Join us for an evening in the company of Susannah Stapleton as she tells the remarkable true story of Maud West, Lady Detective.

Maud West ran her detective agency in London for more than thirty years, having started sleuthing on behalf of society’s finest in 1905. Her exploits grabbed headlines throughout the world but, beneath the public persona, she was forced to hide vital aspects of her own identity in order to thrive in a class-obsessed and male-dominated world. And – as Susannah Stapleton reveals – she was a most unreliable witness to her own life.

Who was Maud? And what was the reality of being a female private detective in the Golden Age of Crime?

Interweaving tales from Maud West’s own `casebook’ with social history and extensive original research, Stapleton investigates the stories Maud West told about herself in a quest to uncover the truth.

Susannah Stapleton has written a superb biography of a woman ahead of her time offering a deliciously salacious glimpse into the underbelly of ‘good society’ during the first half of the twentieth century.

Susannah will be in conversation with fellow author James Hannah. We’re delighted to welcome her to Booka.

Tickets: £5 (redeemable against a signed copy of The Adventures of Maud West). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. Tickets available from the bookshop, or purchase online (with booking fee).

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