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Portrait image of Helen Reilly

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Reilly, Helen

Critics often regard Helen Reilly as one of the most important female American crime writers of the 1930s. One reason for this distinction is that most of her peers at the time dedicated themselves to romantic suspense, while Reilly instead wrote a series of realistic stories about police work, told from the perspective of the cops themselves. Her main protagonist is inspector McKee of the...

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Literary figures

Lecoq

Gender: Male

Monsieur Lecoq, whose first name is never mentioned, had some minor crimes on his conscience when he changed sides and instead got a job with La Sûreté in Paris. He is from a fine, but financially ruined, family. He is a small person but with a well-proportioned body and glowing eyes. In five classic novels by Émile Gaboriau, published 1866-68, he solves crimes in a surprisingly modern manner.

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