The Female of the Species. A Bulldog Drummond Thriller. Illustrated

Bulldog Drummond #5

by H.C. McNeile

In The Female of the Species, the fearless Bulldog Drummond faces a new and deadly adversary—Irma Peterson, the brilliant and merciless widow of his arch-enemy Carl Peterson. Driven by revenge and armed with her own sinister plans, Irma proves to be one of the most dangerous foes Drummond has ever encountered.

As a wave of mysterious crimes and threats spreads across England, Drummond is pulled into a cat-and-mouse game with a woman who is as cunning as she is ruthless. With his trademark daring and unshakable resolve, Drummond must unravel her plot before it brings chaos and destruction.

Filled with intrigue, action, and sharp psychological tension, The Female of the Species showcases a darker, more complex villain and raises the stakes in the ongoing battle between justice and evil. It’s a thrilling chapter in the Bulldog Drummond saga—and proof that sometimes, the most dangerous enemy wears a smile.

Genres: Mystery, Adventure, British Literature, Pulp

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

See also works published under the pseudonym Sapper.

Reviews

[Thor The Redbeard · Rating 2 out of 5]

4/10

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

'And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.'

So reads the last verse of Rudyard Kipling's poem and in this thrilling tale, the sentiments expressed in the final line certainly look like being true. Irma Peterson is out to extract revenge for her husband, Carl's death, killed in a previous adventure by Drummond. And she decides that the best way to achieve it is to kidnap the great Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond's wife, Phyllis.

This she and her gang do, much to Bulldog's distress. He recruits some of his pals to try and track her down. Irma helps somewhat and leaves a series of cryptic clues that between them the searchers eventually crack (good job I wasn't one of them for I couldn't have worked them out). A chase across England begins and hair-raising adventures transpire.

Drummond himself disappears and is feared dead but his pals continue the search on their own and end up in a torture chamber that is based on Stonehenge. Irma captures them all and gets ready to kill them along with Phyllis; she already believes from Drummond's pals that he is dead so she has no fear in that direction.

Well, the species might be deadly than the male in many cases but not when Bulldog Drummond is involved and in an exciting climax he rescues Phyllis and his gang but Irma gets away to live to fight another day.

Whilst the action is fast and furious it is not one of Sapper's best Bulldog Drummond stories but it is still enjoyable and, at least, the pace never slackens.

[5greenway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Utterly ludicrous and enough Problematic Content to make a New Statesman reader faint clean away. Extra points, Drummond, for including a Middlesex cricketer in your gang, and fortifying yourself with copious quantities of Bass. Probably a 3.5 rather than a 3.

[Mick Scrimshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sapper was the pen name of Herman Cyril McNeile. He started writing war stories while he was a soldier in the First World War and wasn’t therefore allowed to use his real name and so chose one connected to his regiment of Royal Engineers. After the war he continued with the name Sapper but switched to thrillers and wrote a hugely successful series featuring Bulldog Drummond who was an upper-class adventurer and crime fighter. The books are very old-fashioned, but in a way that is part of the appeal as they give a brutely honest and accurate glimpse into how [some] people thought and spoke at the time. They should however come with a warning; these old-fashioned attitudes are often very uncomfortable and show how racist language and attitudes we would consider offensive were often considered normal back then. I remember being particularly upset by the last one I read, although with this one I got about half way through and actually commented to my wife how much better it was in that regards, and that I’d got so far into it before a character was described as “a black as coal negro”. I commented to her that it could have been worse and at least he hadn’t used the other ‘N’ word, how wrong I was (I imagine that’s been edited out of modern reprints). From then on in, that was the word used time and time again to describe that particular character who of course was one of the evil enemies Drummond was fighting against. At the time critics considered McNeile a Tory exhaling the virtues of God, Queen and Country and a belief that the British aristocracy were rightfully in charge of society and responsible for fighting off evil hoards of foreigners. A view he partly picked up from his WW1 experience I guess, but later critics have been even more damming and have since described him as a fascist and an anti-semite.

The plot of this particular book, along with others wasn’t exactly the most sophisticated either. Writers today spend a lot more effort looking for realism whereas back in this between-the-wars period the stories verged on silliness at times, and the evil super-criminals often came up with ridiculous plots as to how to kill out heroes and this book was no exception with the climax being extremely unlikely and, in my opinion, more than disappointing.

Having said all of that I do still sort of enjoy these books. Not so much for the stories or the style of writing but for the insight they give into thriller writing of yesteryear and some clues into people’s thoughts and behaviour. It wasn’t all blatant racism and we can learn a bit about ourselves from knowing how our forebears thought.

[Mark Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good story which could have used more Drummond. He seems very much in the background until the final few pages. Some of the language is very dated but overall it is a tale worth reading

[Evan l. Bench · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth 10 cents

A total waste - it wandered from unreal to downright silly. Sorry but suggest you read the phone book instead.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a nice surprise!
Disguises, hijinks, murder!
Drummond seems a hoot.

[Gilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real good read - what fun!

[D J Rout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phyllis Drummond has been kidnapped, and Captain Hugh Drummond must go in search of her, helped along by his friends from 'the Froth Blowers'. He gets a series of written clues from the kidnapper, Irma Petersen, which lead him to a rendezvous that will save Phyllis' life at the cost of his own.

This tale introduces Joe Dizon, a new narrator writing in first person limited voice, which is something McNeile seems more comfortable with. Joe is a dab hand with crosswords and acrostics, but even he has to seek help when one of the clues is:

“A lily with the plural put before
A thing of beauty, but in this case, more
Like the fair lady whom you met last night.
When found, at any rate, you’ll start quite right.
Dipped in the river Styx one part alone stayed dry.
Leave out the next, but take the cry
Of every schoolboy.
That should give a man.
And now, you poor fish, find it if you can.”(p. 135)

Well, anyway, that gets solved and the Froth Blowers (whom we've previously met as The Black Gang hie off to the place described in the above clue and, unsurprisingly, save the day. The method by which they do this tested my willing suspension of disbelief, but you may hae stronger wills than I do.

I was rather tickled to find "My shout this time" (p. 183) but there were other parts that caused even me to halt a bit. The portrayal of black people in the past has been the topic of much outrage, and the backlash has been pretty outrageous itself over the past few years, but because I don't want these novels to be cancelled, burnt or bowdlerised like Fleming and Blyton, I'll just say the line appears on p. 263 in a resolution that I simply couldn't believe.

This well supports Kipling's thesis that 'the female of the species is more deadly than the male' in a fun way.

[Amanda Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The better of the bulldog sequels--at least after 1&2. This one had much more of bulldog himself, and of the gang of delightful sidekicks. Though why Sapper chose to use the boring-est of the characters to tell the tale, I'll never understand. Clearly, when you have an amazing character like bulldog, he should tell the tale. Right? Right? Maybe it's just more work, that I can certainly understand, though I think it was a mistake. Regardless, it was a fun story. The villain was a bit over the top--even for a bulldog tale, but the evil scavenger hunt was just brilliant. Recommended!

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drummond bumped off Carl Peterson in the last novel, so now Irma is out despatch Drummond and his gang, she has a suitably elaborate scheme, Carl would have been proud. The Bulldog Drummond series continues in great style 5 books in all excellent.

[Thelma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes books written years ago don't hold up. Not true with this Bulldog Drummond novel. Liked it enough to seek out more in the series. Witty, packed with action and times-past manners, a great mystery and lots of fun.

[Ronald]

read some time in 2010