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Loveday Brooke and Neo-Victorian Depictions of Women Detectives, by Elena Bolstad

Submitted by Rebecca Nesvet on
February, 2024

By Elena Bolstad

Catherine Louisa Pirkis’s The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective (1893) is both a historically important stepping stone in feminist literature and a blueprint for the modern-day neo-Victorian woman detective. Recently, there has been a noticeable uptick in modern media depictions of Victorian women detectives. Inspecting Loveday Brooke through a modern lens can explain why there’s a recent influx of Victorian women detectives on stage and screen and can explore to what extent these representations pay homage to Pirkis’s titular character.

Bibliography

Submitted by Rebecca Nesvet on
February, 2024

Bibliography 

“Advertisement,” Ludgate Monthly 1 (May 1891), 7, 16.

“Advertisement for Slater’s Detective Agency.” The Era Almanack, January 1888, 110.

Allen, Grant. “The Scallywag.” Graphic 47, no. 1 (1893): 565.

Atholl, Justin. “Mystery of the Missing Women.” Answers 123 (March 21, 1953): 3.

Bălan, Andreea. “French Women as The Other in Some Victorian Novels.” Translation Studies:            Retrospective and Prospective Views 23, no. 13 (2020): 19–28.

The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective

Submitted by Rebecca Nesvet on
February, 2024

Catherine Louisa Pirkis’s The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective (1893-4) was one of the first detective series to feature female sleuth. Loveday Brooke is a single and fiercely independent professional woman who regularly out-thinks her male rivals. The seven stories in the series were first published in the Ludgate Magazine with illustrations by Bernard Higham. This e-edition includes a general introduction, sixteen critical essays, a timeline, and a bibliography.

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