I first came across the name May Agnes Fleming in the introduction of Investigating Women: Female Detectives by Canadian Writers, a Canadian Anthology edited by David Skene-Melvin, in which a short story of mine, Dark Reunion, appeared. Listed in the beginning pages were brief biographies of past and present authors. Among them was the remarkable story of Saint John, New Brunswick writer, May Agnes Fleming.

May Agnes Fleming? I had never heard of her, and I thought I had a pretty good handle on who had gone before me, certainly in my own neck of the woods. I checked the name of the city again, certain I must have read it wrong. But I had not.

Skene-Melvin writes in his introduction to Investigating Women that heroines made their first appearance in Canadian crime fiction in 1861 in the ‘sensational novels’ of May Agnes Fleming.

“She wrote forty-two novels in seventeen years, fifteen published during her short lifetime and twenty-seven after her death. The books were all unrestrained, highly sensational melodramas, filled with plot twists, mystery, disguise, startling events, murder, evil women, suspense and true love. The villainous woman – dark, passionate, and exotically foreign – was one of Fleming’s stock characters.”

I spoke with many people over the next several days about Fleming, and was generally met with blank stares, and comments like: “Who?” “That right?” “No kidding?” “Never heard of her.” It seemed a sad commentary, particularly since upon doing some digging, I found out she was one of the most popular novelists of her time. I was sure Canadians would want to know about one of their own. And Americans, too, since she resided in New York for many years. She seemed to whisper at my shoulder, prodding me to tell her story. I hope you will find it as fascinating as I did.

This is her story.