Born in Belfast, Ireland, Mary Fortune (1833-1911) emigrated to Australia in 1855. She wrote under many pen names and is credited with being among the first females writing detective fiction—and probably the first to write from the viewpoint of a detective, Mark Sinclair. The Detective’s Album is considered the longest-running early detective serial in the world, running for forty years in The Australian Journal. Throughout her career, Mary was offered professional opportunities only to have them rescinded when it was discovered she was a woman. Undaunted, she published over 572 known works.
Hemelein Publications works:
- Mothers of Horror (2025)
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