In THE GIRLS WHO FOUGHT CRIME, Mari K. Eder offers a vibrant, refreshing look at the life and accomplishments of Mary “Mae” Foley. Mae was one of the first women to serve as a police officer for the NYPD and among the most prominent of her times.

The daughter of an Irish father and a French mother, immigrants to the US in the late 1800s, Mae and her family resided in a slum area known as the Gas House District. Eder recounts in her lively narrative that 11-year-old Mae stymied a known school bully and vowed to be a cop one day. The path would be a long one, as Mae married in her teens, had two daughters and cared for two sons of her husband from a previous marriage. The family struggled for every penny, bolstered somewhat when Mae offered her daughter Grace as an “actress” on Broadway at age two.

"[Eder] has neatly constructed a credible story of Mae’s aspirations and accomplishments, with imaginative episodes of her personal life intertwined with the facts about her police service."

Mae took work for the city, gradually moving into a position on the police force, but without the status of a police uniform. Initially her job entailed assisting women and children affected by social deprivation in the newly formed “settlement houses” that catered to the homeless and helpless. One part of her job was locating and apprehending “mashers,” men who seduced and robbed unsuspecting females. She eventually would serve on the force --- in uniform --- fulfilling her long-held ambition, and pushing for and organizing a squad of like-minded women.

Widowed while still young, Mae raised her daughters while working endless shifts. She was born with true grit, always sustaining her conviction that she could and would succeed. Her exploits with the criminal element included work as a detective and, during World War II, going undercover to ferret out pro-Nazi operatives. Her status was such that the force specially honored her birthday, and the attendance at her funeral was a mile long.

Eder, a retired U.S. Army Major General with many distinctions to her credit in that realm, served for 20 years as a military police officer. She has neatly constructed a credible story of Mae’s aspirations and accomplishments, with imaginative episodes of her personal life intertwined with the facts about her police service. There are few records accessible from the NYPD in the early years of Mae’s rise through that organization, and not many photos are available. But Eder brings to light and life in a manner both engaging and cinematic as much as is known about this dynamic female, who assumed and demonstrated dominance in a man’s world at a time when women were not even allowed to vote.

In current times, Eder points out, women are sought as law officers, often being better educated and practicing more equitable strategies than their male counterparts. Mae Foley quietly and effectively rebelled against patriarchy, and won out to her satisfaction and the admiration of her peers. As Eder boldly states, “Her lessons are fresh for us today.”