'If you are susceptible to Miss Marple and Harriet Vane you must read The Adventures of Maud West. You will never know the difference between fact and fiction again.' – Jill Paton Walsh, author of the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mysteries. Maud West ran her detective agency in London for more than thirty years, having started sleuthing on behalf of society’s finest in 1905. Her exploits grabbed headlines throughout the world but, beneath the public persona, she was forced to hide vital aspects of her own identity in order to thrive in a class-obsessed and male-dominated world. And – as historical researcher Susannah Stapleton reveals – she was a most unreliable witness to her own life. Who was Maud? And what was the reality of being a female private detective in the Golden Age of Crime? Interweaving tales from Maud West’s own ‘casebook’ with social history and extensive original research, Stapleton investigates the stories Maud West told about herself in a quest to uncover the truth. With walk-on parts by Dr Crippen and Dorothy L. Sayers, Parisian gangsters and Continental blackmailers, The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective is both a portrait of a woman ahead of her time and a deliciously salacious glimpse into the underbelly of ‘good society’ during the first half of the twentieth century.

‘Had me hooked… Loved!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Delightful… Kept me on the edge of my seat’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wonderful… Had me giggling’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I really loved this… Fantastic’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I absolutely adored this… Brilliant’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Move over Holmes and Watson, there’s a new detective duo in town! Edinburgh, 1911: When headstrong Maud McIntyre decides to pour her inheritance into starting her very own detective agency, she asks her lady’s maid, Daisy, to form The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency. After all, she knows they have a better brain for these things than most men! Maud and Daisy never dreamed that their first case would take place at a glamorous house in the Scottish Highlands. But when the Duchess of Duddingston, concerned that a notorious jewellery thief will target her next lavish weekend party, employs Maud to go undercover as a guest to find the culprit, the agency has its first case to solve… To disguise herself as one of the Duchess’ influential friends, with Daisy by her side as her maid, Maud puts on her best dresses and jewels. Rubbing shoulders with countesses and colonels without arousing suspicion isn’t easy, but she hopes one of them will reveal themselves as the jewellery thief. But when one of the house guests is discovered dead, smothered in their own bed, Maud and Daisy realise they’re not only hunting precious gems, but a murderer as well… Time is of the essence and quickly they uncover a connection in Edinburgh which might hold a vital clue, sending them back to the city. But when Maud receives a telephone call from the Duchess requesting urgent assistance, she is aghast to realise that the murderer didn’t have just one victim in mind. Speeding down the drive to Duddingston House, Maud and Daisy hear gunshots ring out. Will they reach the Duchess in time to save her? Or is this going to be their first, and last, case? A warm page-turning historical whodunnit, perfect for fans of the mysteries of Helena Dixon, Verity Bright, T.E. Kinsey and Catherine Coles. Readers are loving The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency: ‘Delightful… I was hooked into the story from the beginning till the end… Worth five stars!’ Tropical Girl Reads ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Kept me on the edge of my seat with the mystery! I love this book!’ @simplefairy_book_magic ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A gripping mystery that will keep you guessing until the end… So many twists and turns… Delightful!’ @DianeLikesToRead ‘Not to be missed!... Excellent. I am a huge fan.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Had me hooked from the first page… I was completely entertained… Loved.’ @loris2littlelibrary ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So charming! This one was everything I hoped for… Wonderful… I can’t wait to read the second book!’ @xhttp.sarahx ‘A pleasure to read… I’m looking forward to the next in the series.’ @Mrs. K. Investigates ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A really cosy treat… Delightful.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Page-turning, wonderful… Loved it.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I loved this… A pleasure to read!’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I had a lot of fun… binge read this novel in one afternoon.’ Anna Rellix ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A treasure and a pleasure to read… I loved this.’ Nicki’s Book Blog ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘What a glorious read!... A delight.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book examines the developments in British serial detective fiction which took place in the seven years when Sherlock Holmes was dead. In December 1893, at the height of Sherlock’s popularity with the Strand Magazine’s worldwide readership, Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his detective. At the time, he firmly believed that Holmes would not be resurrected. This book introduces and showcases a range of Sherlock’s most fascinating successors, exploring the ways in which a huge range of popular magazines and newspapers clamoured to ensnare Sherlock’s bereft fans. The book’s case-study format examines a range of detective series-- created by L.T. Meade; C.L. Pirkis; Arthur Morrison; Fergus Hume; Richard Marsh; Kate and Vernon Hesketh-Prichard— that filled the pages of a variety of periodicals, from plush monthly magazines to cheap newspapers, in the years while Sherlock was dead. Readers will be introduced to an array of detectives—professional and amateur, male and female, old and young; among them a pawn-shop worker, a scientist, a British aristocrat, a ghost-hunter. The study of these series shows that there was life after Sherlock and proves that there is much to learn about the development of the detective genre from the successors to Sherlock Holmes. “In this brilliant, incisive study of late Victorian detective fiction, Clarke emphatically shows us there is life beyond Sherlock Holmes. Rich in contextual detail and with her customary eye for the intricacies of publishing history, Clarke’s wonderfully accessible book brings to the fore a collection of hitherto neglected writers simultaneously made possible but pushed to the margins by Conan Doyle’s most famous creation.” — Andrew Pepper,, Senior Lecturer in English and American Literature, Queen's University, Belfast Professor Clarke's superb new book, British Detective : The Successors to Sherlock Holmes, is required reading for anyone interested in Victorian crime and detective fiction. Building on her award-winning first monograph, Late-Victorian Crime Fiction in the Shadows of Sherlock, Dr. Clarke further explores the history of serial detective fiction published after the "death" of Conan Doyle's famous detective in 1893. This is a path-breaking book that advances scholarship in the field of late-Victorian detective fiction while at the same time introducing non-specialist readers to a treasure trove of stories that indeed rival the Sherlock Holmes series in their ability to puzzle and entertain the most discerning reader. — Alexis Easley, Professor of English, University of St.Paul, Minnesota

Kathleen Gregory Klein traces female paid, professional private investigators in British, Canadian, and American novels, revealing that the detective novel is both a reflection of and potential barrier to social change for women. This edition adds sixty new female private eyes to the roster and includes an afterword that assesses the current state of the genre's new and old novels. A comprehensive bibliography and a character list update the field through mid-1994.

Geannot. filmogr. - Met bibliogr., cred., ind. - Ook aanwezig als: The British film catalogue 1895-1985 : a reference guide. - Rev. and updated ed. - Cop. 1986. - 23 p., 15289 lemma's. - ISBN 0-7153-8835-5.