Robert Barr was an British novelist, born at Glasgow, Scotland. He was headmaster of the Central School, Windsor, Ontario, and in 1876 became a member of the staff of the Detroit Free Press, in which he appeared as "Luke Sharp." In 1881 he moved to London, to establish the weekly English edition of the Free Press. In 1892 founded The Idler magazine, choosing Jerome K. Jerome as his collaborator, retiring from the coeditorship in 1895. In A Woman Intervenes, Jennie Brewster is hired by the New York Argus to get the details of investigations made of Canadian mining properties by two Englishmen. She must sail to London on the Calico, and work the details out of them, then cable the results to New York before they report to the London Syndicate formed to purchase the properties. A top male reporter for the Argus has tried and failed to get the story. Can a woman succeed?