Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith (1844–1914) later moved to London, where she married, wrote prolifically under the pseudonym L. T. Meade, and became an active feminist and member of the Pioneer Club, a progressive women’s club founded in 1892. In her spare time, she worked as the editor of Atalanta, a popular girls’ magazine. It is difficult to know how much spare time she had, however, as she produced more than three hundred novels and short story collections in various genres.
Dr. Eustace Robert Barton (1868–1943) used the pseudonym Robert Eustace and collaborated with several authors, including Edgar Jepson, Gertrude Warden, and Dorothy L. Sayers, but most commonly with Meade. Although he worked with her on such significant books as The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings (1899) and The Sanctuary Club (1900), his name seldom appeared on book covers, only on the title pages, so one wonders if it was due to the author’s diffidence or the publishers’ lack of respect.
The early years of the mystery story featured quite a few female criminals, most of whom shared the traits of youth, beauty, charm, and a devoted male friend or gang. They tended also to be clever rogues who enjoyed the excitement and great good fun of stealing jewels, money, or a precious antique or painting.
Madame Sara is a different sort of woman, carrying about her an air of mystery. Although she appears to be a beautiful young woman of no more than twenty-five years, she reportedly attended a wedding thirty years prior to the story’s setting and looked exactly the same. She is also a ruthless murderer, counting both male and female victims among her triumphs.
The diabolical “The Blood-Red Cross” was originally published in the November 1902 issue of The Strand Magazine; it was first collected in The Sorceress of the Strand (London, Ward, Lock, 1903).