Stories from the Diary of a Doctor – a collection of Victorian mystery/detective stories. Story 5 - A death Certificate. Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith (1854–1914) was a prolific writer of girls' stories as well as a contributor to Victorian periodicals. She was born in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. She began writing at 17 and produced over 300 books in her lifetime. Her most famous book was A World of Girls, published in 1886. She was also the editor of a popular girls' magazine, Atalanta. With Clifford Halifax, M.D., she wrote ‘Stories from the Diary of a Doctor’, first published in The Strand Magazine, then released in book form in 1894. A second series appeared in 1896. The Diary of a Doctor series has been likened to Sherlock Holmes – the first instalment, My First Patient, appeared in the July 1893 edition of The Strand Magazine, alongside Conan-Doyle’s Holmes story ‘The Adventure of the Crooked Man’. The Literary News had this to say on the collection of Twelve stories, presenting some cases supposed to have come under the direct attention of a young London physician. It is claimed by their collaborating authors that several of the tales included are founded on actual experience, and that all have been written with a close observance to medical facts, and in accordance with the advances made in surgery during the last decade.