I recommend that you consult Catherine Ross Nickerson's THE WEB OF INIQUITY: EARLY DETECTIVE FICTION BY AMERICAN WOMEN (Duke, 1998). I haven't read the book carefully enough to answer your question, but I can tell you that Nickerson identifies Metta Victor's THE DEAD LETTER (1866) as "the first full-blown American detective novel" (though apparently it features a male detective). Nickerson also discusses Anna Katharine Green's use of a spinster detective in the 1890s. I suspect that somewhere in this book lies the answer to your question.
Sarah
Sarah A. Wadsworth
Marquette University
Department of English
Coughlin Hall
P. O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
________________________________
From: exlibris@library.berkeley.edu on behalf of Tavistock Books
Sent: Thu 6/23/2005 9:01 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [EXLIBRIS:30336] Query: Mystery/Detective Oriented
Does anyone know the first female detective character [& billed as
such] to appear in American fiction, and the circumstances of said
appearance?
TIA.
Regards,
Vic Zoschak
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