes and Watson! Bring on more Lady Molly and Mary!
This was amazing. I want more. Also, Mary’s attempts to prove herself useful to Molly are lesbian pining. I’ll be taking no questions at this time.
This was amazing. I want more. Also, Mary’s attempts to prove herself useful to Molly are lesbian pining. I’ll be taking no questions at this time.
May 31, 2017
Bottom Line First: A sequence of short, mysteries each solved by a Sherlock Holmes like lady investigator - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard
Easy to read and entertaining if not particularly engrossing. Pleasant reading for a lunch break or other short time away from the day
The author: Baroness Emmuska Orczy, was born titled and lived an aristocratic life in Hungary until a pheasant revolt sent her family to Paris and ultimately London. She would be educated in Brussels and Paris. She became an artist and illustrator, and socialized with the likes of Franz List and Richard Wagner.
Along the way she would become a much published writer, most famously of the several Scarlett Pimpernel books. She would see a few of her plays go into production and with her husband illustrate and publish books of Hungarian folktales.
This collection of short mysteries is most often compared to her contemporary mystery writer Sir Author Conan Doyle. For example, Sherlock Holmes is narrated by Dr. Watson who can be somewhat oblivious and doglike in his devotion. Lady Molly has a devoted narrator Mary who can be equally oblivious and somewhat cloying.
Doyle's' Sherlock Holmes, has outlived The Baroness' Lady Molly, or at least lived on several larger stages. There are other important differences.
For one the Lady Molly stories are very short, rarely more than a dozen pages. The various mysteries tend to be comparatively simple, usually involving a single question or piece of evidence to be explained. The convention to these stories is that Lady Molly brings to late 19th century London a woman's sensitivities.
Sherlock Holmes advertised his skills as those of the first consulting detective to apply rigorous deductive logic. In deductive logic a person moves from one known fact to another fact. For example Holmes sees someone with a wet hat, shoulders and a dry, rolled umbrella Holmes concludes: someone dropped water on this person. Deductive reasoning can be trivial unless one is very observant in collecting facts not readily appreciated by others and backs it with a huge variety of potentially related facts. For example exact knowledge of tobacco and tobacco blends.
Lady Molly tends to use inductive logic. That is she will use the same kinds of specific observations that Holmes uses, but she is more like to combine these observations into general ideas and build theories. She would look at the wet hat and shoulders, dry umbrella and conclude that if the act was deliberate and if the wet person was not happy about being wet (that is it was not taken as a prank), they must have had an argument, stormed out of their upper story flat and the person left behind tossed down the water in order to get the `Last Word'. Both Holmes and Lady At some point either detective will need to use both kinds of logic. Both might claim that they never guess.
Generally Baroness Orczy's Lady Molly stories will give the reader a fair chance to solve the mystery before the reader. Once you grasp the Baroness' style you may solve some cases immediately. Still it is worth the few minutes to finish a story to see how her Ladyship reaches her solution. Then there will be a new challenge. The Kindle edition is, as of today, a number of fun challenges at under a buck. Take the challenge and enjoy.
Easy to read and entertaining if not particularly engrossing. Pleasant reading for a lunch break or other short time away from the day
The author: Baroness Emmuska Orczy, was born titled and lived an aristocratic life in Hungary until a pheasant revolt sent her family to Paris and ultimately London. She would be educated in Brussels and Paris. She became an artist and illustrator, and socialized with the likes of Franz List and Richard Wagner.
Along the way she would become a much published writer, most famously of the several Scarlett Pimpernel books. She would see a few of her plays go into production and with her husband illustrate and publish books of Hungarian folktales.
This collection of short mysteries is most often compared to her contemporary mystery writer Sir Author Conan Doyle. For example, Sherlock Holmes is narrated by Dr. Watson who can be somewhat oblivious and doglike in his devotion. Lady Molly has a devoted narrator Mary who can be equally oblivious and somewhat cloying.
Doyle's' Sherlock Holmes, has outlived The Baroness' Lady Molly, or at least lived on several larger stages. There are other important differences.
For one the Lady Molly stories are very short, rarely more than a dozen pages. The various mysteries tend to be comparatively simple, usually involving a single question or piece of evidence to be explained. The convention to these stories is that Lady Molly brings to late 19th century London a woman's sensitivities.
Sherlock Holmes advertised his skills as those of the first consulting detective to apply rigorous deductive logic. In deductive logic a person moves from one known fact to another fact. For example Holmes sees someone with a wet hat, shoulders and a dry, rolled umbrella Holmes concludes: someone dropped water on this person. Deductive reasoning can be trivial unless one is very observant in collecting facts not readily appreciated by others and backs it with a huge variety of potentially related facts. For example exact knowledge of tobacco and tobacco blends.
Lady Molly tends to use inductive logic. That is she will use the same kinds of specific observations that Holmes uses, but she is more like to combine these observations into general ideas and build theories. She would look at the wet hat and shoulders, dry umbrella and conclude that if the act was deliberate and if the wet person was not happy about being wet (that is it was not taken as a prank), they must have had an argument, stormed out of their upper story flat and the person left behind tossed down the water in order to get the `Last Word'. Both Holmes and Lady At some point either detective will need to use both kinds of logic. Both might claim that they never guess.
Generally Baroness Orczy's Lady Molly stories will give the reader a fair chance to solve the mystery before the reader. Once you grasp the Baroness' style you may solve some cases immediately. Still it is worth the few minutes to finish a story to see how her Ladyship reaches her solution. Then there will be a new challenge. The Kindle edition is, as of today, a number of fun challenges at under a buck. Take the challenge and enjoy.
January 19, 2022
This is a series of a dozen short stories about Lady Molly, a young woman of titled background who works upon occasion for Scotland Yard. Each story is narrated by her assistant (and former ladies maid) Mary. The setup for each story is really quite good and intriguing. Unlike the male police force, Lady Molly uses her intuition and womanly empathy to intuit the perpetrator of each crime. She then sets a trap, often by donning a disguise, to catch the murderer. At which point the story ends quite abruptly. Baroness Orczy was a royalist and a woman of her times. People may be commendable individuals, but it is best if people keep to their own class. The crimes in the stories are perpetrated by people of all classes, however. She is want, though, to say such things as of a maid who had the "pleasant vagueness peculiar to her class." However in a later story a similar character is described as having the "vagueness which is a usual and highly irritating characteristic of their class." Also, "certain families of Jewish extraction had an extraordinary hardness of character." Or my favorite, a man with "the somewhat uncouth manners suggestive of an upbringing in a country parsonage." [well, there goes much of Jane Austen.] The Baroness also seems to have a love of odd last names: Lord Mountnewte, Mr. Carrthwaite, Mr. d'Alboukirk, Countess of Hohengebirg, Lord Ullesthorpe, Mr. Smethick, and the Earl of Athyville.
November 5, 2011
Very nice collection of short mystery stories. The ending was very unexpected, and I really liked it apart from the fact that there was an enormous plot hole (a man falls in love with his half-sister)! (I don't know how the author didn't notice that.)
November 21, 2024
A pretty nice little collection of mystery stories from a detective I had never heard of before. As with a lot of these type of collections, the individual mystery stories vary in quality a little. Lady Molly and her companion and narrator (and obvious love of her life if you ask me) Mary make a good pair throughout all of the stories.
With are lead characters being good, the stories go by easy enough. But I wouldn’t say that many stand out as memorable puzzlers. It’s enjoyable but a notch below your top tier detective stories of the era.
With are lead characters being good, the stories go by easy enough. But I wouldn’t say that many stand out as memorable puzzlers. It’s enjoyable but a notch below your top tier detective stories of the era.
June 5, 2025
Fun because of the historical setting - women were not detectives! They are sweet short stories so fun to read . DNF because it was due at the library and I had other things I I wanted to read more.
April 27, 2025
Lady Molly and Mary Granard are the female equivalent of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.
August 7, 2025
A jolly good read. Lots to learn about how life went along all this years ago. Lots of characters, probably too many for my small brain, and definitely fun.
March 2, 2025
Lady Molly’s adventures amused me quite so. A good distraction
May 6, 2025
Female detectives in the early 1900s? Hell yeah. Unfortunately, unlike many detective stories of this era, this did not age well. I'm not talking about the cultural attitudes of the time displayed in the book, because they all have that, but more so the writing and structure of the stories. Lady Molly is supposed to be this super genius with tons of intuition, yet she loves to keep her conclusions to herself until the last minute. The solutions to the mysteries either just kind of come out of nowhere, or are completely obvious from the start. The stories are slightly repetitive for the most part. There's a murder, Lady Molly and Mary are called to investigate, someone is falsely accused, Lady Molly comes up with a plan that she doesn't bother to tell Mary, they disguise themselves, the criminal disguises themself, and they're found out.
However, despite these criticisms, there was something here that I enjoyed. Lady Molly's methods were definitely unique and entertaining, and not all of the stories were completely repetitive and forgettable. There were some good ones, like The Ninescore Mystery, A Castle In Brittany, and The Woman in the Big Hat. The ending was extremely disappointing though.
However, despite these criticisms, there was something here that I enjoyed. Lady Molly's methods were definitely unique and entertaining, and not all of the stories were completely repetitive and forgettable. There were some good ones, like The Ninescore Mystery, A Castle In Brittany, and The Woman in the Big Hat. The ending was extremely disappointing though.
March 14, 2017
Enjoyable though perhaps it should not be read quite so close to The Old Man in the Corner as many of the mysteries have quite similar plots so it becomes less of a puzzle. There was a rather overwhelming amount of praise heaped on Lady Molly by her "Watson" Mary Granard which became quite tiresome and I was disappointed in some of the mysteries because the villains are exposed not by clever and resourceful detecting but rather by manipulation of their emotions through feminine wiles. But on the whole it was a fun read with some quite interesting mysteries and particularly interesting villains.
Popsugar 2017 advanced: a book that's been mentioned in another book
Popsugar 2017 advanced: a book that's been mentioned in another book
February 25, 2016
I really really really need a tv series of this book. It would make a prefect procedural, a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Miss Fisher's Murders. A lady and her (steadily promoted throughout the series) assistant solving 'unsolvable' mysteries that Scotland Yard can't ending with catch cries like "Our fellows did not think of that, because they are men".
It isn't perfect and Orczy's creepy beliefs in the importance and superiority of nobility shine right through in some really awful paragraphs throughout but it's just so engaging and enjoyable despite all that gross shite. idek. About as much a guilty pleasure in that regard as most modern TV show procedurals and it's a lot more loveable.
It isn't perfect and Orczy's creepy beliefs in the importance and superiority of nobility shine right through in some really awful paragraphs throughout but it's just so engaging and enjoyable despite all that gross shite. idek. About as much a guilty pleasure in that regard as most modern TV show procedurals and it's a lot more loveable.
September 14, 2011
By the author of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is a collection of short stories featuring Lady Molly Robertson-Kirk's detective work with Scotland Yard. Like a female Sherlock Holmes, Lady Molly is not without a Watson-like faithful Mary who chronicles the pair's adventures. Lady Molly has a keen and brilliant mind, never failing to unravel a case that baffles the entire Scotland Yard force. Ultimately, in the final story, a baffling old mystery is finally solved, bringing this collection of stories to a satisfying yet unexpected end.
February 1, 2024
Fun interesting mysteries. All easily solved by our heroine although the story isn’t narrated by her. It’s narrated by her “companion” which I found a bit funny but maybe given the time it was written this lends the stories/narration to being more common and easier for middle class People to under/read.
Again a sign of the time was the ending mystery where we find out why Lady Molly started doing detective work in the first place and why she stops at the end of the novel.
Again a sign of the time was the ending mystery where we find out why Lady Molly started doing detective work in the first place and why she stops at the end of the novel.
September 4, 2022
I don't consider it the successful resolution to a case when the guilty party commits suicide upon discovery, which happens over and over in this book and makes me cringe when Lady Molly seems pleased with the result (seemingly, the only outcome of importance is to know the truth; any humans involved are expendable). It also makes me think the Baroness was a lazy writer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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