Police reporter Katie Blayne-aka the Duchess-was clearly cut from the same cloth as fellow hard-boiled female newspaper scribe Torchy Blane. These seven stories, mostly taken from the pages of Detective Fiction Weekly, are narrated by the Duchess' reporter rival Pinky Kane, who one days hopes that Katie Blayne will accept his frequent marriage proposals. Written by screenwriter Whitman Chambers, the Duchess is one of the best female lead detective series to see print in the pulp magazines of the 1930s.