the adventures of maud west lady detective

With walk-on parts by Dr Crippen and Dorothy L. In this enthralling true story, Stapleton interweaves tales from Maud’s own ‘casebook’ with social history and extensive original research, forensically examining the stories Maud West told about herself in a quest to uncover the truth. Who was Maud? And what was the reality of being a female private detective in the golden age of crime? And – as Susannah Stapleton reveals – she was a most unreliable witness to her own life. 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 20th century.For more than thirty years, Maud West ran a detective agency in London, having started sleuthing on behalf of society’s finest in 1905.Ī tireless self-publicist, Maud’s exploits grabbed headlines around the world – a woman, solving crimes, how could they not? But, in order to thrive in a class-obsessed and male-dominated world, she was forced to hide vital aspects of her own identity. 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. Who was Maud? And what was the reality of being a female private detective in the Golden Age of Crime? 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. Maud West ran her detective agency in London for more than 30 years, having started sleuthing on behalf of society’s finest in 1905. You will never know the difference between fact and fiction again.

If you are susceptible to Miss Marple and Harriet Vane you must listen to The Adventures of Maud West.

The adventures of maud west lady detective