Reproduction of the original.

When the Sea Gives Up Its Dead: A Thrilling Detective Story (1894) is a novel by Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett. While she is mostly remembered today for New Amazonia, a feminist utopian novel which depicts the emergence of an advanced society of women in the not-so-distant future, Corbett was also a pioneering detective novelist whose heroine Annie Cory is one of the first female sleuths in literary history. While little is known about Corbett, her surviving novels and stories suggest she was a passionate campaigner for women’s suffrage in an era of conservative politics and traditional values. “‘There has been a robbery of a serious and extensive nature, and you are suspected of being the thief,’ said the detective, carefully watching the face of the stricken Harley. ‘It is my duty to arrest you in the name of the law, and I warn you against saying anything that may be construed against you at the trial.’” Harley Riddell, a trustworthy jeweler, is framed for the theft of priceless diamonds. Arrested and sentenced to five years in a penal colony, he fears that his life will never be the same. But in his darkest hour, Harley’s fiancée Annie Cory remains by his side. With the help of her dog Briny, her father, Harley’s brother, and her formidable aunt, Annie uses her skills as an amateur sleuth to find the real criminals and free her love from prison. Regarded as one of the earliest novels to feature a female detective, When the Sea Gives Up Its Dead: A Thrilling Detective Story is true to its name from start to finish. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett’s When the Sea Gives Up Its Dead: A Thrilling Detective Story is a classic of detective fiction reimagined for modern readers.

This book is a no-apologies introduction to Detective Fiction. It's written in an aggressive, modern English well-suited to a genre which has traditionally broken ground in terms of aggressive writing, contemporary scenarios, and tough dialogue.

A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account—and how they became a cultural sensation From Wilkie Collins to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the traditional image of the Victorian detective is male. Few people realise that women detectives successfully investigated Victorian Britain, working both with the police and for private agencies, which they sometimes managed themselves. Sara Lodge recovers these forgotten women’s lives. She also reveals the sensational role played by the fantasy female detective in Victorian melodrama and popular fiction, enthralling a public who relished the spectacle of a cross-dressing, fist-swinging heroine who got the better of love rats, burglars, and murderers alike. How did the morally ambiguous work of real women detectives, sometimes paid to betray their fellow women, compare with the exploits of their fictional counterparts, who always save the day? Lodge’s book takes us into the murky underworld of Victorian society on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing the female detective as both an unacknowledged labourer and a feminist icon.

Concentrating on a period of significant social and political change and exploring both canonical and newly rediscovered texts, this book critically assess the changing culture of the late-Victorian period as represented by a range of women writers through a range of essays by leading academics in the field and cutting-edge work by newer scholars.