The experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective

Abstract

In the 1880s, when London was the hunting grounds of Jack the Ripper and women were potential victims, detection writing seemed to offer a way to exorcise his evil persistence in the urban fabric. Following Sherlock Holmes’ fortune, even women managed how to appropriate of public space thanks to the New Women and the first female detectives who moved around London and its surroundings with skill, and professionalism. Loveday Brooke, portrayed by Catherine Louise Pirkis in a series of short stories published between the 1893 and 1894, is the first female professional private detective hired by the police in order to solve too complex cases. In addition, she counter-attacks and overturns, one by one, all the prejudices of the patriarchal system, especially those concerning the marriage sphere/plot.