Herringford and Watts

I found a great historical mystery series about a pair of women detectives in Toronto, Canada. It's by Rachel McMillan, and it's set in the 1910s, like something in between Murdoch Mysteries and Frankie Drake Mysteries. Merinda Herringford and Jem Watts are fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories, so they often quote from it. They dress as men when out investigating, and they even have two girls serving as Baker Street Irregulars. Herringford and Watts also work with a police detective named Jasper Forth and a muckraking reporter named Ray DeLuca. It's whimsical and fun, and I love that Merinda often exclaims "Cracker jacks!" This is almost everything I wanted A Study in Honor to be--a genuine cozy mystery featuring a female Watson and Holmes. They are real detectives, not spies, and moreover, they do many pro bono cases to help women in need and build their reputation. They're not black though, nor lesbian, but one of their Irregulars is Asian. My only complaint is the author's frequent use of footnotes and the ambiguity about whether some characters are "real" historical people.

I read the first book, with the duo already established, and now I'm on the second book which is sort of a prequel, explaining how the ladies got started and first met Ray DeLuca, Kat and Mouse. Also, the author has used creative license to fashion morality officers into a Morality Squad with powers to arrest "incorrigible" women such as Herringford and Watts.

Speaking of lady detectives, I also recommend a present-day series about booksellers Molly and Emma. They have a lesbian romance while solving book-related mysteries, and it's charming. It's written by a couple writing under the pen name Lily Charles.