The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective by Susannah Stapleton

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. Intrigued, Stapleton turned her research abilities towards finding out more about this elusive woman, and along the way to learning about the world of private detection in the first few decades of the twentieth century.

With walk-on parts by Dr Crippen and Dorothy L. A little searching turned up the name of Maud West, who advertised herself as London’s only Lady detective. 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? And – as historical researcher Susannah Stapleton reveals – she was a most unreliable witness to her own life. 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 thirty years, having started sleuthing on behalf of society’s finest in 1905. to: The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective by Susannah Stapleton. You will never know the difference between fact and fiction again.' – Jill Paton Walsh, author of the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mysteries. Maud West disguised as a Salvation Army worker, c. 'If you are susceptible to Miss Marple and Harriet Vane you must read The Adventures of Maud West. The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective as its meant to be heard, narrated by Susannah Stapleton, Clare Wille.