Inspired by the true story of Australia’s first ever policewoman.
In 1915, Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary as men. This novel is a rich exploration of that little-known chapter of Australian history.
Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don’t let that fool you. She’s a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.
When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora’s workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and are determined to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss Cocks?
Lainie Anderson is a writer whose 35-year career in journalism and public relations includes 17 years as a columnist with Adelaide’s Sunday Mail, as well as stints at Melbourne’s Herald Sun, London’s The Times and the South Australian Tourism Commission. After being awarded a Churchill Fellowship, Anderson published her debut novel Long Flight Home in 2019 and in 2024, she completed a PhD with the University of South Australia, researching the life of Kate Cocks, the inspiration behind The Death of Dora Black.
Anderson is a board member of Reconciliation South Australia, an ambassador with the Hutt Street Centre, sits on the executive committee of the History Council of South Australia and the selection committee of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. She is a History Guardian for the History Trust of South Australia and was announced as the 2023 Emerging Historian of the Year by the History Council of South Australia. She lives in the Adelaide Hills with her husband Max.
There is something profoundly addictive about Anderson’s writing. It’s warm, fast-paced and full of rich details that make it feel as though the story is oozing off the pages that comprise her newest book, The Death of Nora Black. The narrative explores a very specific period of time and places readers in a stunningly thought-out and accurately detailed environment as we follow policewoman Kate Cocks on a chilling murder mystery that has plenty of twists. I had trouble stopping once I started as each chapter was excellently written, moving from one scene to the next at rapid speeds.
The characters of Miss Cocks, victim Dora Black and junior constable Ethel Bromley were charming and interesting. By the time I finished the story, I felt like I had lost dear friends. They were fun, witty and relatable, having their own personal dilemmas outside the main investigation that pushed the narrative forward. Anderson has a talent for painting real-life people in gorgeous lines of text that taste sweeter than chocolates. The Death of Nora Black is the perfect night read, with a fresh cup of tea, of course!
One thing that stayed with me when I finished the book was the setting: Adelaide, Australia, 1917. Each word that outlined the historical cityscape perfectly illustrated The Great War period. There’s something depressing about the streets; it’s almost scary. Thankfully, our brave crime-fighting heroes, Kate and Ethel, were happy to show me around and provided a sense of hope in the bleak investigation on what truly happened to Dora Black. This book’s going to become a new yearly read for me! I can’t get enough!
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