An Apple Books Classic edition.

The Baroness Orczy is better known as the author of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but this short-story collection is equally compelling. Published in 1910, these 12 stories star Molly Robertson-Kirk, one of the first female detectives to appear in books—almost a decade before women actually joined London’s Metropolitan Police Force. Lady Molly, who was quick to notice domestic clues that male detectives would overlook, was a hit with readers.

Like Sherlock Holmes and his trusted accomplice Watson, Lady Molly has Mary, her maid and friend…and the narrator of these stories. If you enjoy testing your own sleuthing skills, pick up this collection and see which cases you can solve before Lady Molly draws a confession out of the criminal. But be forewarned: You won’t see the ending coming in the last story, “The End.”