From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 19:

A Bicycle Built for One...

Mr. John Kemp Starley's perfection of the safety bicycle was a boon to all, providing cheap and healthy transportation regardless of social status or gender. 

There is no more enthusiastic nor capable proponent of this means of mobility than the exceedingly athletic Lady Natasha Dorrington. When on a case in the country, Tasha often either takes her bicycle or rents or borrows one.  Where once dependent on long walks or the availability of a horse and carriage, she - like so many other men and women - has found a new and vigorous independence.

When in the country a few weeks ago, one ruffian, making the mistake of stealing a gentleman's bicycle in the presence of Lady Dorrington, discovered, to his chagrin, just how swift her cycling could be - and how capable she was with solid right to his jaw. She returned to town on her bicycle, the felon made the trip, unconscious, on the floor of the police wagon.  

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Go to Par 18: Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 17:

What is a Holiday Without a Corpse?

 

This is one of my favorite photographs of Lady Dorrington, taken and hand-tinted at Elliot & Fry's celebrated studio (oddly situated on Baker Street... an address all too familiar to those of us at Scotland Yard).

She had just returned from a summer holiday in Brighton. Her relaxed and contented countenance was not due, as one might expect, from the charms of sea-air, but the successful conclusion of the "Case of the Fatal Bathing Machine."

The unwary victims entered and were never seen again. Tasha ended the deadly career of this diabolical contraption and the sinister inventor who created it.

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Go to Part 16 "The Gang's All Here"

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 16:

The Gang's All Here!

One of the officials at Pentonville Prison noted the number on inmates enjoying their enforced stay courtesy of Lady Dorrington.  He invited her to pose for a photograph - placing himself in the center - with this reluctant and ill-humored assembly.    Here they are, though only one figure in the photograph seems to be enjoying the occasion. 

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Go to Part 15: ... Is much more accurate than a man's certainty....

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 12:

She Slips the Bonds of Earth....

The French have a phrase about a woman not being a woman without surprises. While I believe the phrase was created before the birth of my friend Lady Dorrington, it might have been penned to describe her. A request for Scotland Yard assistance came from West Sussex  regarding a grisly shotgun murder implicating a young noble. Given the ancient family involved I determined to invite Tasha to consult on the case.

Imagine my astonishment when delivering the request to find Tasha not at home but at the controls of an aeroplane!  She is learning to fly!  I can only hope that each excursion into the clouds will end with a safe return to terra firma. Her assertion that "any landing you can walk away from is a good one" is not reassuring.

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Go to Part Eleven; But Kill Not for the Pleasure of Killing...

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 11:

But Kill Not for the Pleasure of Killing...

The Grinning Skull Slasher was a far less frightening figure without his death-head charade and in irons.   If he appears less than sanguine, recall, as he must have, that it was Lady Dorrington who removed him from the streets and led him to the gallows.


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Go to Part Eleven: She Lives to Look Upon Life

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part Six:

The Gruesome Affair of the Grinning Skull Slasher

This abominable case was one of my earliest encounters with the formidable Lady Dorrington. A latter-day, and gruesomely theatrical, Jack-the-Ripper terrorized the East End for weeks.  The Yard's inability to end his reign of horror was a source of bitter complaint by both the public and the press. The murderer prowled the foggy alleys like a creature of prey, and even I began to wonder if our lethal opponent was more than human. 

It was with some trepidation for her safety that I called upon Tasha for assistance. My fears were well-founded, for as Tasha hunted this wraith, she herself was being stalked.

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part Three:

 A Mystery Within a Mystery!

 

Lady Dorrington is exceedingly emancipated,  with a wry sense of humor.   She has several friendships with men, and I am exceptionally delighted to be one of them.  I have decided not to pursue the thought that our relationship might be based on my position of authority at the Yard. 

Tasha has no known long-term romantic relationships.   However, when I am unable to keep her occupied with intriguing cases, she has been known to take many lovers in marathon seduction.   About which, the less said, the better.

Her knowledge of dancing ranges from social, such as ballroom, professional ballet, to the foreign-and-scandalous belly-dancing.  She also has an annoying tendency to lead.

The Yard suspects she may relieve her ennui by practicing cat-burglary, challenging herself by robbing the most secure places to be found.  The stolen items are always returned and never accompanied with evidence that could convict her... much to my chagrin, and Tasha's amusement.

Go to Part Four: The Female of the Species...

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part Two:

Nothing Is As It Seems!

My remarkable friend Tasha has keen powers of observation and a logical, inventive mind.  I note with some amusement how she takes offense when men attribute these abilities to “feminine intuition.” 

While thoroughly female, Lady Dorrington is singularly physically powerful.  She increases her strength by lifting weights and indulges in rugged gymnastics. Tasha appears to know several obscure and potent techniques of hand-to-hand combat, and is a formidable fencer.   She has been known to thrash several larger male opponents at the same time with ease, and relishes doing so.  

Go to Part Three: A Mystery Within a Mystery...

Go to Part One: An Ancient Curse...  

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part One:

  The world on the brink of war, 

    An ancient curse that reaches into the present.

       One man’s life at stake, a civilization in peril…

         … and a woman determined to save them both!

 

My unpaid Consulting Detective's married name is Lady Natasha Dorrington.  Her maiden name is unknown, as is the location of her missing husband.  She prefers to be addressed as "Tasha."

While Natasha is a Russian name, she has no accent and speaks several languages. Tasha is well-educated in science, literature, the arts, history, and most useful to me, criminology.  Not the education one associates with the fairer sex.

Her abilities are varied and many:  Tasha is an accomplished aerialist, and has professional-level expertise in theatrical make-up, costumes and acting.  She has the skills of a cat-burglar and though nothing can be proven, Lady Dorrington is suspected of once being on the far side of the law.  Given her formidable array of abilities, I am most grateful she's answered the call of virtue.

Go to Part Two: Nothing Is As It Seems...

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She Knows What You've Been Up To!



Her past is as mystifying as the crimes she solves.

Lady Natasha “Tasha” Dorrington in her premier novel. 
Coming November 2016! 

Go to The Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate: The World on the Brink of War...