Miss Hinch

In 1911, most women looked after their children or worked in a domestic setting. This is true of neither the protagonist nor the antagonist in “Miss Hinch.” Miss Hinch is an unmarried, independent woman with an acting career who is involved in a love affair. Miss Mathewson/Jessie Dark works as a crime-fighting journalist and a newspaper detective. The two women reject society’s expectations for women.

The mystery story allows a certain amount of freedom for women. They can move beyond the domestic sphere and be criminals, victims, foils, love interests, or heroes. The parameters of what was considered acceptable for women expanded as urbanization increased with the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Yet, when “Miss Hinch” was published, single young females were still rarely permitted the freedoms that Dark and Miss Hinch enjoy. Both characters employ disguises to achieve this freedom. Dark, considered the more socially respectable of the two, outfits herself as an elderly serving woman and “a thoroughly respectable domestic servant of the upper class” (559). This uniform allows her the freedom to move about the city unmolested, giving her anonymity and respectability due to having moved beyond an age that is viewed as sexual and being rather invisible as a member of the service sector.