Full title:

The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective: Secrets and Lies in the Golden Age of Crime

by Susannah Stapleton


I suppose due to cookies nothing is ever entirely random on the internet, but I came across an online review for this book while I was searching for something completely different. Naturally it caught my eye though, being a fan of Sherlock Holmes and middle-aged women having adventures.

Having read the review, I then immediately and enthusiastically put my name down for getting the book from my local library. But I admit I afterwards had to go back to the review to try and make sense of exactly what it was I would be getting. I wasn’t totally clear if it was a biography, or a novel presented in the form of a biography. I wasn’t sure whether Maud West had existed or not.

It is a biography but it’s a biography told in an unusual form. Susannah Stapleton is a professional historical researcher and a fan of detective stories. She’d given herself the challenge of solving her own mystery—whether there had ever actually been a female private detective in the 'golden age of crime'. And once she’d found the basic evidence for the existence of Maud West, she’d then set herself to finding out more about her life.

So the book really is in the form of a detective story as we follow Stapleton’s real-life investigations. It’s perhaps not the usual description for a biography but the book is a real page turner—you’re often left on a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter, wondering what’s going to turn up next. During her inquiries, Stapleton has the added task of trying to separate fact from fiction. Among other things, Miss West was her own Watson—writing heavily fictionalised mini-short stories about her adventures. Some of these are included in the book in between the chapters. And not every detail of Miss West’s life can now be recovered, though Stapleton sometimes fills in the gaps with some intriguing and convincing hypotheses.

But this is not just Maud West’s story. Some time ago I tried to find information about private detectives in the Victorian and Edwardian eras for a linkspam on the Sherlock60 comm. There was frustratingly little online. This book gives a greatly more detailed look at private detectives—both male and female—in the early part of the twentieth century, and is also a fascinating look at that time period in general.

It’s an entertaining read but it’s not all lighthearted. Maud West had more to cope with in her personal life than Holmes ever did. There are references to murders and one particularly distressing suicide. But on the whole it’s such an uplifting book, written with intelligence and affection. Towards the end the detective aspect falls away a little. Susannah Stapleton gets as close to the real Maud West as she’s ever likely to and we’re left just with one woman regarding another with sympathy and admiration.

At the end of the ‘story’ I had a real lump in my throat for Maud West—an ordinary and extraordinary woman.

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I’ve always been fascinated by languages, and over the years I’ve had a go at so many of them. However, I’d never truly learned another language. And at the beginning of the year I really needed something to engage my brain, and both smallhobbit and sanguinity had mentioned using Duolingo. The idea of learning a language again gave me a burst of enthusiasm so I thought I would give it a go. I’d known about Duolingo for a long time but I had never visited their website. I was surprised by how many languages they had available now, though in the end I decided to go with a familiar language—Dutch.

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Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

It’s been ages since I did a journal post on either DW or LJ but I'm going to try and make the effort to post more regularly.

So, it was my birthday on the 6th, and I received some lovely fics from friends:

Three Little Maids by thesmallhobbit

A Year in a Life by mafief

First Birthday (An Inky Quill 221B) by okapi1895


And in July I took part in Flash Fiction Month on DA. I hadn’t really written for months beforehand, and I was starting to think perhaps that was it. My enthusiasm and the ability to come up with ideas seemed to have gone completely. But I’d also been watching a few writing events going past on DW that I usually took part in, and feeling a bit of a pang that I wasn’t involved. And FFM had been such an important event for me… In the end I decided to have a go and see what happened, without putting any terribly high expectations on myself.

You will be pleased/happy/horrified to know that the puns still live! I found I was able to come up with ideas for the prompts and challenges when I really set my mind to it. And I found I was still able to entertain others and entertain myself. As always I concentrated on humour but there were a couple of goes at psychological realism as well. I don’t expect anyone to wade through all 31 stories at this point but here’s a selection to give you an idea of what I got up to:

something serious (CW: contains (supernatural) bullying and one very strong swear word)

something humorous with puns

something humorous without puns

I didn’t win a prize but I did get an honourable mention for the month (there were four winners and four honourable mentions). Which I was very happy about because I hadn’t even been expecting that this time. It was just exhilarating to know I could still write and it was lovely to have people admiring my work and, well, admiring me. (I’m sure Small Hobbit will be pleased to know that my partner for the collaborative challenge described me as ‘hyper-competent’...)

But now the month and all the excitement is over, I rather feel I’m back to where I started. And I’m starting to wonder if I need to get out of a rut and stretch myself more as a writer. As a writer of silly comedy I do sometimes feel like a clever child being tolerated by the adults who are doing the real work. A DA friend whose writing I really admire was so enthusiastic about one of my stories 'The Flatmate' (the ‘something serious’ option above), which was by far the one which dealt the most with real human emotions. I think maybe I need to start concentrating more on what goes on inside my characters. It doesn’t mean I have to give up the comedy, just add to it.


The other thing that’s been going on is that I’ve been learning Dutch with Duolingo for the last six months. I’ve just ‘completed’ the course and received my virtual golden owl trophy. But I don’t really see this as the end—it just means I’ve now unlocked all the sections and so have access to them all. I’m planning on spending another six months on the course, earning all the crowns that are awarded for revising each section.

But I shall burble on more about my adventures in Dutch in the next post!

Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

A while ago I did a bit of moonlighting in the original fic world over at DA and took part in The Gauntlet, which consisted of nine challenges of increasing difficulty to be completed, in order, during September 2017:

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No-one will be surprised to hear that this kind of thing really appealed to me, and I eventually came third in the contest. But I think only two of the pieces I produced truly worked as stories, rather than just as solutions to puzzles. They were Memento Mori for the first challenge and How the Joke Got Its Punchline for the second. I tidied up Memento Mori and sold it to JayHenge as usual, and in November, How the Joke Got Its Punchline got a Daily Deviation on DA. This is a daily feature that is technically promoted to the whole site (but you do have to choose to go and look at the page of DDs). It tends to mean that you meet a few new people, and someone who saw my story asked if they could do a reading on their YouTube channel The Saturday Storytellers.

The recording is now ready and can be found here!

The person who runs The Saturday Storytellers is Rowan Oakley (saturdaystorytellers on DA) but the narrator on this occasion is HorseygirlE.

I love the use of music and sound effects, and the narrator gives it their all with their use of individual character voices. I’m really rather taken with the whole thing—it put such a big smile on my face today.

Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

Just a few odds and ends that are making me happy at the moment.

You may recall that I took part in Flash Fiction Month on DeviantArt in July—limping a bit in the second half and especially towards the end, but I did get through the whole thing. And I recently found out I’ve won the prize for the first week challenge stories, which was a nice surprise. All four winners get a mug with this splendid design on it—created by one of the regular participants in FFM, joe-wright.

acdholmesfest is back from its hiatus, though now on DW, and I’ve signed up. As well as all the old faces, I’m very pleased to see promising newcomer sanguinity has thrown her hat into the ring too. (:P) It’s a great fest and I’m looking forward to the fics and art that come out of it.

A very minor thing but a big deal for me: in July someone bookmarked my Dear Ladies/Pirates of Penzance crossover fic. Looking at the other fandoms they’ve bookmarked, I think it’s the ships (as in boats) aspect of my fic they’re mainly interested in. But it’s just so exciting to have someone that I don’t know at all take an interest in one of my Dear Ladies fics. They have a relatively small number of bookmarks so they’re not just bookmarking everything in sight, and they’ve marked the bookmark as a rec, so I’m assuming they have read my fic and enjoyed it, rather than just marked it for later. It’s such a minor thing that the fic has gained another reader but I’m thrilled about it.

At sanguinity's suggestion, I put together an index for the Round 5 discussion posts on sherlock60, and rachelindeed very kindly offered to promote it on her Tumblr. And to my great delight it worked—people have taken an interest! Her splendid post is now up to 151 notes—of which 53 are reblogs. It's very pleasing to see what has come out of thesmallhobbit's excellent new idea for discussion posts, all those months ago.

Though thesmallhobbit and I have stepped back a bit from modding now, sherlock60 / sherlock60 is still very much alive of course. alafaye has taken over for Round 6, and posted an introduction on both LJ and DW yesterday asking for ideas and preferences for the new round.

I have to say stopping leading the rounds is a weight taken off my shoulders in both the positive and negative senses. It’s odd giving up a responsibility that I’ve had for such a significant amount of time, and I feel a bit untethered. But giving up having to do all that work, and losing that stress of having to hit a deadline every week and constantly having the comm in the back of my mind, has led to an immediate increase in ideas for other things. I feel more positive about writing in general and about holmes_minor / holmes_minor in particular.

Round 5's final Sunday happened to coincide with my birthday. On Mrs. Hudson’s poetry page I got a poem from Mrs. P. and a limerick from gardnerhill. Over on AO3 I got a 221B from thesmallhobbit starring Mouselet and the gang, and featuring the Ferret’s singing. And the Ferret’s singing also featured prominently in my wonderful present from Okapi. A new chapter of From the Pen of Inky Quill entitled One Scene and Two Songs from “The Importance of Being Ferret”. If I could just quote the summary: Based on Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and the songs “If you want a receipt for that popular mystery” and “So go to him/And say to him” from the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Patience and specifically this Hinge & Bracket interpretation of the last. How well my friends know me... And I also get a mention in the scene, in a way that made laugh out loud with glee.

In short, I feel very lucky to have such lovely fandom friends ^^

Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

Last month I took part in Flash Fiction Month over on DeviantArt, writing and posting a story of 55 to 1,000 words for each day of July.

Here are links to the last batch of stories, if anyone's interested in taking a look:


Nectar The aggression of butterflies.

Details, Details... A wedding planner puts together a wedding for a mixed undead-living couple.

The Descent It's a long way down...

Painting a Picture The difficulties of being a paintbrush.

Descriptions Putting together a photofit.

Walking a Tightrope A CYOA story. Tightropes, death, local politics and social awkwardness.

Interrobang ! and ? visit their relationship counsellor.

Adding Meaning to Your Life The word SHEEP decides to have a makeover.

Winning is for Losers While playing Snakes and Ladders, Blue has a revelation.

Death at the Party Death finds it difficult to make friends.

Super Market A look at the strange, strange world of Retail. A 369'er: 3 self-contained stories of 69 words each.

Soulmates Do Exist Jonathan splits up with someone he wasn't aware he was in a relationship with.

Magic Dance The Muse of dance has lost her rhythm.

X, Y and Z The letter Y is not happy with its position in life.

All in the Tea Leaves The loose leaf tea attempts to take over the teabags' territory.


Or you can find all my stories grouped together here.


Author's Picks: Nectar and Death at the Party!

Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

I'm currently taking part in Flash Fiction Month over on DeviantArt, writing and posting a story of 55 to 1,000 words each day of July.

Here are links to the next batch if anyone's interested in taking a look:


Relaxing Clover attempts to relax at the Halcyon Spa. It's harder than she expected.

Tired After a cursed sleep of a hundred years, Princess Briar Rose does not wake up refreshed.

Grimm Times in the West A short Fairy Tale/Western crossover - told in reverse.

Word Play All the words in a play's script go on strike.

Stuffed My attempt at a psychological thriller. But though you can take the girl out of the comedy, it appears you can't take all the comedy out of the girl...

Victorian Humour An elderly pun looks back on his Victorian heyday.

Kids That Go Bump in the Night A collaboration written with the excellent writer ilyilaice. A kind of... non-film-noir film noir story - with two ten-year-old girl detectives.

The Hero's Return, Part Two Albert Braithwaite's cousin Robert comes to stay.


Or you can find all my stories so far grouped together here.


Author's Pick: Tired!

Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

I'm currently taking part in Flash Fiction Month over on DeviantArt, writing and posting a story of 55 to 1,000 words each day of July.

Here are links to the first batch if anyone's interested in taking a look:


The Hero's Return Albert Braithwaite ponders on how much reward one man truly deserves.

In Bad Shape A rhombus arrives with interesting news for a line drawn between two points.

Restarting a Conversation A nice lady from the Articulation Association attempts to repair a conversation that has broken down.

The Elements of Attraction A grandmother attempts to play matchmaker after she's gone.

Show Your Working Out Discrimination against fractions in Mathematics.

Flying High A lady journalist plays fast and loose with the facts when reporting on the Wright brothers' first powered flight.

Bound Forms An adjective and a prefix are having marital problems.

Get Your Evil In Order Barry the Evil is being evil again. But sometimes he's his own worst enemy.


Author's pick: Restarting a Conversation!


And just adding it to this post because I was v. proud - my ACD microfic 'On The Shelf' was recently recced by ancientreader on 221b_recs here.

Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

holmestice has come to a close, so I thought I'd just do a few recs. And looking at the fics I've picked, they all seem to have as their underlying theme an examination of friendship.

First of all, there's my own gift fic Five Times Kincaid Encountered a Dog with Disastrous Consequences to All and Sundry, and One Time It Went Slightly Better Than Expected, Do Wipe That Smug Smile Off Your Face, Watson by language_escapes. This is set in the Without a Clue 'verse, and contrasts how that 'Holmes' (Reginald Kincaid - the actor Watson hires to play the part of Holmes) feels about dogs, with the canon Holmes' more positive feelings. Which is done by rewriting the canon adventures that feature dogs with Kincaid as Holmes instead. And it's both hilarious and rather touching - because in the end the fic is really about the friendship that lies underneath Kincaid and Watson's awkward relationship.

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Two Shoes for a Hat by rachelindeed: This is Rachel writing in a new ‘verse for her - Ritchie ‘verse in fact. An inspired and very, very funny look at Holmes and Watson’s first meeting(s), with a wonderfully original Stamford. It’s quintessentially Rachel in that the fic appeals equally to heart and head, and is full of fresh ideas. Before reveals, I did manage to guess which was Rachel’s fic (it appears to be an innate ability. Bit of a specific superpower but a pleasing one to have nonetheless ^^) and it was partly the unknowing enthusiasm of my own comment that reassured me I had made the right choice ^_^

The Question by trobadora: I perhaps wouldn’t have expected to enjoy this fic - I prefer to keep away from Moriarty and Reichenbach as much as possible. But this is such an impressive and moving meditation on the power of friendship. And the writer is evenhanded about Moriarty - though this is a fic that examines his positive aspects, the writer never ignores the fact he is a terrible man. At the end of it all, I was left feeling some sympathy for Moriarty - which is something I had definitely never expected.

Nostoi by sanguinity: This is set in the New Russian Holmes ‘verse, and is a crossover with ACD’s The Lost World. Firstly, it’s a marvellous adventure involving Holmes and Watson trying to get the last European pterodactyl back home to South America. But it’s much more than that - it’s a deeply moving look at the renewal of Holmes and Watson’s friendship after Reichenbach.

The Case of the Six Marmalades: This one is also by sanguinity, and is set in the Whitehead Holmes ‘verse. Charming, lighthearted, captures the characters so well and is so funny ^__^ Holmes likes Watson so much he wants him to share in his pleasures, but then he goes too far…


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Original post on Dreamwidth - there are comments there.

My publisher (^___^) JayHenge Publishing has just announced that their latest anthology of short stories is now available. It's called 'Unearthly Sleuths' and I have a story in there, 'Noir Comedy', under the name Charlotte Frankel. You can see the UK paperback here and the UK Kindle edition here, and the US paperback version here and the US Kindle edition here.

As with the previous anthology I was involved in, I'm so pleased by how well-designed the collection is. I'm rather tickled by the fact that any 'a's in the authors' names are replaced by a little magnifying glass, and each story gets its own image as well. Mine is of a woman in a mask - as my story is a crossover between Commedia dell'arte and Detective Noir. (Someone else's prompt from Flash Fiction Month on DA, but I like to think I did it justice...) And it's a great cover as well. Haven't actually read the collection yet - but there are several authors in there I know and admire. I'm very happy to have been involved, and in fact I'm already planning on submitting stuff for another anthology.


Talking of little magnifying glasses... I'm in my *cough*late-40s*cough* but my near sight is still in pretty good shape for most situations. However, I am noticing the onward march of time - I have to hold my wristwatch a little further away, I can't comfortably thread a needle any more, I need plenty of light to read the small print on the back of a packet. And most pertinently, at work customers sometimes thrust items at me, point to tiny, tiny print on the label and ask, "What does that say?" And I either can't read it at all, or can't read it with confidence.

And so, in the spirit of keeping the ageing process as fun as possible, I have bought... my very own golden pince-nez! It's so cute. The frame is metal and a pale golden colour, with a little loop if I wish to attach a chain, and the lenses are oval. The whole thing is surprisingly small - about the width of a credit card. And I hadn't realised that pince-nez are worn so far down the nose - at the soft bit, rather than on the bridge. This makes it very easy to look over the pince-nez as well as through it, switching from near to far sight. Mine does pince the nez slightly more than I was hoping, but I can't expect a perfect fit from something off the shelf - and I don't need to wear them a lot.

I will go and have a proper eye test eventually though. It has only been 30 years or so... ^^"

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