This new anthology brings the female crime writers who inspired Agatha Christie out of her shadow and back into the spotlight they deserve. The success of writers like Anna Katherine Green in America; L. T. Meade, C. L. Pirkis, the Baroness Orczy, and Elizabeth Corbett in England; and Mary Fortune in Australia opened doors for the women authors who followed them. While Agatha Christie may still reign supreme, the genre would be much poorer without the bold, fearless work of her predecessors.