A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account—and how they became a cultural sensation

Yale University Press is offering copies of The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge to book clubs to read and review.

More about the book

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.


If you and your book club would like to take part, please complete this survey by 2 October.

The books will be delivered to you in October and you will have six weeks after you receive the books to send back individual reviews. To select the groups, we anonymise your applications and share with the publisher to choose.

Please only apply if you will be able to send the group's feedback by this date.

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* 1. By applying for this opportunity, you agree that your group will read, discuss and submit reviews for each of the books received within six weeks?

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* 2. Please provide your contact details. Your address will be sent to the publisher only if your pitch is successful.

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* 3. Name of group:

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* 4. How many books would you need for your group? Please note that most publishers may only be able to send a maximum of ten books.

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* 5. Why would your group like to take part in this offer?
You could tell us about your group, what you like to read, how often you meet (etc.).

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* 6. Will you be able to share some images with your group (these can be without faces), of your display or your reviews on social media?

Thank you and we look forward to working with you!

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