Book Club: The Death of Dora Black by Lainie Anderson - The Australian Women's Weekly (2024)

Author Lainie Anderson talks about the immersive three-year research project that went into the story of the South Australian detective duo from World War I, Kate co*cks and Ethel Bromley.

AWW: Your main character is based on a real person, who became the subject of your PhD. How did you first come across policewoman Katie co*cks and the Women’s Police Branch?

Lainie: I came across her, believe it or not, in a Tweet in 2020. I was at a loose end because Covid had struck. My husband was a travel writer, I was a journalist, neither of us were getting very much work and I was thinking I’d really like to concentrate on another novel. I saw a tweet and it was her birthday, May 5^th. It said, “On this Day, Kate co*cks was born. A pioneering policewoman in South Australia.” And I thought, “There’s my girl.” Because I was looking for someone in World War I, around that era, early 20^th Century in Adelaide. So, when I saw her, I thought she’s exactly the sort of person who can give me a glimpse into that era.

In The Death of Dora Black, is it just the character based on Kaie co*cks, or are the crimes and surrounding characters inspired by history too?

Part of my aim to do justice to her was to weave as many of her real-life cases into the fictional narrative arc as possible. The actual murder mystery is fictional, but lots of what people will read did actually happen.

You embarked upon a PhD after a career as a journalist, advocate, media advisor, and other roles. What enticed you to undertake a major research project?

Because I’d been a journalist and I’d written a historical fiction novel, I wanted to get better at the craft of writing and a PhD gave me incredible mentors. So, that was one of the reasons but also to get better at the craft of historical research. Learning how to do it better. Learning what really good historical researchers do, honing the craft, and to really throw myself into the project.

You bring 1920s Adelaide to life with such vivid detail. Can you tell us a little about your research?

The state library is a fantastic resource. There’s a really strong and enthusiastic police historical society in South Australia. They were just wonderful. I’d go in there and they’d pop me in a side room and bring out all these wonderful old records written by Ms co*cks, which was just fabulous. There are some fantastic non-fiction books in South Australia and some amazing women researchers who have gone before and it was their work that gave me so much depth to the women of the era and the times and the kind of lives that women led.

I did so much reading. I tried to go to the Adelaide jail to the botanic gardens. I went up to Quorn where Kate co*cks spent her youth and drove to the exact site where her mother ran a school in the middle of nowhere, and I tried to speak to as many people as possible. I had a fantastic former detective who’s now a police historian who read the book and gave me some fantastic insights into what I’d done wrong and where I was sounding foolish, which was great.

What was the most startling or perhaps delightful thing you discovered while delving into the life of Kate co*cks?

The most delightful thing was the flip sides of her; being such a strict Methodist and teetotaller, yet loving to shop. When perms came in she loved a tight perm. The term that I read in one of the small biographies about her was she loved to linger at counters, which is why I decided to focus the book around Moore’s on the Square department store which, at that time, in 1917, was the bee’s knees in terms of Adelaide shopping.

That’s something that delighted me about her, and also the autonomy she was given. She chose not wear a uniform and she chose to position her women’s police branch away from the main Adelaide police station so that women and children would feel more comfortable when they had to come knocking on the door and seek help.

Her partner, Ethel Bromley, is a little more modern than Kate. How did that character come about?

She is a deliberate creation and she’s also part of my aim to do justice to Kate co*cks. Ethel is, in effect, us. She’s more progressive, she’s more sassy. She speaks her mind. She’s more sexually explorative and she’s a deliberate design so that we get to know Kate co*cks and hear some of Kate co*cks’ more extreme views on birth control and abortion through the eyes of someone who loves her and is incredibly loyal to her, even if she doesn’t agree with her.

We’re not meeting Kate co*cks through the eyes of my 21^st Century judgement, we’re meeting her through Ethel’s eyes, without judgement.

Also, Kate co*cks did work with some incredible women who I loved hearing about. Little things like the Napolean hat that Ethel wears in one chapter, which I love, is actually taken from another woman who worked with Kate co*cks by the name of Daisy Curtis. If she wore her hat sideways, the women knew to watch out.

The whole jiu jitsu scenario is taken from the first woman that Kate co*cks worked with, Annie Ross. She was known to drop a big wharfie down at Port Adelaide down on his back and put her dainty heel against her neck. So, there’s bits of real policewomen in Ethel, but essentially Ethel is us.

So, Ethel being an expert in jiu jitsu is based on fact?

At that time all officers in South Australia had jiu jitsu training to make them safer on the street. The women, for many years, weren’t allowed to have guns. They also taught abused housewives jiu jitsu because women had very few rights. Obviously, no custody rights. Women couldn’t divorce their husbands at that time on the grounds of an extra marital affair. As late as 1914, South Australian women who became widows didn’t automatically gain custody rights of their children. Women had so few rights and if they wanted to stay with their children, they had no choice but to stay in abusive relationships in many cases.

We learn about reformatories for wayward girls. Were they real and what can you tell me about them?

I really didn’t know much about this era which is why I wanted to do the PhD and delve into it. I didn’t know that the reformatories were based on religion, and that there were reformatories for methodist, and protestant and Catholic kids. If kids were wayward, some parents would ask to have their children institutionalised, particularly in the depression era, which sounds awful.

Kate co*cks actually got the job in women’s policing due to the nine years she spent as one of the world’s first juvenile probation officers. She actually worked to take children out of institutions. She would keep them in their homes and worked to make the home much more functional. She was very big on keeping kids busy. She believed that an idle mind led to the Devil’s work.

One of the things I learn was in the late 1800s there was this old decaying ship off the South Australian coast that was used as a boy’s reformatory. It was called the Fitzjames. Can you imagine that? Just absolutely horrific.

Are you someone who plots out their novels, or do you just write and see where the story takes you?

I plot out every chapter. It’s only a few sentences on every chapter but I am in no way good enough yet to just start and see where a plotline takes me. I hope one day, when I’m off my training wheels with murder mysteries, I can have a crack at doing it like that but no, I’m a planner.

What are you working on next? Can we expect to see more of Miss co*cks?

Yes. I am writing the second novel as we speak and loving being back with these gorgeous women. The very final page of The Death of Dora Black readers will be able to see that Murder on North Terrace is coming in 2025.

Quick Questions:

What was the last book that made you cry?

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton.

What book do you wish you had written?

Louis de Bernière’s Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

What book do you read over and over again?

There are too many books in the world to do that but one book that I finished and started again immediately because I loved it so much was Eucalyptus by Murray Bail.

What book do you love to share with people?

Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites.

How do you unwind after a deadline?

My husband and I open a bottle of champagne.

What is your favourite place in the world to visit?

Port Vincent on the Yorke Peninsular where we have a little beach house.

Do you have a signature meal that you cook?

I do a deconstructed salmon sushi bowl with salmon, rice and raw vegetables.

What about a signature drink?

Shore and Smith sauvignon blanc. It doesn’t’ get any better.

BuyThe Death of Dora Blackhereand read our book reviewhere.