C.I.D. — Talbot Mundy

Author Hulbert Footner (1879-1944) brought the excitement of the 1920s and 1930s to Madame Storey's cosmopolitan adventures, moving away from Edwardian and Victorian flavors of the mystery genre. Beautiful and aloof. Her secretary/narrator/companion is Bella Brickley. Rosika lives near Gramercy Park in NYC and has a pet monkey. She seems to solve cases by use of good guesswork, "practical psychology" and fortuitous prior knowledge of certain facts or people. So we are introduced to the fascinating Madame Rosika Storey, fearless and intelligent, who plays cat-and-mouse with killers, goes undercover to break up criminal gangs, and unravels deadly mysteries.