A pioneering female gumshoe with a genius for PR

Susannah Stapleton’s hugely entertaining new book is an attempt to find out about Maud West, a private detective based in the heart of London’s West End in the early 20th century

History: The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective, By Susannah Stapleton, Picador, €25

The life of Maud West was never dull. Over the course of the 20th century’s first four tumultuous decades, she hunted down blackmailers, exposed drug dealers, found missing daughters and even attempted to shoot a ghost (or rather a spiritualist masquerading as a ghost). West was a private detective based in the heart of London’s West End. And if her ...