Metta Victoria Fuller Victor (née Fuller; March 2, 1831 – June 26, 1885), who used the pen name Seeley Regester among others, was an American novelist, credited with authoring of one of the first detective novels in the United States. She wrote more than 100

dime novels The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...

, pioneering the field.

Life

She was born in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

, the third of five children of Adonijah Fuller and Lucy (Williams) Fuller. The family moved to

Wooster, Ohio Wooster ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Wayne County. Located in northeastern Ohio, the city lies approximately south-southwest of Cleveland, southwest of Akron and west of Canton. The population was 27,232 at ...

in 1839, where she and her elder sister

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...

(who also became a famous writer) attended a female seminary; they both published stories in local newspapers and, later, in the '' Home Journal''. The sisters moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

together in 1848, where they continued their literary pursuits. Metta married editor and publishing pioneer

Orville James Victor Orville James Victor (October 23, 1827 – March 14, 1910) was an American writer and editor in chief. Biography Victor was born in Sandusky, Ohio to Henry Clay Victor and Gertrude Nash Victor, and had seven siblings; his father operated a h ...

in 1856. Her sister Frances would later marry Victor's brother. Metta served as editor for the Beadle & Company monthly ''Home'' and for '' Cosmopolitan Art Journal'', and later anonymously published dime novels for her husband's series for Beadle. She died of cancer on June 26, 1885, in

Ho-ho-kus, New Jersey Ho-Ho-Kus () is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,258, an increase of 180 (+4.4%) from the 2010 census count of 4,078, which in turn reflected an increas ...

, and was buried in Ridgewood's Valleau Cemetery.

Works

Her noteworthy works are ''Alice Wilde'' (1860), an early dime novel; ''Maum Guinea, and Her Plantation "Children"'' (1861), expressing

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

sentiments; ''The Dead Letter'' (1866), the first full-length American work of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

; ''The Figure Eight'' (1869); ''A Bad Boy's Diary'' (1880); and ''The Blunders of a Bashful Man'' (1881). She also wrote under the names Corinne Cushman, Eleanor Lee Edwards, Metta Fuller, Walter T. Gray, Mrs. Orrin James, Rose Kennedy, Louis LeGrand, Mrs. Mark Peabody, The Singing Sybil, Mrs. Henry Thomas.

References

External links

*Foxwell, Elizabeth
"Metta Fuller Victor: A Sensational Life"
''Mystery Scene,'' no. 81 (2003). * * * * * Miranda Orso, Summer 2002

Bio from American Women's Dime Novel Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor, Metta Victoria Fuller 1831 births 1885 deaths 19th-century American novelists American crime fiction writers American women novelists Pulp fiction writers Novelists from New York (state) 19th-century American women writers Women crime fiction writers People from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey Dime novelists 19th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers