The Mysterious Case Of The Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge review
This study of female detectives in the Victorian era provides a rich source of information and interest for academics and crime fiction fans alike, writes Louise Fairbairn
I’m an avid reader of crime fiction, so this book piqued my interest immediately. In it, Sara Lodge, a senior lecturer in Victorian literature and culture at the University of St Andrews, shines a light on some of the remarkable women who worked as investigators in an era in which we more usually think of women as either rich girls or servants, and examines their fictional counterparts in novels and plays now long forgotten but hugely popular at the time.
Women could not be police officers in the 19th century, but they still worked for the nascent police forces and private agencies, often as “detective searchers”, literally searching female suspects (a complex hairstyle was handy for a thief), as well as gathering evidence in situations where a male cop would arouse suspicion. They also made excellent “writters”, shadowing targets in order to serve solicitors’ writs on them.
They may not have been salaried officers, and their contributions were rarely recorded officially, but the Victorian press and society were fascinated by these women, as is seen in newspaper reports praising the ingenuity of female detectives in assisting in the apprehension of criminals. However, the press also remained unsure if women were entirely suited to such roles. These (usually working-class) women were underestimated and overlooked – but that anonymity helped them make a living.
Among the female sleuths covered by Lodge are Ann Lovsey, who caught three bus conductors who were embezzling money; Elizabeth Joyes, who secured the arrest of a man stealing luggage from first-class railway waiting rooms; and Emily Oxley, who spent long hours catching adulterers for clients seeking a divorce.
Meanwhile, the public devoured melodramatic plays and sensationalist novels about the exploits of fictional female detectives, fascinated by women who did not conform to society’s expectations. They were often depicted as action heroes and masters of disguise, righting major wrongs, unlike the often more mundane cases the real female detectives dealt with.
All this is reminiscent of the divide today between actual policing and the police procedural novel, where so often a maverick senior cop solves a case almost single-handedly. Lodge makes the point that these fictional females helped cement the idea of women as capable and deserving of society’s respect, but she is all too aware that fiction and reality are far apart.
This is a scholarly work with an extensive bibliography, but it is also accessible in style, and the analysis is considered and incisive.
While the examination of fictional female detectives gives food for thought, it’s the glimpses of the real, flesh-and-blood women that fascinate the most. Lodge has created a rich source of information and interest for academics and crime fiction fans alike.
The Mysterious Case Of The Victorian Female Detective, by Sara Lodge, Yale University Press, £20