Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective

 

The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective- Sara Lodge

Yale University Press

Release Date: November 5, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:  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.

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This was a fascinating book exploing the early days of women in the world of detective work- both in fiction and reality. Sara Lodge makes an impressive argument that women were involved in police work long before they 'officially' began being counted as police women, and it was these women who perhaps became the inspiration for the 'female detectives' of the early fictional stories.

Stories of female detectives were being sold by the 1860s, with the detectives donning disguises and blending into the background as servants to gather the proof needed to solve their cases because, the stories argued, it was easier for women to hide in plain sight than men. Often (possibly a case of wish fulfillment?) these fictional detectives were saving women from cruel husbands and bad marriages, accidental bigamy, or other abuses that they didn't see coming, but which the law couldn't protect them from. I loved how Lodge was able to find 19th century plays of female detectives where the women became early action heroes- beating the villanous men and police alike to save the day, with frequent disguises, cross-dressing, guns, and the physical ability to protect both themselves and their clients.

But as much as these heroines of the stage were looked up to, real life detectives occupied a murkier reality. As divorce became more common, many were involved in gathering evidence against spouses - and sometimes creating that evidence.  At a time when public and private spheres was undergoing a shift, the private detective's role itself was being defined, and the women in the profession tended to take the blame if things went wrong. 

Brilliantly researched and well-written, this is a book for any mystery lover to read. If you think the lady detective begins with Agatha Christie, think again!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review