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. With walk-on parts by Dr Crippen and Dorothy L.

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 Susannah Stapleton reveals – she was a most unreliable witness to her own life. Interweaving tales from Maud Wests own casebook with social history and extensive original research, Stapleton investigates the stories Maud West told about. 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. I am also into family history, so Susannah Stapleton s account of her researches, puzzles, red herrings and all, struck a chord. I was fascinated by her larger than life accounts of her career. A Remarkable True Story by Stapleton, Susannah and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at . As a fan of detective novels, I was intrigued by the mystery surrounding Maud West, self-proclaimed leading lady detective. Secrets and Lies in The Golden Age of Crime. Jill Paton Walsh, author of the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mysteries The Adventures of Maud West Lady Detective. You will never know the difference between fact and fiction again. 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 by Susannah Stapleton