Bibliograph

The adventures of Maud West, lady detective, Susannah Stapleton ; read by Susannah Stapleton and Clare Wille

Type

Label

The adventures of Maud West, lady detective, Susannah Stapleton ; read by Susannah Stapleton and Clare Wille

Language

eng

Form of composition

not applicable

Format of music

not applicable

Literary text for sound recordings

biographyhistory

Main title

The adventures of Maud West, lady detective

Music parts

not applicable

Responsibility statement

Susannah Stapleton ; read by Susannah Stapleton and Clare Wille

Summary

Maud West ran her detective agency in London for more than 30 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 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 20th century

Target audience

adult

Transposition and arrangement

not applicable

Classification