The Romance Reader

The Romance Reader, the first book in the An Arresting Woman series, introduces Lillian Armfield, Australia’s first policewoman, appointed by the New South Wales Parliament in 1915 to focus on the welfare of Sydney’s women and children.
Against a backdrop of World War 1, Lillian’s probation brings her an unrelenting series of charlatans, runaway girls, and petty (and not so petty) criminals, from all strata of Sydney society. Probationary Special Constable Armfield attempts to balance the competing agendas of the women’s progressive movement, the sensational and sometimes hostile newspaper coverage of her pioneering role, and the entrenched misogyny of the police force.
When she is called upon to search for the missing daughter of a prominent Rose Bay family, her theory on why women are led astray is put to the test.