Most of us leave echoes as we move through the world, a trail of clues, if you will, that

some interested historian or detective would be able to follow in the long distant future.

Of course, the more prominent and privileged an individual is, the easier it will be

to reconstruct their life.

But I think we all assume that by the beginning of the 20th century, it's quite difficult

for a writer's say to vanish into the past without leaving a trace.

There is most definitely an exception to this rule, however.

Her life span the first half of the 20th century, but the most diligent literary sleuths have

struggled to turn up more than the most basic biographical information about her.

All we have is her work, five sharp, clever crime novels that were well reviewed and successful

when published in the 1930s and 40s, but which offer little insight into the true story

of the woman who wrote them.

Today we're on the case of the mysterious Dorothy Bowers.

Welcome to She Done It, I'm Caroline Crampton.

So who was this Dorothy Bowers who I've dubbed mysterious?

She was a very familiar type in a way.

She was a well-educated woman who wrote murder stories because that's what she liked

herself.

She wrote just five stories.

She died quite young, she died at 48 of consumption, after a sort of, somebody who has written

about her says, it wasn't a very joyful life, which is a bit sad.

I'm not sure that she achieved quite what she wanted, but she was successful in her day.

...