Matthias McDonnell Bodkin was an Irish nationalist politician and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Anti-Parnellite representative for North Roscommon, 1892–95, a noted author, journalist and newspaper editor, and barrister, King’s Counsel and County Court Judge for County Clare, 1907-24. Bodkin was a prolific author, in a wide range of genres, including history, novels (contemporary and historical), plays, and political campaigning texts. Bodkin earned a place in the history of the detective novel by virtue of his invention of the first detective family. His most famous character is the detective Paul Beck, who appears in a series of stories and eventually marries another of Bodkin's series characters, Dora Myrl, "Lady Detective".