When her stepfather dies, Miss Lois Cayley finds herself alone in the world with only twopence in her pocket. Undaunted, the intelligent, attractive, and infinitely resourceful young woman decides to set off in search of adventure. Her travels take her from London to Germany, Italy, Egypt, and India, as she faces various challenges and meets an assortment of eccentric characters. But when her true love, Harold Tillington, finds himself accused of forging a will and faces prison, Miss Cayley will need all her ingenuity to investigate the case, solve the mystery, and save Harold from the diabolical plot!One of the first novels to feature a female detective, Grant Allen's "Miss Cayley's Adventures" (1899) remains as witty, enjoyable, and engaging today as when first published. This edition includes a new introduction by Elizabeth Foxwell."Scholars might be loath to hear this, but, popular culture being the continuum that it is, "Miss Cayley's Adventures" can be seen as a superior example of the chick lit of its era. Its heroine remains to this day as appealing and amusing as any Bridget Jones, and her exploits are filled with moments of wit, action, and sheer fun."- Michele Slung, editor, "Crime on her Mind: Fifteen Stories of Female Sleuths from the Victorian Era to the Forties""Grant Allen's entertaining Miss Cayley is as lively now as when she first appeared in the "Strand" in 1898. The reprinting of "Miss Cayley's Adventures" is sure to please readers who admire active and clever women protagonists. Sheer fun." - Carolyn Hart, author of "Death Walked In""Mystery readers will be swept away by the adventures of Grant Allen's almost forgotten female sleuth, Miss Cayley. With her unique, independent, and most 'unladylike' behavior, the intelligent Miss Cayley plays an important role in the long line of distaff detectives. A must for mystery readers and academics." ...Gordon Frederick Browne (15 April 1858 - 27 May 1932) was an English artist and children's book illustrator in the late 19th century and early 20th century.He was born in Banstead, the younger son of notable book illustrator Hablot Knight Browne (who as "Phiz" illustrated books by Charles Dickens). He studied art at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and South Kensington Schools and started to receive professional commissions while still at college.From the 1880s, Browne was one of Britain's most prolific illustrators, his work appearing in newspapers, magazines and many books by children's authors including Frederic William Farrar, G.A. Henty, Juliana Horatia Ewing, Andrew Lang, Talbot Baines Reed, L. T. Meade, Catherine Christian and E. Nesbit.Browne worked in watercolour and pen and ink. He was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) and the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA). Browne was an early member of the Society of Graphic Art and showed three works at their first exhibition in 1921.He died in Richmond, London in 1932....Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen (February 24, 1848 - October 25, 1899) was a Canadian science writer and novelist, and a public promoter of Evolution in the second half of the 19th century.Early life and educationAllen was born near Kingston, Canada West (known as Ontario after Confederation), the second son of Catharine Ann Grant and the Rev. Joseph Antisell Allen, a Protestant minister from Dublin, Ireland.His mother was a daughter of the fifth Baron de Longueuil. Allen was educated at home until, at age 13, he and his parents moved to the United States, then to France, and finally to the United Kingdom. He was educated at King Edward's School in Birmingham and at Merton College in Oxford, both in the United Kingdom.After graduation, Allen studied in France, taught at Brighton College in 1870-71, and in his mid-twenties became a professor at Queen's College, a black college in Jamaica. Despite being the son of a minister, Allen became an agnostic and a socia