Description

A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account-and how they became a cultural sensation

Shortlisted for The Wolfson History Prize 2025

From Wilkie Collins to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the traditional image of the Victorian detective is male. Few people realise that women detectives successfully investigated Victorian Britain, working both with the police and for private agencies, which they sometimes managed themselves.

Sara Lodge recovers these forgotten women’s lives. She also reveals the sensational role played by the fantasy female detective in Victorian melodrama and popular fiction, enthralling a public who relished the spectacle of a cross-dressing, fist-swinging heroine who got the better of love rats, burglars, and murderers alike.

How did the morally ambiguous work of real women detectives, sometimes paid to betray their fellow women, compare with the exploits of their fictional counterparts, who always save the day? Lodge’s book takes us into the murky underworld of Victorian society on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing the female detective as both an unacknowledged labourer and a feminist icon.

Publisher Review

“A fascinating and eye-opening account of fictional and real-life female detectives and their sleuthing activities. Meticulously researched, this is a thought-provoking and comprehensive book, and a compelling read. Highly recommended!”-Angela Buckley, author of The Real Sherlock Holmes

“Sara Lodge’s book is brilliantly well-suited to its subject. Painstakingly thorough, lit with flashes of inspired deduction, and adept at building a complete picture from fragments of evidence, it combines cultural criticism with social history to shed light on a neglected but fascinating feature of Victorian life.”-Sir Andrew Motion, poet, novelist and biographer

“Zippily written, deeply researched, game-changingly original, and full of clear-eyed wisdom about why the female detective matters, Lodge’s book races along like the detective stories at its heart. It will transform your view of the Victorian detective in literature and culture, and of so much more.”-Noreen Masud, author of A Flat Place

“Who were these women? What kind of work did they do? Here they are, materialised from the archive – carrying out sting operations and undercover work, catching sugar-thieves, abortionists, fraudulent businessmen and dodgy bus-conductors. With this scholarly and richly entertaining book, Lodge has done more than answer that question – she has cracked the case.”-Matthew Sweet, author of Inventing the Victorians

“A fascinating exploration of the world of female sleuths in both fact and fiction. Lodge writes with brio and wry humour – a delight to read.”-Matthew Rubery, author of The Novelty of Newspapers