The Death of Dora Black

After writing a PhD on the life of Katie Cocks, South Australia's first policewoman to be paid the same wage as a policeman, Lainie Anderson wrote the crime novel, The Death of Dora Black, as a work of historical crime fiction with Kate Cocks as the main character.

When Dora Black's body is found in the water off the pier at Glenelg beach, Kate Cocks and Constable Ethel Bromley who were employed as the Women's Police Branch in the South Australian Police Force, were told it was not their place to investigate. They had their own work to do in preventative crime, especially in regard to women. Then a friend of Dora Black also disappears so the two women are determined to investigate.

The Death of Dora Black is set in Adelaide in 1917. Many men were serving in the armed forces overseas during World War One while some had returned home injured. Then there were those who would never return. This crime novel provides background information of life in Adelaide during the war years plus  issues faced by the growing city. 

It is the first book in A Petticoat Police Mystery series.

Kate Cocks: South Australia's first policewoman. - State Library of South Australia  

Hidden women of history: Kate Cocks - The Conversation

The real Kate Cocks - Lainie Anderson  

Fanny Kate Cocks - Australian Dictionary of Biography