“Did you often see female police officers or PIs in the '20s?”

Could Phyllis Malone from A CASE OF DISTRUST ever have been a detective?

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Although detective fiction gained popularity in the ’20s, it remains one of the most potent genres in fiction. A Case of Distrust taps into its murky iconography perfectly. Set in 1924’s San Francisco, it follows a newly minted PI called Phyllis Malone as she trawls a realm of speakeasies, barbershops and townhouses to solve a case.

Phyllis is a woman with a crummy apartment who noses her way into spaces primarily for men and stakes her claim. She’s like the Jessica Jones of the ’20s, I thought at one point. But I wondered if her experiences were historically accurate. Did you often see female police officers or PIs in the ’20s? I didn’t think so. So was this just wish fulfilment, to create an alternative noir story where a woman takes the place of the jaded detective? I dug into the internet to find out.