The Ascent of the Detective Police Sleuths in Victorian and Edardian England [Hardcover]

The figure of the detective has long excited the imagination of the wider public, and the English police detective has been a special focus of attention in both print and visual media. Yet, while much has been written in the last three decades about the history of uniformed policemen in England, no similar work has focused on police detectives.The Ascent of the Detectiveredresses this by exploring the diverse and often arcane world of English police detectives during the formative period of their profession, from 1842 until the First World War, with special emphasis on the famed detective branch established at Scotland Yard.

The book starts by illuminating the detectives' socioeconomic background, how and why they became detectives, their working conditions, the differences between them and uniformed policemen, and their relations with the wider community. It then goes on to trace the factors that shaped their changing public image, from the embodiment of 'un-English' values to plebeian knights in armour, investigating the complex and symbiotic exchange between detectives and journalists, and analysing their image as it unfolded in the press, in literature, and in their own memoirs.

Introduction
Part 1: The Detective in His Work Milieu
1. Police Detection in England: Eighteenth Century-First World War
2. From Bobby to Detective
3. The Detective as Wage Earner and Official Crime Fighter
Part 2: Detectives and the Print Media
4. The Uniquely Symbiotic Relationship between Detectives and Journalists
5. The Changing Image of Police Detectives in the Press
6. Police Detectives in Fiction
7. Police Detectives as Authors
Conclusion

[W]ell written and exhaustively researched....The writing is extremely clear and precise, and the author's choice of illuminating examples enlivens her analysis considerably. --Journal of Modern History

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