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Bulldog Drummond #5
The Female of the Species
Bulldog Drummond has slain his archenemy, Carl Peterson, but Peterson's mistress lives on and is intent on revenge. Drummond's wife vanishes, followed by a series of vicious traps set by a malicious adversary, which lead to a hair-raising chase across England, to a sinister house and a fantastic torture-chamber modelled on Stonehenge, with its legend of human sacrifice.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1928
About the author
Sapper
262 books37 followersSapper was the pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile, whose father was Malcolm McNeile, a Captain in the Royal Navy and, at who was at the time, governor of the naval prison at Bodmin, the town where Herman was born.
McNeile was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He went to France in 1914 when World War I broke out and he saw action at both the First and the Second Battle of Ypres where he displayed considerable bravery, was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.
His first known published work was a series of short war stories based on his own experiences, and published under the name 'Sapper' in the Daily Mail and in the magazine 'The War Illustrated'.
These stories were immediately successful and later sold over 200,000 copies within a year when subsequently republished in book-form. His realistic writing proved most popular at a time of great stress and Lord Northcliff, the owner of the Daily Mail who recognised his talent, was so impressed by that he attempted, but failed, to have McNeile released from the army so he could work as a war correspondent.
After the War was over, in 1919, McNeile resigned from the army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a full-time author, publishing his first novel, Mufti, in that year.
In 1922, he moved to Sussex and lived there for the rest of his life, having married Peggy Baird-Douglas with whom he had two sons.
He began the series for which he now best remembered, that of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond in 1920 and thereafter he wrote 10 novels featuring his eponymous hero. The public took to Drummond and McNeile had great financial success.
The first book was adapted for the stage and produced, to great success, at Wyndham's Theatre during the 1921-1922 season with Gerald du Maurier playing the main character. Films followed and the first talkie BullDog Drummond film in 1922 was reputed to have earned McNeile the vast sum of $750,000. There were 26 films made of his books.
As well as Drummond, he wrote about Ronald Standish but the majority of his work was short stories that were published in various popular monthly magazines and continued to earn him good money. Indeed, in addition to his novels, many of his books were short story collections.
He was reputedly an unremittingly hearty man, who even his good friend and collaborator Gerard Fairlie, who continued the Drummond series after McNeile's death with seven further books, described as "not everybody's cup of tea". He died on August 14, 1937 at his home in Pulborough, West Sussex.
His funeral, with full military honours, took place at Woking crematorium.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
McNeile was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He went to France in 1914 when World War I broke out and he saw action at both the First and the Second Battle of Ypres where he displayed considerable bravery, was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.
His first known published work was a series of short war stories based on his own experiences, and published under the name 'Sapper' in the Daily Mail and in the magazine 'The War Illustrated'.
These stories were immediately successful and later sold over 200,000 copies within a year when subsequently republished in book-form. His realistic writing proved most popular at a time of great stress and Lord Northcliff, the owner of the Daily Mail who recognised his talent, was so impressed by that he attempted, but failed, to have McNeile released from the army so he could work as a war correspondent.
After the War was over, in 1919, McNeile resigned from the army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a full-time author, publishing his first novel, Mufti, in that year.
In 1922, he moved to Sussex and lived there for the rest of his life, having married Peggy Baird-Douglas with whom he had two sons.
He began the series for which he now best remembered, that of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond in 1920 and thereafter he wrote 10 novels featuring his eponymous hero. The public took to Drummond and McNeile had great financial success.
The first book was adapted for the stage and produced, to great success, at Wyndham's Theatre during the 1921-1922 season with Gerald du Maurier playing the main character. Films followed and the first talkie BullDog Drummond film in 1922 was reputed to have earned McNeile the vast sum of $750,000. There were 26 films made of his books.
As well as Drummond, he wrote about Ronald Standish but the majority of his work was short stories that were published in various popular monthly magazines and continued to earn him good money. Indeed, in addition to his novels, many of his books were short story collections.
He was reputedly an unremittingly hearty man, who even his good friend and collaborator Gerard Fairlie, who continued the Drummond series after McNeile's death with seven further books, described as "not everybody's cup of tea". He died on August 14, 1937 at his home in Pulborough, West Sussex.
His funeral, with full military honours, took place at Woking crematorium.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 24, 2014
'And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.'
So reads the last verse of Rudyard Kipling's poem and in this thrilling tale, the sentiments expressed in the final line certainly look like being true. Irma Peterson is out to extract revenge for her husband, Carl's death, killed in a previous adventure by Drummond. And she decides that the best way to achieve it is to kidnap the great Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond's wife, Phyllis.
This she and her gang do, much to Bulldog's distress. He recruits some of his pals to try and track her down. Irma helps somewhat and leaves a series of cryptic clues that between them the searchers eventually crack (good job I wasn't one of them for I couldn't have worked them out). A chase across England begins and hair-raising adventures transpire.
Drummond himself disappears and is feared dead but his pals continue the search on their own and end up in a torture chamber that is based on Stonehenge. Irma captures them all and gets ready to kill them along with Phyllis; she already believes from Drummond's pals that he is dead so she has no fear in that direction.
Well, the species might be deadly than the male in many cases but not when Bulldog Drummond is involved and in an exciting climax he rescues Phyllis and his gang but Irma gets away to live to fight another day.
Whilst the action is fast and furious it is not one of Sapper's best Bulldog Drummond stories but it is still enjoyable and, at least, the pace never slackens.
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.'
So reads the last verse of Rudyard Kipling's poem and in this thrilling tale, the sentiments expressed in the final line certainly look like being true. Irma Peterson is out to extract revenge for her husband, Carl's death, killed in a previous adventure by Drummond. And she decides that the best way to achieve it is to kidnap the great Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond's wife, Phyllis.
This she and her gang do, much to Bulldog's distress. He recruits some of his pals to try and track her down. Irma helps somewhat and leaves a series of cryptic clues that between them the searchers eventually crack (good job I wasn't one of them for I couldn't have worked them out). A chase across England begins and hair-raising adventures transpire.
Drummond himself disappears and is feared dead but his pals continue the search on their own and end up in a torture chamber that is based on Stonehenge. Irma captures them all and gets ready to kill them along with Phyllis; she already believes from Drummond's pals that he is dead so she has no fear in that direction.
Well, the species might be deadly than the male in many cases but not when Bulldog Drummond is involved and in an exciting climax he rescues Phyllis and his gang but Irma gets away to live to fight another day.
Whilst the action is fast and furious it is not one of Sapper's best Bulldog Drummond stories but it is still enjoyable and, at least, the pace never slackens.
October 28, 2014
Utterly ludicrous and enough Problematic Content to make a New Statesman reader faint clean away. Extra points, Drummond, for including a Middlesex cricketer in your gang, and fortifying yourself with copious quantities of Bass. Probably a 3.5 rather than a 3.
April 7, 2022
Sapper was the pen name of Herman Cyril McNeile. He started writing war stories while he was a soldier in the First World War and wasn’t therefore allowed to use his real name and so chose one connected to his regiment of Royal Engineers. After the war he continued with the name Sapper but switched to thrillers and wrote a hugely successful series featuring Bulldog Drummond who was an upper-class adventurer and crime fighter. The books are very old-fashioned, but in a way that is part of the appeal as they give a brutely honest and accurate glimpse into how [some] people thought and spoke at the time. They should however come with a warning; these old-fashioned attitudes are often very uncomfortable and show how racist language and attitudes we would consider offensive were often considered normal back then. I remember being particularly upset by the last one I read, although with this one I got about half way through and actually commented to my wife how much better it was in that regards, and that I’d got so far into it before a character was described as “a black as coal negro”. I commented to her that it could have been worse and at least he hadn’t used the other ‘N’ word, how wrong I was (I imagine that’s been edited out of modern reprints). From then on in, that was the word used time and time again to describe that particular character who of course was one of the evil enemies Drummond was fighting against. At the time critics considered McNeile a Tory exhaling the virtues of God, Queen and Country and a belief that the British aristocracy were rightfully in charge of society and responsible for fighting off evil hoards of foreigners. A view he partly picked up from his WW1 experience I guess, but later critics have been even more damming and have since described him as a fascist and an anti-semite.
The plot of this particular book, along with others wasn’t exactly the most sophisticated either. Writers today spend a lot more effort looking for realism whereas back in this between-the-wars period the stories verged on silliness at times, and the evil super-criminals often came up with ridiculous plots as to how to kill out heroes and this book was no exception with the climax being extremely unlikely and, in my opinion, more than disappointing.
Having said all of that I do still sort of enjoy these books. Not so much for the stories or the style of writing but for the insight they give into thriller writing of yesteryear and some clues into people’s thoughts and behaviour. It wasn’t all blatant racism and we can learn a bit about ourselves from knowing how our forebears thought.
The plot of this particular book, along with others wasn’t exactly the most sophisticated either. Writers today spend a lot more effort looking for realism whereas back in this between-the-wars period the stories verged on silliness at times, and the evil super-criminals often came up with ridiculous plots as to how to kill out heroes and this book was no exception with the climax being extremely unlikely and, in my opinion, more than disappointing.
Having said all of that I do still sort of enjoy these books. Not so much for the stories or the style of writing but for the insight they give into thriller writing of yesteryear and some clues into people’s thoughts and behaviour. It wasn’t all blatant racism and we can learn a bit about ourselves from knowing how our forebears thought.
March 19, 2018
This is a good story which could have used more Drummond. He seems very much in the background until the final few pages. Some of the language is very dated but overall it is a tale worth reading
August 2, 2021
Not worth 10 cents
A total waste - it wandered from unreal to downright silly. Sorry but suggest you read the phone book instead.
A total waste - it wandered from unreal to downright silly. Sorry but suggest you read the phone book instead.
January 17, 2026
What a nice surprise!
Disguises, hijinks, murder!
Drummond seems a hoot.
Disguises, hijinks, murder!
Drummond seems a hoot.
September 9, 2024
A real good read - what fun!
April 8, 2013
The better of the bulldog sequels--at least after 1&2. This one had much more of bulldog himself, and of the gang of delightful sidekicks. Though why Sapper chose to use the boring-est of the characters to tell the tale, I'll never understand. Clearly, when you have an amazing character like bulldog, he should tell the tale. Right? Right? Maybe it's just more work, that I can certainly understand, though I think it was a mistake. Regardless, it was a fun story. The villain was a bit over the top--even for a bulldog tale, but the evil scavenger hunt was just brilliant. Recommended!
March 11, 2014
Drummond bumped off Carl Peterson in the last novel, so now Irma is out despatch Drummond and his gang, she has a suitably elaborate scheme, Carl would have been proud. The Bulldog Drummond series continues in great style 5 books in all excellent.
May 2, 2016
Sometimes books written years ago don't hold up. Not true with this Bulldog Drummond novel. Liked it enough to seek out more in the series. Witty, packed with action and times-past manners, a great mystery and lots of fun.
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November 16, 2016read some time in 2010
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews