What the blurb says …

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.

Shortlisted for the CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

What I say …

All I ever wanted was an answer to an idle question that popped into my head one evening while reading a Gladys Mitchell novel: ‘Were there really lady detectives in the golden age of crime?’ Unfortunately, Google didn’t know, so I hit the archives.

Before long, I was the proud owner of my very own arch-nemesis in the form of Maud West, the most frustrating historical subject I have ever researched. Happily, she was also the most fun and proved to be the gateway to an under-explored avenue of women’s history.

When it came to actually writing the book, however, I was stuck. Faced with a jumble of fantastical stories, falsified documents, double identities and wide-ranging social history, I had no idea where to begin. After a few wrong starts, I decided to write the book as a detective story in its own right, chronicling my own efforts to uncover the truth.

Readers have responded enthusiastically to this approach, which enabled me to match Maud’s playful public persona while addressing the more serious aspects of social history that her life and work revealed.

It was also extremely enjoyable to write – and I am happy to report that I no longer have an arch-nemesis, just a woman I admire greatly. (Although my answer to a common interview question remains the same. What would I say if I had the chance to meet Maud? Absolutely nothing. I would run away, very fast. I can’t imagine she’d be very pleased with me – plus, she’s got a gun.)

What other people say …

“The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective is delightfully well written, with both sympathy and empathy; it is jaunty, engaging and witty without being arch. A triumph.”

– Literary Review

“The rollicking adventures of a real-life female sleuth… [an] erudite but hugely entertaining debut…”

– The Spectator

“A feast of a book...”

– Sandi Toksvig

“Stapleton is a frank and funny writer […] She is skilful in mingling two strands of social history: the daily working life of a self-employed lady detective in the early 20th century chronicling the crimes solved; and the true life story of a complex woman who, as Stapleton puts it, “took the poor hand dealt to her at birth and transformed it into a life that would be the envy of millions.”

– The Times

“A powerhouse of a book… The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective is, as one suspects Maud herself was, sweet, and wonderful company, and absolutely determined to discover the truth.”

– Judith Flanders, Author and Historian

“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

“Terrific. A brilliant literary sleuth tracks down a real one, uncovering a flabbergasting hidden life along the way.”

– Lissa Evans, Author

“Maud West is a gloriously English eccentric – think Miranda Hart meets Margaret Rutherford – brought to vigorous life by present day sleuth Susannah Stapleton.”

– Sean O’Connor, Author

“Susannah Stapleton’s dogged sleuthing of Maud’s own complicated, messy, spunky life reveals the wider story of a little-explored sliver of life between the wars…  I loved it.”

– Kate Colquhoun, Author