The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective

by Susannah Stapleton

  Edith had lost two of her sons to suicide.

  By that time, she had also lost her husband. In 1945, she and Harry had moved to Cheam in Surrey to enjoy a peaceful retirement, but the peace hadn’t lasted long. Harry was soon diagnosed with stomach cancer and died in January 1950 at the age of seventy.

  Edith, as ever, carried on. On 15 September 1960, she celebrated her eightieth birthday with her family, posing for a photograph at her new home in Bexhill-on-Sea:

  She didn’t need any disguise, now. She blended in with all the other elderly widows hiding their grief and lost youth beneath stiff tailoring and support stockings, any whiff of loneliness masked by the scent of powder and Parma Violets. Who would have guessed, to look at her, all that she had achieved? She certainly wasn’t going to tell. She never spoke about the past.

  As I was preparing to leave, I asked Brian, ‘What do you think she would say if she knew I was writing this book?’

  ‘She’d say, “Don’t.”’

  A pause. We looked at the piles of papers and photographs I was packing into my bag.

  ‘But I say do it, anyway,’ he said.

  The rental car had a sticky second gear. I cursed as I bunny-hopped my way out of London and headed south for the clear run down to the coast. I’d been feeling strangely bereft ever since Brian had dropped me back at the station. Was that it? After all those months in Maud’s company, I couldn’t just go home. There was one last place I had to visit.

  Welcome to Bexhill-on-Sea.

  The De La Warr pavilion gleamed in all its faded Art Deco glory as I juddered to a halt on the front. From there, it was just a short walk up a terraced street of smart boarding houses and tropical palms to Parkhurst Road. On the corner stood a dilapidated building covered in scaffolding, its paint peeling and rubbish strewn around the overgrown garden. So this was where Edith had whiled away her final years.

  Apart from the eyesore that was No. 7, it was pleasant enough, but what kind of place was this for a lady detective to end her days? It wasn’t as bad as the shared geyser bath and poky bedsit that Kate Easton had to endure, but I’d hoped for more. It had neither the bustle of Bloomsbury nor the deceptive calm of St Mary Mead. What was there to do here, except wait?

  The end, at least, had been swift: a heart attack in March 1964, on Friday the thirteenth. One final dramatic flourish to a life filled with intrigue.

  I walked back down to the front and onto the promenade. She’d led me a merry dance, but who was Maud West? A shameless attention seeker or private to the core? A champion of the downtrodden or the mortal enemy of chimney sweeps? A cosmopolitan adventurer or a suburban homebody? A witness to society’s troubles or a brazen liar?

  Looking out to sea, I thought of the great ocean liners that had once ploughed through the waves to New York, Cape Town, Valparaiso, Jakarta. Had she really been to all those places? Had she really hauled coke-addled debutantes out of Chinatown, punched men in Bond Street and faced down blackmailers with her trusty revolver?

  Maybe. Did it even matter anymore? I’d gone looking for a lady detective and found so much more: a remarkably complex woman who’d taken the poor hand dealt her at birth and transformed it into a life that would be the envy of millions. She was bad-tempered and sharp and tender and kind. She loved her work, she loved her family; she was determined to have it all – and she’d almost succeeded.

  Good for her, I thought.

  THE END

  Acknowledgements

  Creating a book is a team effort. My heartfelt thanks, therefore, go to my editor George Morley and all at Picador, especially Marissa Constantinou, Laura Carr, Gaby Quattromini and Mel Four, and to my agent Tim Bates at Peters Fraser and Dunlop.

  My enduring gratitude also goes to Brian and Shirley Elliott for sharing their memories with me and for their good humour in the face of unexpected revelations.

  To all those slaving over hot scanners at the British Newspaper Archive, Trove, Gallica, Ancestry and other digitization projects throughout the world: thank you. Your work has opened up access to the past in ways unimaginable when I was a young researcher. The old ways are still indispensable, however, so equal thanks go to the staff at the British Library, National Archives and Camden Local Studies Centre, and to those who have undertaken lookups for me in far-flung places: Kevin Morse in California, Laura Schmidt in Illinois, Robyn Atherton in New South Wales and Alastair Moir in Norfolk.

  For their friendly and excellent linguistic services, thank you to Alina Cincan, Yannis Tsitsovits, Elizabeth De Zoysa and Marion Pini-Overberg at Inbox Translation, and to Buffy Shaw for her help with transcribing Maud’s articles.

  Finally, a big cheer to everyone who cheered me on. You know who you are, but special mentions must go to James Hannah, Anna Dreda and the Lighthouse gang, to my husband Jim for enduring frequent and dramatic displays of creative angst, to my father for being a top-notch sounding board and image wrangler, and to my mother for so steadfastly ‘keeping out of it’. I am indebted to you all.

  Bibliography

  Articles by Maud West

  ‘The Adventures of a Lady Detective: My Early Cases’, Pearson’s Weekly, 29 Mar 1913, p. 1011

  ‘The Adventures of a Lady Detective: Working in Big Hotels’, Pearson’s Weekly, 5 Apr 1913, p. 1045

  ‘The Adventures of a Lady Detective: Work in Private Houses’, Pearson’s Weekly, 12 Apr 1913, p. 1058

  ‘The Adventures of a Lady Detective: Lovers and Love Affairs’, Pearson’s Weekly, 19 Apr 1913, p. 1083

  ‘The Adventures of a Lady Detective’, Pearson’s Weekly, 26 Apr 1913, p. 1107

  ‘The Adventures of a Lady Detective: Hide and Seek Cases’, Pearson’s Weekly, 3 May 1913, p. 1137

  ‘Blackmailing “Demobbed” Officers’, Pearson’s Weekly, 12 Apr 1919, p. 575

  ‘New Frauds of Marriage Agencies’, Pearson’s Weekly, 17 May 1919, p. 671

  ‘Why Sex Hate is Growing’, Pearson’s Weekly, 31 May 1919, p. 711

  ‘Traps for Girls’ War Savings’, Pearson’s Weekly, 7 Jun 1919, p. 731

  ‘Dodges of Damage Hunters’, Answers, 5 Jul 1919, p. 111

  ‘How Rich Snobs Buy Society’, Pearson’s Weekly, 5 Jul 1919, p. 48

  ‘Revelations of a Lady ’Tec’, Answers, 2 Aug 1919, p. 183

  ‘Crooks I Have Foiled’, Answers, 9 Aug 1919, p. 209

  ‘Jazz-Room Revelations’, Answers, 23 Aug 1919, p. 248

  ‘Real Life Love Stories’, Pearson’s Weekly, 13 Aug 1921, p. 171

  ‘When Love Turns to Hate’, Pearson’s Weekly, 20 Aug 1921, p. 189

  ‘Boy and Girl Lovers’, Pearson’s Weekly, 27 Aug 1921, p. 219

  ‘Matter of Fact Lovers’, Pearson’s Weekly, 3 Sep 1921, p. 239

  ‘Woman Detective’s Theory of Inn Crime’, Lloyd’s Sunday News, 12 Mar 1922, p. 5

  ‘How To Be a Detective’, Competitors’ Journal & Everybody’s Weekly, 29 May 1926, p. 11

  ‘Some Games of Bluff and Other Matters’, Pearson’s Magazine, 1 Nov 1926, pp. 430–4

  ‘My Secrets of Success’, Pearson’s Weekly, 19 May 1928, p. 1323

  ‘The Most Despicable Crime’, Derby Daily Telegraph, 19 Nov 1929, p. 6

  ‘How I Took Up the Work’, Weekly Irish Times, 1 Feb 1930, p. 10

  ‘The Clairvoyante Case’, Weekly Irish Times, 8 Feb 1930, p. 3

  ‘The Office Robbery’, Weekly Irish Times, 15 Feb 1930, p. 3

  ‘The German Spy Case’, Weekly Irish Times, 22 Feb 1930, p. 3

  ‘The Hotel Thief’, Weekly Irish Times, 1 Mar 1930, p. 3

  ‘The Country House Case’, Weekly Irish Times, 8 Mar 1930, p. 3

  ‘The Dope Fiend’, Weekly Irish Times, 15 Mar 1930, p. 3

  ‘Scoundrels in Love’, Weekly Irish Times, 22 Mar 1930, p. 3

  ‘The Fatal Letter’, Weekly Irish Times, 29 Mar 1930, p. 3

  ‘Who is to blame in divorce?’, Portsmouth Evening News, 29 Apr 1930, p. 5

  ‘Real-Life Adventures of Miss Sherlock Hol
mes’, Sunday Dispatch, 15 Nov 1931, p. 4

  ‘War Spies I Caught’, Sunday Dispatch, 22 Nov 1931, p. 4

  ‘Miss Sherlock Holmes’s Adventures in Secret Dope Dens’, Sunday Dispatch, 29 Nov 1931, p. 4

  ‘Miss Sherlock Homes Reveals the Wiles of Hush-Money Parasites’, Sunday Dispatch, 6 Dec 1931, p. 4

  ‘Secret Gem Store of a Jekyll and Hyde’, Sunday Dispatch, 13 Dec 1931, p. 8

  ‘Forcing Confessions from Crooks’, Australian Worker (Sydney), 9 Nov 1932, p. 19

  ‘Beauty Wins, Woman Scorned: New Angle on Triangle’, Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 29 Dec 1935, p. 17

  ‘The Phantom Thief’, Huon and Derwent Times (Australia), 4 Mar 1937, p. 3

  ‘Prince of Lovers’, Times of India, 11 Apr 1938, p. 22

  Maud West: Select Profiles and Interviews

  ‘Maud West: Woman Detective’, Sunday Press (Pittsburgh), 27 Jul 1913, illustrated magazine section, p. 3

  ‘Thrills of a Lady Detective’, Ideas, 13 Mar 1914, p. 6

  ‘A Woman Detects: Wiles and Disguises of a Charming Sleuth’, Daily Express, 1 May 1914, p. 4

  ‘The Lady ’Tec’, Camperdown Chronicle (Australia), 17 Jul 1915, p. 6

  ‘Women Detectives of London Threaten to Dim Holmes’s Fame’, New York Tribune, 10 Jul 1921, p. 2

  ‘Work of a Woman Detective’, Manchester Guardian, 21 Aug 1924, p. 6

  ‘Meet Mrs Sherlock Holmes!’, Sunday Chronicle, 14 Feb 1926, p. 3

  ‘Exploits of London’s Famous Woman Detective’, San Francisco Examiner, 16 May 1926, ‘American Weekly’ section, p. 2

  ‘Maud West, De Vrouwelijke Detective’, Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië (‘Woord en Beeld’ supplement), 29 Mar 1930, pp. 288 and 290

  ‘Maud West, Londen’s Vrouwelijke Detective’, Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië, 9 Jul 1930, p. 3

  ‘A Woman Detective’, The Policewoman’s Review, Apr 1931, pp. 139–40

  ‘Such a Dull Job! Or, Fifteen Minutes with a London Woman Detective’, Daily Mail Atlantic Edition, 17 Jun 1931, p. 6

  ‘Maud West: Détective à Transformations’, Police (France), Vol. 54 (6 Dec 1931), p. 14

  ‘Women Detectives: Maud West’s Strange Work’, Hobart Mercury (Australia), 21 Dec 1938, pp. 6 and 8

  Other Lady Detectives: Select Articles and Interviews

  Kate Easton

  ‘Lady Detective: Knows not fear and can shoot straight’, Lloyd’s Weekly News, 19 May 1907, p. 6

  ‘Blackmailers!’, New Zealand Truth, 17 Oct 1908, p. 5

  ‘My Work as a Lady Detective’, M. A. P. (Mainly About People), 5 Feb 1910, p. 171

  Antonia Moser

  ‘Adventures of a Woman Detective’ (series):

  I.  ‘The Case of the Foreign Nobleman’, Weekly Dispatch, 2 Jun 1907, p. 6

  II.  ‘The Gentleman Cracksman’, Weekly Dispatch, 9 Jun 1907, p. 2

  III.  ‘The Mystery of the Dead American’, Weekly Dispatch, 16 Jun 1907, p. 2

  IV.  ‘The First of the Gold Brick Swindles’, Weekly Dispatch, 23 Jun 1907, pp. 6 and 13

  V.  ‘A Case of Identity’, Weekly Dispatch, 30 Jun 1907, pp. 6 and 13

  VI. ‘The Lady Who Disappeared’, Weekly Dispatch, 7 Jul 1907, pp. 6 and 13

  VII. ‘A Criminal by Instinct’, Weekly Dispatch, 14 Jul 1907, pp. 6 and 13

  Anonymous

  ‘A Lady Detective’s Experiences’, The Sketch, 24 Jan 1894, p. 704

  ‘Adventures of a Woman Detective’, Weekly Dispatch, 17 Oct 1909, p. 5

  ‘Why I Shadow People’, Pearson’s Weekly, 4 May 1911, p. 759

  ‘Life as a Lady Sleuth’, Answers, 16 May 1925, p. 10

  ‘Women Detectives and Their Work’, Midland Daily Telegraph, 1 Mar 1938, p. 6

  Books and Journal Articles

  Allen, Mary S. The Pioneer Policewoman. Chatto & Windus, 1925

  —Lady in Blue. Stanley Paul & Co., 1936

  Anthony, Barry. Murder, Mayhem and Music Hall: The Dark Side of Victorian London. I. B. Tauris, 2015

  Ashton, John. The History of Gambling in England. Duckworth & Co., 1898

  Billington-Greig, Teresa. ‘The Truth About White Slavery’. The English Review, Vol. XIV (April–July 1913), pp. 428–46

  Brittain, Vera. Lady into Woman: A History of Women from Victoria to Elizabeth II. Andrew Dakers, 1953

  Brunelle, Gayle K., and Finley-Croswhite, Annette. Murder in the Métro: Laetitia Toureaux and the Cagoule in 1930s France. Louisiana State University Press, 2010

  Christie, Agatha. Parker Pyne Investigates. Penguin, 1953

  Cobb, Irwin S. Europe Revised. George H. Doran Co., 1914

  Cohen, Deborah. Family Secrets: The Things We Tried to Hide. Penguin, 2014

  Connell, Nicholas. Doctor Crippen: The Infamous London Cellar Murder of 1910. Amberley Publishing, 2013

  Craig, Patricia, and Cadogan, Mary. The Lady Investigates: Women Detectives and Spies in Fiction. Gollancz, 1981

  Dark, Sidney. The Life of Sir Arthur Pearson. Hodder & Stoughton, 1922

  Doughan, David, and Gordon, Peter. Women, Clubs and Associations in Britain. Routledge, 2006

  Downer, Martyn. The Sultan of Zanzibar: the bizarre world and spectacular hoaxes of Horace de Vere Cole. Black Spring, 2010

  Edwards, Martin. The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story. HarperCollins, 2015

  Felstead, Sidney Theodore. German Spies at Bay. Hutchinson & Co., 1920

  Foot, M. R. D. SOE: An Outline History of the Special Operations Executive 1940–46. British Broadcasting Corporation, 1984

  Garth, Alan. A History of the Publicity Club of London. Publicity Club of London, 1978

  Gibson, Colin. Dissolving Wedlock. Routledge, 1993

  Gielgud, Sir John. Backward Glances. Hodder & Stoughton, 1989

  Gillis, John R. For Better, for Worse: British Marriages, 1600 to the Present. Oxford University Press, 1986

  Glazer, A. M., and Thomson, Patience (eds). Crystal Clear: The Autobiographies of Sir Lawrence and Lady Bragg. Oxford University Press, 2015

  Goodwin, John C. Crook Pie. Alston Rivers, London, 1927

  —Sidelights on Criminal Matters. Hutchinson, 1923

  Graves, Robert. The Long Weekend. Second edition. Faber and Faber, 1950

  Greenwall, Harry J. The Strange Life of Willy Clarkson: an Experiment in Biography. John Long, 1936

  Greenwood, Colin. Firearms Control: A Study of Armed Crime and Firearms Control in England and Wales. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972

  Haywood, Janet. History of Soroptimist International. Soroptimist International, 1995

  Hazelgrove, Jenny. Spiritualism and British Society between the Wars. Manchester University Press, 2000

  Herbert, A. P. Holy Deadlock. Methuen & Co., 1934

  Hillman, June. The Glass Ladder. Heinemann, 1960

  Hutchinson, Arthur Stuart Menteth. This Freedom. Fourth edition. Hodder & Stoughton, 1922

  Hyde, H. Montgomery. The Other Love: An Historical and Contemporary Survey of Homosexuality in Britain. Mayflower, 1972

  —A Tangled Web: Sex Scandals in British Politics and Society. Constable, 1986

  Hynes, Samuel. The Edwardian Turn of Mind. Princeton University Press, 1968

  Jackson, Louise A. ‘The Unusual Case of “Mrs Sherlock”: Memoir, Identity and the “Real” Woman Private Detective in Twentieth-Century Britain’, Gender & History, Vol. 15, No.1 (April 2003), pp. 108–34

  Jones, Charles Sheridan. London in War-Time. Grafton & Co., 1917

  Kerner, Annette. Woman Detective. T. Werner Laurie, 1954

  —Further Adventures of a Woman Detective. T. Werner Laurie, 1955

  Kestner, Joseph A. The Edwardian Detective, 1901–1915. Ashgate Publishing, 2000

  Klein, Kathleen Gregory. The Woman Detective: Gender & Genre. University of Illinois, 1988

  Kohn, Marek. Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground. Lawrence & Wishart, 1992

  L
ang, Elsie M. British Women in the Twentieth Century. T. Werner Laurie, 1929

  Le Queux, William. German Spies in England: An Exposure. Sixth edition. Stanley Paul & Co., 1915

  Liddington, Jill, and Crawford, Elizabeth. Vanishing for the Vote: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the Census. Manchester University Press, 2014

  Livesey, A. H. Henderson. League of Womanhood Pamphlet No.1: The Women Police Question. League of Womanhood, 1924

  —Sex and Public Life. Social Services Ltd, 1926

  Lock, Joan. The British Policewoman: Her Story. Robert Hale, 1979

  Lodge, Sir Oliver. Raymond, or Life and Death. Thirteenth edition. Methuen, 1916

  Luke, Thomas Davy. Spas and Health Resorts of the British Isles. A & C Black, 1919

  Malcolm, Joyce Lee. Guns and Violence: The English Experience. Harvard University Press, 2002

  McDonald, Brian. Gangs of London: 100 Years of Mob Warfare. Milo Books, 2010

  McLaren, Angus. ‘Smoke and Mirrors: Willy Clarkson and the Role of Disguises in Inter-war England’, Journal of Social History, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Spring 2007), pp. 597–618

  — Sexual Blackmail: A Modern History. Harvard University Press, 2002

  Morn, Frank. The eye that never sleeps: a history of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Indiana University Press, 1982

  Nicholson, Virginia. Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War. Viking, 2007

  O’Sullivan, Frank Dalton. Crime Detection. O’Sullivan Publishing, 1928

  Phillips, Roderick. Untying the Knot: A Short History of Divorce. Cambridge University Press, 1991

  Rivers, Aileen. A Brief History of the Private Detective. Association of British Investigators, 2009

  Robins, Jane. The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in the Bath. John Murray, 2010

  Savage, Gail. ‘Erotic Stories and Public Decency: Newspaper Reporting of Divorce Proceedings in England’, Historical Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2 (June 1998), pp. 511–28

  Slide, Anthony. Great Pretenders: A History of Male and Female Impersonation in the Performing Arts. Wallace-Homestead, 1986