William Stephens Hayward (1835–1870)

Interesting for being a pioneer effort, but not as good as the very first English female detective (The Female Detective). In this one the style is much more self-consciously literary and the tone is more Gothic than realistic.
One story involves stealing gold via a tunnel into a bank as in Doyle's "The Red-Headed League", and another involves torture in a Catholic convent in nineteenth century England -unlikely, though not I suppose impossible.