History Series / FrankieDrakeMysteries

Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) is the first female private detective in 1920s Toronto. Frankie's best friend Trudy is her crime solving partner. Mary Shaw is a Morality Officer who comes from a law enforcement family, and she longs to follow in her father's footsteps. Flo completes the team: She's a morgue attendant. She's also a war widow who's putting herself through medical school at night.

* FoeYay: A bootlegging mobster shows a clear interest in Frankie. He even goes so far as to say he wanted to invite her to join his gang, although he knew she'd never take him up on it.

* SpinOff: Of ''Series/MurdochMysteries''. Crabtree, Brackenreid, and Watts have all appeared in the series, while Murdoch himself is FamedInStory.

''Frankie Drake Mysteries'' is a Canadian TV series, which premiered on Creator/{{CBC}} in 2017. The series is HistoricalDetectiveFiction that mixes Crime, Mystery, PeriodDrama and Noir. It was created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci.

''Frankie Drake Mysteries'' is a Canadian TV series, which premiered on CBC in 2017. The series is HistoricalDetectiveFiction that mixes Crime, Mystery, PeriodDrama and Noir. It was created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci.

* YoungFutureFamousPerson: In "Radio Daze," Mary gets close to a radioman named Huey. At the episode's end, he reveals his real name is Foster Hewitt who would go on to become the incredibly popular announcer for ''Hockey Night in Canada''.

* FutureFamousPerson: In "Radio Daze," Mary gets close to a radioman named Huey. At the episode's end, he reveals his real name is Foster Hewitt who would go on to become the incredibly popular announcer for ''Hockey Night in Canada''.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Banting Dr. Frederick Banting]] (one of the University of Toronto researchers who discovered insulin) and then-Toronto Star reporter Creator/ErnestHemingway make appearances.

Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) is the first female private detective in 1920s Toronto. Frankie's best friend Trudy is her crime solving partner. Mary Shaw is a Morality Officer who comes from a law enforcement family who longs to follow in her father's footsteps. Flo completes the team: She's a morgue attendant. She's also a war widow who's putting herself through medical school at night.

Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) is the first female private detective in 1920s Toronto. Frankie's best friend Trudy is her crime solving partner. Mary Shaw is a Morality Officer who comes from a law enforcement family who longs to follow in her father's footsteps. Flo complete the team: She's a morgue attendant. She's also a war widow who's putting herself through medical school at night.

Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) is the first female private detective in 1920s Toronto. Chantel Riley is Frankie's crime solving partner and friend Trudy.

* HistoricalDetectiveFiction
* TheJoyOfX


!!Drake Detective Agency

[[folder: Frankie Drake]]
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->'''Played by:''' Lauren Lee Smith
->'''Appears in:''' ''Frankie Drake Mysteries''

A private detective working in 1920s Toronto, Frankie is the daughter of {{Con Artist}}s, and a former spy and dispatch rider who served with distinction in the Signal Corps during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Following the end of the War, she set up shop as a private detective in Toronto the Good.
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* ActionGirl: She was a dispatch rider and spy for the Signal Corps during the War, packs heat, and has a mean right hook. If there's a fight, Frankie is the one most likely to be int he middle of it.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Wtih Creator/ErnestHemingway (yes, ''[[Literature/AFarewellToArms that]]'' Ernest Hemingway) in season 1, and Detective Greyson in season 2.
* BrokenBird; It's subtle, but Frankie is still deeply troubled by [[spoiler:being duped into killing a youth during the War by her commander. The boy ''was'' an enemy agent, but she continues to be haunted by his death, and angry over her commander's duplicity in setting her up to make the hit.]]
* ConArtist: She was raised by a pair of them, and learned more than her share of the same tricks of the trade as a result. This allows her to make use of them herself as a detective, and more than one case (''especially'' when her mother is involved) is cracked by running a con on the baddie of the week.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Narrowly avoided. Frankie's mother ''wanted'' to name her Cleopatra, but her father prevailed. It doesn't stop Norah from embarrassing Frankie over it, however.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Frankie trades her fiery red locks for a blonde bob in season 3, and immediately catches wolf whistles while out with a friend.
* FieryRedHead: She has fiery red hair, and can have a temper to match. Brackenreid himself points out as much, noting she has a wicked right hook.
* HardboiledDetective: She has a nasty right hook, has the balls to stare down UsefulNotes/AlCapone himself, is a good shot, and has her own still for making moonshine. She's a private detective who doesn't just catch the occasional philanderer, but often finds herself drawn into murder investigations and other major crimes. She also has more than a few demons in her closet, though she's a bit less jaded than is usual for the trope.
* InappropriatelyCloseComrades: During her time in the Signal Corps Frankie had an affair with her commanding officer. Frankie keeps quiet about it, but it seems to be something of an open secret with her wartime buddies among the dispatch riders. And Creator/AgathaChristie (yes, ''[[Literature/HerculePoirot that]]'' Agatha Christie) spots the history between them ''immediately''.
* LightningBruiser: Frankie hits hard enough that she can even drop men a good deal stronger than her with her wicked right hook. She's also very fast on her feet. This is best demonstrated in "Counterpunch" where she boxes against another woman who's at ''least'' a weight class over her.
* NoodleIncident: The War is one big InUniverse one for Frankie. She was officially a dispatch rider with the Signal Corps, but this was just a cover for covert operations she carried out. Otherwise she's very quiet about her experiences and actions even with her friends, and is only truly open with the others she served with. She did possess high security clearance that she was able to requisition highly-classified files about the testing of poison gas on the Allies' own troops simply by turning up in uniform while investigating the murders of former comrades surrounding Remebrence Day festivities.
* OldShame: InUniverse. [[spoiler:During the War, her commanding officer would use her to [[SpyVersusSpy rout out enemy spies]]. In one incident, he knowingly sent her into an ambush [[BatmanGambit intending for her to survive and kill one such spy]]. However the enemy agent was just a boy, and this — and the fact her commander kept her in the dark about the nature of the mission — has haunted Frankie ever since.]]
* SpyVersusSpy: One of Frankie's specialties in the Signal Corps; her commander would assign her to identify and rout out enemy agents within his own chain of command.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Trudy Clarke]]
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->'''Played by:''' Chantel Riley
->'''Appears in:''' ''Frankie Drake Mysteries''

Frankie's best friend and partner, Trudy and Frankie met while Frankie was in Toronto searching for a German spy towards the end of the war. After losing her job as a maid, Trudy joined the fledgling Drake Detective Agency.
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* ActionGirl: After Frankie, Trudy has the most action scenes of any member of the Drake Detective Agency. She doesn't have Frankie's right hook, but can still hold her own in a scuffle, and is more than capable with a firearm.
* BigSisterInstinct: Trudy is the eldest of four children, and looks out for her younger siblings as best she can. She takes caring for them very seriously.

* DisappearedDad: Very little is known about Trudy's father, and he has yet to appear in the series.
* ImmigrantParents: Trudy's mother is a Jamaican immigrant.
* TheLancer: As the other full-time employee of Drake Detective Agencies, Trudy is Frankie's right hand. When Frankie is out of town Trudy typically holds down the fort, and will often pursue her own lines of investigations to solve the case.
* GlamorousWartimeSinger: Not precisely, as ''Frankie Drake'' is set between the Wars, but she nonetheless evokes this. Trudy is a glamorous dresser with a sultry jazz voice.
* SculleryMaid: Trudy was working as a maid at the house where Frankie stayed during her SpyVersusSpy mission at the end of the War. Trudy's fearlessness when confronting Frankie after mistakenly identifying ''her'' as an enemy agent helped cement their friendship and, after Trudy lost her job as a result of the goings on, their partnership.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Officer Mary Shaw]]
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->'''Played by:''' Rebecca Liddiard
->'''Appears in:''' ''Frankie Drake Mysteries''

A Morality Officer in the Toronto Constabulary, Mary frequently uses her posting within the department to help provide Frankie information on cases, and at times even assists directly by going undercover. Her father was a cop, inspiring Mary to join the force as well, and she aspires one day to be a ''real'' policewoman.
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* TenMinuteRetirement: She loses her job when Detective Grayson catches her snooping around his desk after she discovers him hiding and removing evidence from a crime scene. She subsequently joins the Drake detective agency full-time...at least until she helps solve the case and catch the ''actual'' dirty coppers Greyson was tracking, and is restored to her normal position.
* CulturePolice: This is ''literally'' her job. As a Morality Officer, her position exists to police the length of womens' skirts, deal with prostitutes, enforce curfews, enforce prohibition, and address other violations of "public decency." Mary finds the work meaningless and degrading, and despairs that she's not allowed to be a ''real'' officer because she's a woman. That said, she ''does'' have some actual police powers, including the power to make an arrest.
* FairCop: Mary is a tall, slim, and pretty woman with youthful features. This often makes her ideal for certain forms of undercover work.
* FanGirl: She positively geeks out over meeting Watts and Brackenreid in ''A Cold Case''. She mentions having followed Watts' arrest record, which is ''nearly'' as impressive as Murdoch's, and her face positively lights up whenever Brackenreid pays her a compliment.
* FatAndSkinny: Mary is the slimmest member of the main cast, and she's often paired up with Flo, who is by far the largest.
* FriendOnTheForce: Mary ''is'' the Friend On The Force. She uses her posting with the Toronto Constabulary to help Frankie on cases by running finger marks, "borrowing" evidence,and gaining access to police files and records.
* GenkiGirl: Chipper, upbeat, enthusiastic, and a boundless ball of energy.
* GuileHero: Mary is not nearly as good in a fight as Frankie and Trudy. However she demonstrates a ''lot'' smarts and an ability to think quickly on her feet. And whenever a suspect mocks her badge and dismisses her because she's "just" a morality officer, Mary is often able to turn the tables on them by finding a violation that ''does'' fall under her jurisdiction she can use to put a twist on them.
* HiddenDepths: Mary is an amateur baseball player, and is a talented enough pitcher to win a championship in a semipro women's league.
* NiceGirl: Mary may be the kindest and most sweet-natured part of Frankie's circle. This makes her an odd choice for a private detective, but she still makes it work for her.
* NoRespectGuy: Despite showing talent as a detective, and her enthusiasm and pride for the police force, as a Morality Officer Mary is often ridiculed by her fellow officers and treated as little more than a glorified meter maid, while very few people take her badge seriously.
* ShrinkingViolet: Ironically, despite being the only professional law enforcement officer in the agency, Mary is the most timid of the group. While playing tough comes second nature to Frankie, Trudy, and even Flo, Mary is the one most likely to be a little jittery and nervous. She even admits in "Counterpunch" that going under cover always makes her nervous.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Flo Chakowitz]]
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->'''Played by:''' Sharron Matthews
->'''Appears in:''' ''Frankie Drake Mysteries''

Flo works as an assistant in the Toronto Coroner's office. Although she's only a medical student, she's nonetheless quite skilled at her work, and often picks up details her boss (who may not entirely be competent in the first place) misses. Flo uses her position to assist Frankie, slipping her details from the coroner's report when her boss's back is turned, and often directly performing autopsies herself to provide her with important information.
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* AlmightyJanitor: She's only a medical student, but actually manages to be even more competent than the ''actual'' medical examiner.
* BigBeautifulWoman: She's a quite husky woman, but oozes confidence, has more than her share of dates, and when out on the town can dress to the nines with the best of them.
* TheCoroner: Subverted. She's not ''the'' Coroner, but she does assist the city coroner while attending medical school...often doing much of the ''actual'' work he can't be bothered to.
* DeadpanSnarker: Flo is the biggest snarker in the cast, and almost always has a dry remark ready to go.
* HardOnSoftScience: "Counterpunch" reveals Flo doesn't think highly of holistic medicine and initially dismisses it as "snake oil." [[spoiler:While still not sold on it as a replacement for modern medicine, she does begin to recognize it can have some medicinal value after working with Harland Walcott on replacing a spiked batch of his curative.]]
* FatAndSkinny: Flo is quite heavyset, so has this dynamic with ''all'' of the other three women in the agency. However she's most often paired with the willowy Mary, who's notably the ''skinniest''.
* HappilyMarried: Or at least she was, until she lost her husband during the War.
* WidowWoman: Flo's husband was killed in action during the War. She still misses him, though she has also moved on and often remarks about having a date.
[[/folder]]