Explores Henry Slater’s rise and fall as Britain’s leading private detective, revealing the golden age of detection and its dark side.From his offices at Basinghall Street in the City of London, Henry Slater presided over Britain's best-known private detective agency, king of all he surveyed. In the late Victorian era, and into the twentieth century, his name was synonymous with the Golden Age of private detection; he was a truly modern operator, utilising the pres...

"A unique and inherently fascinating history that brings a particular aspect of the role of women in law enforcement up out of obscurity." — Midwest Book ReviewThe 1857 Divorce Act paved the way for a new career for women: that of the private detective. To divorce, you needed proof of adultery—and men soon realized that women were adept at infiltrating households and befriending wives, learning secrets and finding evidence.Over the course of the next...

Underneath the dreaming spires of Oxford's world-famous university, generations of women have lived their lives, fighting for the right to study there, and for a role within the city's educational, political and social spheres. Although a few of these women's names have been recorded for posterity, they have been largely because of their association with worthy or famous men; in this book, though, their own lives are detailed, along with those who have been largely omitted from history. Wo...

An exploration of the dark history lying at the heart of this scenic tourist destination, from the author of Britain's Greatest Private Detective .Behind the picture-postcard idyll of the 19th-century Cotswolds, everyday life in this largely rural area saw murders, beatings, jealousy and alcohol-fuelled crimes. Nell Darby's book examines a selection of these shocking events in vivid detail. Drawing on contemporary sources...

The expansion of the press in Victorian Britain meant more pages to be filled, and more stories to be found. Life on the Victorian Stage: Theatrical Gossip looks at how the everyday lives of Victorian performers and managers were used for such a purpose, with the British newspapers covering the good, the bad and the ugly side of life on the stage during the nineteenth century. Viewed through the prism of Victorian newspapers, and in particular through their gossip columns, this book looks ...

Look beyond the pretty cottages and gentle landscapes of the Cotswolds, and you will find a dark history of crime and punishment. From child thieves, poachers, conmen, prostitutes and would-be suicides to bigamists, highwaymen and murderers, the Cotswolds has had its fair share of criminals – treated in what appears to us today to be an arbitrary and often unduly harsh manner by judges and juries. What crimes were committed in this rural society in the past, and how were t...

As the American Revolution drew to a close and the colonies claimed independence from Britain, the United States' gaze turned west to the vast expanse of land that was seemingly ripe for the taking. After all, according to their Manifest Destiny, it was their God-given right to expand. In American West, uncover the resistance that these enterprising settlers faced, from the Native Americans to the unforgiving terrain. Discover the reality of what life was like on the frontier, and...