Beatrice Adela Bradley is a fictional detective created by Gladys Mitchell. Mrs (later Dame Beatrice) Bradley is Mitchell's most significant and long-lived character, appearing in 66 novels that were published between 1929 and 1975.^[1]

Life

Mrs Bradley is the first female character to be both a detective heroine and a member of an 'established profession'.^[2] A fully qualified medical doctor and a psychoanalyst, she is a consultant for the Home Office, and she also acts as an amateur detective.^[2]

Mrs Bradley lives in the village of Wandles Parva, located in the New Forest. Her sidekicks include her chauffeur George Cuddleup, and her secretary Laura Menzies.

Books

• Speedy Death, (London: Gollancz, 1929)
• The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop, (London: Gollancz, 1929)
• The Longer Bodies, (London: Gollancz, 1930)
• The Saltmarsh Murders, (London: Gollancz, 1932)
• Death at the Opera, (London: Grayson, 1934) also known as Death in the Wet (Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Company, 1934)
• The Devil at Saxon Wall, (London: Grayson, 1935)
• Dead Men's Morris, (London: Michael Joseph, 1936)
• Come Away, Death, (London: Michael Joseph, 1937)
• St Peter's Finger, (London: Michael Joseph, 1938)
• Printer's Error, (London: Michael Joseph, 1939)
• Brazen Tongue, (London: Michael Joseph, 1940)
• Hangman's Curfew, (London: Michael Joseph, 1941)
• When Last I Died, (London: Michael Joseph, 1941)
• Laurels Are Poison, (London: Michael Joseph, 1942)
• The Worsted Viper, (London: Michael Joseph, 1943)
• Sunset Over Soho, (London: Michael Joseph, 1943)
• My Father Sleeps, (London: Michael Joseph, 1944)
• The Rising of the Moon, (London: Michael Joseph, 1945)
• Here Comes a Chopper, (London: Michael Joseph, 1946)
• Death and the Maiden, (London: Michael Joseph, 1947)
• The Dancing Druids, (London: Michael Joseph, 1948)
• Tom Brown's Body, (London: Michael Joseph, 1949)
• Groaning Spinney, (London: Michael Joseph, 1950)
• The Devil's Elbow, (London: Michael Joseph, 1951)
• The Echoing Strangers, (London: Michael Joseph, 1952)
• Merlin's Furlong, (London: Michael Joseph, 1953)
• Faintley Speaking, (London: Michael Joseph, 1954)
• Watson's Choice, (London: Michael Joseph, 1955)
• Twelve Horses and the Hangman's Noose, (London: Michael Joseph, 1956)
• The Twenty-Third Man, (London: Michael Joseph, 1957)
• Spotted Hemlock, (London: Michael Joseph, 1958)
• The Man Who Grew Tomatoes, (London: Michael Joseph, 1959)
• Say It with Flowers, (London: Michael Joseph, 1960)
• The Nodding Canaries, (London: Michael Joseph, 1961)
• My Bones Will Keep, (London: Michael Joseph, 1962)
• Adders on the Heath, (London: Michael Joseph, 1963)
• Death of a Delft Blue, (London: Michael Joseph, 1964)
• Pageant of Murder, (London: Michael Joseph, 1965)
• The Croaking Raven, (London: Michael Joseph, 1966)
• Skeleton Island, (London: Michael Joseph, 1967)
• Three Quick and Five Dead, (London: Michael Joseph, 1968)
• Dance to Your Daddy, (London: Michael Joseph, 1969)
• Gory Dew, (London: Michael Joseph, 1970)
• Lament for Leto, (London: Michael Joseph, 1971)
• A Hearse on May-Day, (London: Michael Joseph, 1972)
• The Murder of Busy Lizzie, (London: Michael Joseph, 1973)
• A Javelin for Jonah, (London: Michael Joseph, 1974)
• Winking at the Brim, (London: Michael Joseph, 1974)
• Convent on Styx, (London: Michael Joseph, 1975)
• Late, Late in the Evening, (London: Michael Joseph, 1976)
• Noonday and Night, (London: Michael Joseph, 1977)
• Fault in the Structure, (London: Michael Joseph, 1977)
• Wraiths and Changelings, (London: Michael Joseph, 1978)
• Mingled with Venom, (London: Michael Joseph, 1978)
• Nest of Vipers, (London: Michael Joseph, 1979)
• The Mudflats of the Dead, (London: Michael Joseph, 1979)
• Uncoffin'd Clay, (London: Michael Joseph, 1980)
• The Whispering Knights, (London: Michael Joseph, 1980)
• The Death-Cap Dancers, (London: Michael Joseph, 1981)
• Lovers, Make Moan, (London: Michael Joseph, 1981)
• Here Lies Gloria Mundy, (London: Michael Joseph, 1982)
• The Death of a Burrowing Mole, (London: Michael Joseph, 1982)
• The Greenstone Griffins, (London: Michael Joseph, 1983)
• Cold, Lone and Still, (London: Michael Joseph, 1983)
• No Winding-Sheet, (London: Michael Joseph, 1984)
• The Crozier Pharaohs, (London: Michael Joseph, 1984)
• Sleuth's Alchemy, Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others (Crippen & Landru, 2005)

The last-named is a collection of all but one of Gladys Mitchell's short stories from 1938 to 1956, many previously uncollected; edited and with a comprehensive introduction by Nicholas Fuller.

Portrayals

Mrs Bradley was portrayed by Diana Rigg in the television series The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, and on radio by Margaret Yarde^[3] and Mary Wimbush.