GIRL DEFECTIVE OF SEVENTEEN

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 10 September 1921, Page 3

GIRL DEFECTIVE OF SEVENTEEN

"PEOPLE NEVER DREAM I CAN BE AFTER THEM?' Writers of detective fiction—highclass or otherwise—have created many types of the super-thief catcher: the master bram which tracks the elusive s wrongdoer and brings him, or her, to justice. J It is safe to say, however (writes a l>aily chronicle representative), that not one of them has had the daring to 1 choose a pretty fair-haired girl of 17 as a successful antagonist of the clever criminal. Yet, living and working in London to-day, is.just such a detective; not a ! mere beginner either, But a professional of many months' experience, • who has already caught more than one ' rogue, and in' cases where male detectives of greater apparent knowledge had failed. . I This young lady had better be known as Miss "Holmes," after her great prototype. Her appearance is precisely wt l °fa? 7 bJomle young business girl. Y\hen a Daily Chronicle representative saw her he could only gasp and say: But you don't look in the least like a detective I" "No," she replied, with a . gay laugh, "that's why I succeed so well, J expect. People who have been doing wrong never dream €hat I can be ! after them.; however hard their consciences may be." Miss "Holmes" confessed that some of her cases are not very pleasant. She i even admitted that she is naturally shy! I "As a matter of fact, I sometimes feel very frighten M.":!"> *dded, "but , I do.wha4 "* ' ro to do, and I am sure I that nobody knows that I am fright- , ened* "The work is very hard, too, but T like it. It frequently happens that I have to stand about in one place'all! day, when I am watching somebody. 2 dare not even leave my post to ge£ some lunch, for if one goes away jiiot , for a minute you can be sure that the person you are watching will chose that very minnfa |n slip away. 1 "Most of the cases I have been engaged in so far have been thefts. 1 havenot-had much to dq with divorce, and I don't want to. I never disguise myself, except to wear ofd clothes, but I hope that will come later." When she left school, not very long ago Miss "Holmes!' took up shorthand and typewriting, but found the life not exciting enough. A constant visitor to ~mv pi£ture,s '. slie saw a nlm called "The Clutching Hand," in which a preat deal of smart detective work figures and at once decided that she would become a "sleuth-"